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Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

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Ask HN: How can felons find programming jobs?

#1

Post by _tgdn »

I've been unemployed for 12 months, went to jail 7 months ago for 2 months, applied for dozens of jobs per week for the past 5 months straight, and almost every single one of them has turned me down because I have a felony.

I've tried not disclosing it, disclosing it early, disclosing it in the middle of the interview process, and disclosing it at the end when they make me an offer. They all turn me down.

Half of them are judgmental turn-downs - they won't return my call and never get back to me, because they think poorly of me.

Half are policy - Goldman Sachs made me an offer last month, but withdrew it this morning due to their policy against hiring felons.

I only have enough money to last us through April, and that's literally because our local parish gave us a $1,000 check out of nowhere, which adds to what's left over from our tax return.

I'm a hard worker with a wife and 5 kids to support. I just need a job, but nobody will hire me due to my background. Any pointers or advice would be greatly appreciated. Especially any pointers on where to actually find a job.

Because I'm still on probation, I can't move out of state and can either work remote or local (greater Chicago area). Most of the jobs out here require 3+ years in C# which I don't have and don't feel comfortable lying about either.

For more background, the felony is from flashing someone (while drunk) who was just under 17 years old. This was the second offense (the other was years ago). They are inexcusable and disgusting offenses, but they are permanently on my background.

EDIT #1: my crime was in 4 local major newspapers, and all 4 online news articles show up when you google my name, so hiding my background is not really a possibility here. About 4 months ago, a small local software firm, which would have been an amazing job, said "I know you said you're looking for 70k, but we'd like to offer you 75k", and I asked them to give me a few days to think it over, which he was happy to do. Then they never responded to my calls after that, presumably because they found out about this.

EDIT #2: I am no longer able to reply to anyone here, since HN now says "slow down, you're posting too fast" when I try, so, um, sorry if I don't reply to you before that resets (probably tomorrow).

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

#3

Post by sexoffender »

dddddaviddddd wrote: post #2

Project-based contract work / freelancing? A good portfolio, some networking, and interviewing well could get you some gigs. Not being an employee would probably reduce any risk-averse corporate refusals.

For that I would need references (I have none), a good portfolio (I have none), or the ability to start off making almost no money (my family would starve).

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

#4

Post by dcole2929 »

My best advice on where to find work is look for smaller companies or for remote work with foreign companies. Small startups and the like often don't have the ability or the time to run background checks. It's not worth it for them. And many countries outside the US have laws against discriminating against people with criminal history. For example if you look for remote job for a Canadian company you'd probably have a decent chance of finding something. The salaries going both of these routes are lower though.

Also look into getting your records sealed. If you situation is really as you've describe a judge may be willing to help you out here.

Also check out https://www.70millionjobs.com/

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

#5

Post by sexoffender »

dcole2929 wrote: post #4

My best advice on where to find work is look for smaller companies or for remote work with foreign companies. Small startups and the like often don't have the ability or the time to run background checks. It's not worth it for them. And many countries outside the US have laws against discriminating against people with criminal history. For example if you look for remote job for a Canadian company you'd probably have…

Oh, also I should mention, my crime was in 4 major local newspapers, and those online news articles are the first 4 results of googling my name. So it's not really something I can hide, at all.

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

#7

Post by skrap »

I really hope you find something, and never having being in your situation, it's hard to know whether I'm being helpful or not. But have you considered working on open source bug bounties?

Here's some bounties available in C#

https://www.bountysource.com/bounties/search?direction=desc&...

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

#8

Post by JohnStudio »

It's a tough bag, and unfortunate, because there are some really talented folks left swinging in the wind. Case in point - Kevin Mitnick, but that is a solid example to follow and take advice on post-computer access from yore. You don't exactly need the programmer job, considering there are many options for fronting a self-employed avenue and doing the consultant thing. The comments so far are much around small companies and beyond because the need is there more than the rigors of corporate American which places a premium on vetted resources w/o a mark on the record.

Hope this helps. There is plenty of work to be had and the avenues are wide and paved with honest wages if you advertise and remove yourself from the past and work towards the culture.

G'luck!

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

#9

Post by darpa_escapee »

sexoffender wrote: post #3
dddddaviddddd wrote: post #2

Project-based contract work / freelancing? A good portfolio, some networking, and interviewing well could get you some gigs. Not being an employee would probably reduce any risk-averse corporate refusals.

For that I would need references (I have none), a good portfolio (I have none), or the ability to start off making almost no money (my family would starve).

If you can find the time, which I understand can be almost impossible if you're working, throw together a small portfolio and vanity site. I've landed a few gigs just by saying the right words, others by having something shiny to show non-tech folk or having at least some code to show that I am not full of shit to technologically competent clients. Hell, I landed more than one gig from blog posts about technology (relevant to clients) I wrote in high school.

I don't have a record, but it's never come up nor have I been given any hint that a background check was performed.

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

#10

Post by jjeaff »

sexoffender wrote: post #5
dcole2929 wrote: post #4

My best advice on where to find work is look for smaller companies or for remote work with foreign companies. Small startups and the like often don't have the ability or the time to run background checks. It's not worth it for them. And many countries outside the US have laws against discriminating against people with criminal history. For example if you look for remote job for a Canadian company you'd probably have…

Oh, also I should mention, my crime was in 4 major local newspapers, and those online news articles are the first 4 results of googling my name. So it's not really something I can hide, at all.

For that, you might have luck with a reputation management company. But that of course costs money ... Which you need a good job to get.
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