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Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

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Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#331

Post by Jotra7 »

adnam wrote: post #114
milesvp wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the absolute wrong takeaway here. It's about being overly harshly punished for mistakes in their youths. I've heard very similar stories from public defenders that have nothing to do with drugs, but with common punishment escalations that are hard to avoid when you're poor, and people surely can't avoid being poor. Minor fine goes unpaid because this month the electric bill is more important. Leads to more fi…

"Leads to license suspencion. Leads to driving while license suspended." Or, like, don't drive without a license.

Spoken like a true asshole. What if they have no other way to get to work?

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#332

Post by briandear »

newsreader wrote: post #292
mrskeltal wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you manage to leave the gang life?

Got tired. Really tired. Asked God for help. He did -- can't explain it any other way. I tried to change many times before but always came back to my old life style.

Thanks for sharing this. A compelling story. I am glad you were able to survive and thrive. Inspiring stuff.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#333

Post by mikekij »

Hey Richard, I'm really glad to see you working on this. A family member of mine made some mistakes, and ended up spending time in prison. It's been really painful to watch him struggle to get a job, even though he's paid his debts and is a genuinely good person. I have tremendous sympathy for people in this position.

If any of your members are experts at embedded systems / firmware / cryptography, send them my way!

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#334

Post by killjoywashere »

RBBronson123 wrote: post #144
triangleman wrote: post #142

In a past job I was responsible for hiring a few warehouse workers, and in one case I was actually relieved to find that the applicant was on probation for a drug charge, and was required to submit to weekly urine tests. Basically the state was paying to guarantee that this worker was staying clean, and so I was pretty confident about hiring him. I wonder if other employers would be interested in that kind of info as…

Very interesting take on this

Urinalysis as a service has got to be a thing already. Probably a partnership deal. Maybe LabCorp or Quest. Just stay away from Theranos :) If not, we could probably russle you up a chemist if you're willing to front the immunoassays and mass spectrometer. Or microfluidics. Then Theranos might be interested...

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#335

Post by civilian »

brooklyn_ashey wrote: post #325
RBBronson123 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for sharing that. It's a common story. Attitudes are changing quickly, so I hold out hope. I very much appreciate your support.

It would be so great if attitudes were changing quickly in a positive direction. In tech, it is still impossible to get your first job after a career change as a woman, a person of color, or a person over say 35. Many of these people fall into one or all three of these categories. In addition to that, they have this ridiculous other hurdle to clear, and tech is still trying to figure out if women can do any technical…

Tech is far less sexist and racist than you think it is. This article isn't about tech specifically, but I think it does demonstrate that if anyone, there is positive-sexism [ed: for women] happening when it comes to recruitment in western workplaces. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-30/bilnd-recruitment-tria...

Right now the demographic make up of companies don't match the population, that's true, but these companies do tend to match the demographics of trained programmers. The difference in demographics is from people choosing not to enter tech. If you want to fix the problem, work on training pipelines into tech.

The best way to summarize our different viewpoints is probably "Wanting Equality of Opportunity vs. wanting Equality of Outcome". And-- you assume that if the outcome of tech-demographics is different than the population, then it must be due to racism/sexism. There are other cultural and socio-economic factors that influence the demographics of tech.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#336

Post by leesalminen »

civilian wrote: post #335
brooklyn_ashey wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be so great if attitudes were changing quickly in a positive direction. In tech, it is still impossible to get your first job after a career change as a woman, a person of color, or a person over say 35. Many of these people fall into one or all three of these categories. In addition to that, they have this ridiculous other hurdle to clear, and tech is still trying to figure out if women can do any technical…

Tech is far less sexist and racist than you think it is. This article isn't about tech specifically, but I think it does demonstrate that if anyone, there is positive-sexism [ed: for women] happening when it comes to recruitment in western workplaces. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-30/bilnd-recruitment-tria... Right now the demographic make up of companies don't match the population, that's true, but these compan…

> positive-sexism

What does that even mean? Isn't all sexism bad?

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#337

Post by civilian »

leesalminen wrote: post #336
civilian wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech is far less sexist and racist than you think it is. This article isn't about tech specifically, but I think it does demonstrate that if anyone, there is positive-sexism [ed: for women] happening when it comes to recruitment in western workplaces. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-30/bilnd-recruitment-tria... Right now the demographic make up of companies don't match the population, that's true, but these compan…

> positive-sexism What does that even mean? Isn't all sexism bad?

Sexism in favor of the people we're talking about. So, mainsteam thought views women as being the oppressed ones, but the study shows that women tend to get hired at a higher rate than men, simply by having a female name.

Another example of positive-racism-- being a white dude visiting China, I got into night clubs without paying. :-/ But cab drivers also consistently added 50-100% onto the fare.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#338

Post by zerg2k »

justadeveloper2 wrote: post #158
geff82 wrote: post #127

The good thing about people with a criminal record: you know what they did! You will never know this of the people around you who got away not being caught. Do I know if my neighbour did not rob a bank 10 years ago? No. So working with ex-criminals can be an encounter with honesty.

Uh, no you don't. A lot of cases get plead down and the cops/DAs are lazy and often don't charge people with crimes they're not sure they can successfully prosecute. That's why there's so many "non-violent drug offenders" in prison all over. Yeah, most of those people were up to no good but got taken down for something less serious.

And a lot of people are forced to a plea after being overcharged and put through a very long crippling (financially and mentally) process while for the DA/cops is just another day to go to work

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#339

Post by Unbeliever69 »

Bravo.

The REAL problem, however, is the quality of jobs available to felons. If this board is filled with nothing more than labor and call-center jobs then, you've only solved part of the problem. The true goal is to connect felons with sympathetic employers in ALL manner of jobs. There is nothing like a felony to destroy a person's sense of self-worth and the system is completely rigged against a felon. This is bigger than a technological problem. It is a problem of humanity and forgiveness.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#340

Post by webninja »

will_brown wrote: post #251
Mz wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to the above great ideas, here are some stats for you: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/... The US has about 4.4 percent of the global population and about 22 percent of the global prison population. The numbers are more startling using a different measure in the report: the prison population rate. Criminologists say this is a reliable way to compare incarceration practices betw…

>In other words, don't tell them "give a criminal a second chance." Tell them that many people with criminal records simply shouldn't have them... That's a very interesting approach, but I believe a hard sell to potential employer. As true as it may be, an employer is more likely to appreciate the individual who says this is my background, this is what I learned and this is my vision of my own future...rather than, i…

You can become a registered sex offender in many states after a public urination citation. In my home state, you can get a DUI as a 100% sober driver if your alcoholic girlfriend or passenger brought an opened container of alcohol. It's possible that the violent crimes are overly broad as well and include things like "mean looks".
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