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Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

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Re: Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

#91

Post by lulmerchant »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #15

I think you are in hard place because of the the current culture. It seems that in the present climate, a business would hire someone that actually killed people while driving drunk before someone who flashed someone while drunk.

My customers trust me with millions of pieces of their confidential data, and billions of dollars of their money. I'm not going to start abusing that trust by hiring felons, for a lot of roles I wouldn't even hire somebody that had bad credit. I'd hope that most of the companies I trust treat me with the same level of respect.

Re: Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

#92

Post by forapurpose »

ExcelSaga wrote: post #67
forapurpose wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from the school of thought that it's all none of our business, we shouldn't judge other people, and we should treat them with respect at all times. Also, my personal theory of Internet comments is that nothing is more ridiculous than speculating on the thoughts of people I know nothing about.

It’s certainly the business of anyone hiring him, if only from a PR and liability perspective. As to our business, it would be hard to argue that submitting this question didn’t go some way to making it just that. Still, I respect your stance on the inscrutability of another’s thoughts, although I don’t understand what that has to do with anything.

> I respect your stance on the inscrutability of another’s thoughts, although I don’t understand what that has to do with anything.

The GGP comment speculated on the thoughts of people who didn't hire the OP.

Re: Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

#93

Post by gesman »

coffeebucket wrote: post #54

so, My heart goes out to you brother. I can give constructive advice: 1. Set your expectations. Many things in life now are more challenging for you. You're a second class citizen now. Expending your mental energy hating that, or feeling victimized by it, will paralyze you. Instead, spend that energy identifying your specific challenges and planning how to deal with them. 2. Expect failure and rejection. Use each one…

The brick wall happens with full-time employment.

- You can still do consulting/contracting or act on behalf of your own company.

- Build website for "your company" and describe services you offering that are matching your skillset.

- You can still look for job at upwork.com (or whatever sites there are). Granted - you'll be competing with bottomfishers from developing countries - but the point is to make your expertise known. This may evolve into good business relationships down the road.

- You can still participate in contests (as a company) and build your hackerrank or whatnot. If asked to work for someone - tell them you only do consulting/projects on behalf of your own company, not as individual.

- You can still hire others as consultants to do work for you or for customers you find need your skills. Again - acting as a business, not as individual.

Re: Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

#94

Post by Fjolsvith »

sndean wrote: post #28
seibelj wrote: post #17

You have paid your debt to society, you should not continue to be punished in perpetuity. Perhaps make an LLC, and use your middle name in place of your last name when communicating with people? Or legally change your last name? That way they pay you as a contractor, with checks to your business, and no one is the wiser. You are in survival mode now, I wouldn't let pride keep you from changing your name.

> Or legally change your last name? I think there are laws (in most states?) against changing your name if you're a registered sex offender. But trying to get a job using a middle name instead of a first/last name is a decent idea.

A name change doesn't remove the legal requirement to register as a sex offender.

Re: Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

#95

Post by Fjolsvith »

seibelj wrote: post #17

You have paid your debt to society, you should not continue to be punished in perpetuity. Perhaps make an LLC, and use your middle name in place of your last name when communicating with people? Or legally change your last name? That way they pay you as a contractor, with checks to your business, and no one is the wiser. You are in survival mode now, I wouldn't let pride keep you from changing your name.

Ex felon here. In my experience, it was far easier to deal with people by being open about my criminal history. In a its-a-no-big-deal-if-you-know sort of way.

If I'm trying to keep it secret, I have all this stress of wondering who knows, lying about it, etc. And that's bad for me because I'm already in a stressful situation.

Putting it out there saved me a lot of time with companies/HR departments by filtering out the haters in the first step. I didn't have to bite my nails wondering what their reaction to the background check would be.

I put my record on the bottom of my resume. My father told me I would never get a job with that, but he was wrong. I landed one two weeks after my release.

I asked the guy who interviewed (and hired) me if he had read about my criminal history on my resume, and he said, "Yeah, that's not a problem. My cousin's been in and out of jail all his life."

Re: Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

#97

Post by sexoffender »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #88
sexoffender wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been applying since November and I've run out of money and time, April is the last month we can afford, and interview processes can last weeks. There's like a 5% chance I'll get a job during this time which is why I came here for help. I did get several good pointers from people and am going to follow them. But my programming knowledge is between junior and intermediate despite my experience, since somehow I end…

Dude, work in a factory until you get a programming job. If I was a CIO I would hire you in a heartbeat. You got passion, chops, and obvious dedication, and honestly could probably be got at a steal. I wouldn't give up, personally. It's like penetration testing...no matter what kind of defenses a company has built... it takes is ONE opening to own all of it.

Thanks for the advice. It may come down to working at a factory and moving my family to the slums so we can afford to live. In fact that's looking more and more likely. We have only enough money for April, and based on my calls today there's pretty much no chance I'll get a job and a paycheck before May.
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