ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price • Hacker News Board

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#81

Post by _sdegutis » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 8:37 PM UTC

subsubsub wrote: post #67

I find the complete lack of scepticism here to be pretty problematic. reformedfelonforhire.com links to someone's portfolio website. What evidence is there that these two websites are owned or run by the same person? The whois both have privacy settings from different companies. They may be the same person, but surely it's not beyond the realm of possibility that this is someone trying to hurt the reputation of a dif…

It's definitely me. I spent a ton of effort this morning buying the new domain name and doing everything I can to remain anonymous. I only added the portfolio website after a lot of recommendations here, and kind of gave up my anonymity that way. Only time will tell if it was the stupidest decision.

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#82

Post by sjsjxhhc » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 8:39 PM UTC

cik wrote: post #43

0x4f3759df wrote: post #40

Does anyone know if it would make a difference if he started a company (ABC Consultants) and then contracted out himself through his company? Seems like that might get around the background check issue.

Unfortunately that's not really doable. A shocking number of contracts specify that the corporation not hire known criminals. I have seen lax ones specifying only that a background check is conducted.

What would the risk be if violating that provision? Breach of contract that may just give the client an out, or something like fraud that may put the contractor in jail?

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#83

Post by Nelson69 » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 8:43 PM UTC

milesdyson_phd wrote: post #39

some_account wrote: post #19

I would hire the guy if I needed something. I don't see why it matters if the guy used to be a felon previously. Is he going to be violent over some software specs? I very much doubt it.

I wonder if one issue could be the company's fear that the public/clients/etc might latch onto a very narrow context of this gentleman's history like: "x employs sex offenders." It's not fair but when you have other candidates that don't have this stigma why would they even try?

I had a client get quite uppity because we bought their domain name through GoDaddy (i had a guy that went with one of the cheapest, spent their money like it was our own.. etc.) and GoDaddy had just presented risque ad during the Super Bowl. They weren't particularly upset about GoDaddy itself so much as what if someone found out they patronized them. For that particular business, I'd swag a guess that the extra price in switching to Network Solutions plus our time in undoing the damage and "returning" the domain to Go Daddy will be less than what they'd make from the customers they will have had lost that simply will not patronize companies that buy domains from GoDaddy. I don't know. I don't think most users click on the pad lock, let alone explore the certificate chain, let alone do a lot of advanced whois stuff.

I think this poor guy is going to have a rough go of it. Maybe a contracting firm can help provide some insulation. I'll also admit, hearing that it's a bit of a sex crime involving youths (highschoolers are still 'youth') combined with the heightened awareness in the currently climate about sexual harassment and such, it seems a bit scary to take a risk on someone like this. I'd think contracting off site might be the way to go.

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#84

Post by _sdegutis » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 8:53 PM UTC

treis wrote: post #48

amorphid wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no good way and/or time to ask the question "Do you guys do background checks that would include my sex offenses?"

I'll go a step further and say the number of companies that will willingly hire someone with a felony sex offense involving minors is essentially 0. Especially when it happened 2 years ago in someone's late 20s/early 30s (guessing based on work experience).

Well shit.

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#85

Post by diminoten » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 8:57 PM UTC

_sdegutis wrote: post #65

jnsaff2 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

better delete this comment as you mixed up your accounts

No I did it intentionally. I can't reply under the other account (rate limited) and since I put my portfolio up, which already gives away my identity, I may as well just stop being anonymous. This may be a stupid decision, who knows. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and I need a job.

I'll put it this way: this went from being a passing thought in my mind to being blown out of the water impressed by the volume and quality of your work. I'm not in a position to hire you, but actually seeing your portfolio flipped me 180 degrees on my feelings about this post.

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#86

Post by ChristianGeek » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 9:03 PM UTC

treis wrote: post #48

amorphid wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no good way and/or time to ask the question "Do you guys do background checks that would include my sex offenses?"

I'll go a step further and say the number of companies that will willingly hire someone with a felony sex offense involving minors is essentially 0. Especially when it happened 2 years ago in someone's late 20s/early 30s (guessing based on work experience).

More so now than in the past.

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#87

Post by _sdegutis » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 9:03 PM UTC

diminoten wrote: post #85

_sdegutis wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No I did it intentionally. I can't reply under the other account (rate limited) and since I put my portfolio up, which already gives away my identity, I may as well just stop being anonymous. This may be a stupid decision, who knows. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and I need a job.

I'll put it this way: this went from being a passing thought in my mind to being blown out of the water impressed by the volume and quality of your work. I'm not in a position to hire you, but actually seeing your portfolio flipped me 180 degrees on my feelings about this post.

Phew, reading that was a little relief from this nightmare. Thanks for the encouragement.

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#88

Post by jeffmould » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 9:12 PM UTC

As a convicted felon, and someone working to help returning citizens find employment opportunities, several pieces of advice:

1) Look into the Federal Bonding Program. This may help some smaller employers overcome fears of working with you. Everyone qualifies and it is free for the employer and job seeker.

2) Be ready to take any position at any rate. You may even consider finding non-developer jobs for the time being, at least until at little more time has passed since your conviction/release. I can't emphasize how powerful it can be to build trust again with employers. Working a warehouse job where you show up everyday, work hard, and always go the extra mile, even if you only do it for six months or a year, can be a powerful step to getting bigger, better jobs. You can always do consulting, freelance work on the side to keep your skills up.

3) Unfortunately for you sex offenses are tough to overcome and even harder to convince employers to hire you for. Your inability to travel out of state with ease, plus other restrictions associated with the registry, can make hiring decisions for sex offenders difficult. Your best bet is to aim for small, local employers or remote contract work. Possibly even starting your own business.

4) Your web page comes across as downplaying the severity of your offenses or as if they were just little mistakes. No offense, but this was a thought out sex crime. While they may be minor crimes, in the eyes of many any sex offense is a major red flag. Even more so when those crimes center around child sex offenses. I would work on getting letters of recommendation from influential people in your life. Your therapist, pastor/priest, probation officer, etc... Let potential employers know that you have these letters instead of just saying that "Everyone I know agrees I'm a different person".

5) Personally, I would avoid the paragraphs of what other offers you received. While you say "competitive rate", you flaunt the offer amounts and you don't mention what that competitive rate is. As a potential employer I may be skeptical that you are looking for a salary around those numbers.

With that said, I will put feelers out to my contacts to see if anyone is looking for a programmer with your skills.

Good luck!

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#89

Post by _sdegutis » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 9:22 PM UTC

billmalarky wrote: post #54

joshmn wrote: post #6

OP: Put your plea at the top to get the attention of people; "Unemployed family man ran out of money". Also, regarding interviews, if you're very transparent with people they can usually find a way past what turns up in your background check. To HN: Another felon here: One of the hardest things is living with this label. There's such a stigma around it. My offense is much different than OP, but it still sucks. People…

I agree, this current order suggests he's a felon first and foremost then the rest of the page says "well I'm actually all these great things too, but they come after the fact that I'm a felon." People might believe that the felon first hierarchy is the one that really matters (and they could be right in many scenarios - even this one) but he isn't doing himself any favors by being the first to suggest it.

Good point, I put that first because that's going to be the biggest question in people's mind so I wanted to answer it up-front and move on to what I can offer them.

Re: ReformedFelonForHire.com – High quality software skills, at a competitive price

#90

Post by lolsal » Wed, Apr 25, 2018, 9:23 PM UTC

_sdegutis wrote: post #65

jnsaff2 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

better delete this comment as you mixed up your accounts

No I did it intentionally. I can't reply under the other account (rate limited) and since I put my portfolio up, which already gives away my identity, I may as well just stop being anonymous. This may be a stupid decision, who knows. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and I need a job.

I'd like to echo what diminoten said - this was a passing interest for me at best. I didn't even bother to click your portfolio link. Then I read diminoten's comment and went back to check out your portfolio. I did a 180-degree change of mind.

I wonder if you should highlight your portfolio on your ReformedFelonForHire site more. Taking the anonymity out of it and displaying your skills definitely made me reconsider.

Good luck.