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Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

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Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#191

Post by itake »

agsamek wrote: post #113
RBBronson123 wrote: post #99

When I announced the launch of 70 Million Jobs on HN back in 2017, it proved to be one of the most widely read and discussed posts ever on the site. I was totally blown away. Once again, I am struck by the incredibly sensitive and supportive tenor of the reactions to my news here. For some context, besides having a criminal record, I was/am a solo founder who somehow talked his way into Y Comb. Perhaps most surprisin…

Richard, could you elaborate on the number one question in the comments - what do you mean by the great resignation and how specifically this affected you and the people using your service to find jobs?

He responded here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31600686

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#192

Post by yarrel »

notch656a wrote: post #176
btilly wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of these are bad advice. First, flying on credit isn't nearly as easy as you make it out to be. Yes, a bunch of companies are buy now, pay later. They fall into two groups. The first does it based on your credit. The second is a layaway plan - by the time you get on the plane you've managed to pay in full. Ex-cons struggling to get a job usually have neither. Nobody wants to give money to a person who looks like…

If you simply look for ways to fail, you'll never succeed. My statement is direct towards goal oriented people who want to succeed and are willing to iteratively test their options until something works. Not failures who are unwilling to take a risk or work for a reward. If you can't get a credit card, then hitchhike and/or volunteer on a yacht or just be homeless and work day labor that doesn't check your record unt…

Which of these options worked for you?

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#193

Post by RickWolter »

Karunamon wrote: post #28
sowww wrote: post #25

Never heard of it, but sounds dangerous helping out rapists and murderers and such.

Perhaps, but unless you want a permanent under class of people unable to find real employment, there needs to be an on-ramp. Either someone is too dangerous to have in public (which case they should still be imprisoned), or they have served their sentence and their punishment is over.

well said

if you had some free time to volunteer and wanted a mission reach out here....

https://www.underdogdevs.org

and on Twitter @UnderdogDevs

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#194

Post by supersync »

Richard - thank you for sharing your journey with us.

Your work and achievements are an inspiration, even now.

Sometimes progress really is one person at a time. You & your team changed the lives of millions.

My own social startup failed. It is so hard to watch your dream, all that you are, die.

All I can pass on is that your journey is not done & taking good care of yourself is how you’ll be able to take it.

My sincere wish is that you allow your karma balance to settle.

You deserve to enjoy life, to do work you find meaningful, and to be remembered for your contributions.

You overcame incredible odds time & again. If anyone has proven investment in second chances make a difference, you have.

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#195

Post by dan-robertson »

UnpossibleJim wrote: post #178
RBBronson123 wrote: post #145

There seems to be some confusion here over my use of the expression, "The Great Resignation." https://www.investopedia.com/the-great-resignation-5199074 This is a economic/workforce phenomenon that began amidst the pandemic and continues. (The NY Times reported today that there are 11.4 million unfilled jobs. That's historically off the charts.) My company operates/ed a job board and a staffing business. Both ran lik…

I know this is a bit off topic, but even during the "Great Resignation", as I always do I keep my eyes open on the job market (non-felon with a good work history, so this is a departure from the conversation, I apologize). With all of the complaints from employers about "We can't find people to work for us!", even in the software industry (which is well payed, compared to a lot of my friends), I didn't see the expect…

https://www.atlantafed.org/chcs/wage-growth-tracker

If you click the ‘wage level’ button you can see that workers everywhere are seeing growth but workers in the lowest quartile are seeing higher growth.

A few explanations other than the one you don’t see evidence for:

- the growth is in nominal dollars, inflation explains the spike and everyone is down in real terms, so even though the lowest-paid are doing better, they still aren’t seeing wage growth (but you are also observing nominal pay with your open eyes…)

- the lowest-paid are quitting, or the number of workers is decreasing in the higher quartile such that the average individual chosen from the first quartile would not have seen wage growth but rather higher-paid people are now counting as part of their quartile and pushing up the averages

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#196

Post by notch656a »

yarrel wrote: post #192
notch656a wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you simply look for ways to fail, you'll never succeed. My statement is direct towards goal oriented people who want to succeed and are willing to iteratively test their options until something works. Not failures who are unwilling to take a risk or work for a reward. If you can't get a credit card, then hitchhike and/or volunteer on a yacht or just be homeless and work day labor that doesn't check your record unt…

Which of these options worked for you?

When I was homeless I have hitchhiked without using money, then slept in a ditch for weeks in Williston North Dakota where the oil industry was booming and no one performed background checks. After a few weeks of day labor (part time sleeping in a ditch, part time crashing with a generous but drunk ex-felon in a trailor) I had enough money for a train ticket to an extremely cheap midwestern city where I used my wages to buy a month in an AirBnB which allowed me to have a residence to do local factory work.

Regarding going out of country, I have joined a foreign militia prior that had some ex-cons in it, that did not require anything other than a plane ticket to join. I did not know the language, but learned (some of it) along the way. Travelling extensively you learn to communicate without knowing much of the language. I believe I paid for that ticket with a credit card.

So out of my "Several Options" I can personally say (4) would work and been tested by me. Domestically I can say hitch-hiking to an oil field and sleeping in a ditch until you can afford better would work (met lots of felons that did same). I also married a filipina while I was completely broke, so (7) would work as well although I haven't personally done it, it would be trivial for me to execute it.

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#197

Post by clamprecht »

notch656a wrote: post #142
btilly wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is a person with a criminal record, no job, no support network, and no savings supposed to move to another country?

Several options 1) Marshall islands or Micronesia. Buy flight on credit, do farm or whatever labor you can to eat while you get booted. No visa needed to live or work. 2) Some nations such as Argentina have effectively no immigration enforcement. Once you're in the country you're good and you can file a court case to become a citizen immediately (you'll have to wait 2+ year for it to be granted). In the meantime the…

Have you actually done any of the 7 options you mention? (If you have, I'd love to hear details). I think you may be going on bad information on at least some of them. For the record, I have a federal conviction in the US. I got out of prison at age 28, finished my degrees (CS & math), and succeeded as an early employee at a startup, so it is possible. Then in 2014 I went to Argentina for the supposed "2 year citizenship", which ended up taking 6 years, and a good amount of money to pursue it. I lived on money generated entirely in the US - the economy of Argentina is much, much worse than the US. If you're basing your research on the baexpats forum and specifically bajo_cero2's comments, that may have been true before 2013, but not anymore.

I'm not saying your suggestions are 100% impossible, but they're more for people who are on the run (i.e. very desperate) rather than those with a conviction.

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#198

Post by bitcoinmoney »

buf wrote: post #31

This really bums me out. I was a convicted felon at 18 years old, poor, living on the street. It wasn't any government re-integration program that helped me, it was a random person I met in highschool. I worked my way through everything -> college -> jobs -> startups -> lucky windfalls -> owning my own company. I've immigrated to Europe (3 times in the last 10 years technically), beating the legal issues each time. A…

What crime were you convicted of?

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#199

Post by Jiro »

javajosh wrote: post #119
torbTurret wrote: post #81

“These are some of the most sincere, honest, and heroic people I’ve ever met.” Yeah, I think we’re too hard as a nation on ex-cons. But they’re not heroes because they went through self-imposed hardships (and almost always at the expense of someone innocent). And they’re certainly among the lower rungs of honesty by categorization. Nowhere near the top. If this sounds harsh, just act their victims.

America is so strange. On one hand, nearly everyone thinks the system doesn't work. And yet, they tacitly assume the justice system works. They think it works just like on TV - innocent until proven guilty, detail-oriented public defenders and judges, and scrupulously honest prosecutors and police. It's nothing like that. The justice system is a machine that chews people up, and spits out convicts, and it operates wi…

I think you basically answered your own objection. Probably 90% of convicted criminals are really criminals, and that's why people are suspicious of hiring them. The point of this project wasn't "get convicts hired because 10% of them are innocent", it was "get convicts hired because even though 90% of them are guilty, that's okay." It's called "70 million" because that's the total number of convicts, not an estimate of how many are innocent. And the founder himself is an ex-con, and he admits that he's actually guilty, and the crime he committed actually harmed people, it wasn't a corrupt prosecutor or a bogus drug law.

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#200

Post by BizarroLand »

yarrel wrote: post #192
notch656a wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you simply look for ways to fail, you'll never succeed. My statement is direct towards goal oriented people who want to succeed and are willing to iteratively test their options until something works. Not failures who are unwilling to take a risk or work for a reward. If you can't get a credit card, then hitchhike and/or volunteer on a yacht or just be homeless and work day labor that doesn't check your record unt…

Which of these options worked for you?

Buying a plane ticket sounds impossible for someone without a job, but you would be surprised how much money you can make by busking, day labor, or just straight up begging. I've made over $100 in 2 hours just from flailing on a cheap guitar in a busy location.

Sure, I had to have a skill to begin with, but saying you can't do it is wrong. Just most people won't do it because they think they can't do it.

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