Last year in February I was arrested and charged with 4 counts of possession with intent to distribute (I had small amounts of 4 different drugs). My case is a few months away from coming to a close. While there's a small chance I could receive a deal that drops my charges after successful completion of probation, it's somewhat likely I will instead do probation and receive the convictions.<p>I fear that if I receive the convictions (which cannot be expunged in my state) then I will be limited to small companies with mediocre pay. Is this true? Are my hopes of making a great living in this field squandered because I screwed up, admittedly totally, at one point in my life?<p>I'm re enrolling in school this fall and still have 3 ish years to go due to switching majors to CS. Showing that I can finish school will work on my favor. Are there any other things I can be doing to improve my chances of finding a great job after school if I do indeed receive convictions?<p>Thanks :)
If your felony was murder or rape or something, I think the answer would be "yes". But under the circumstances, I think you will find lots of companies (probably startups in particular) are run by people who don't care about a "possession with intent" charge.<p>If we were in a position to hire right now, and I were evaluating you as a candidate, it would barely factor in at all. Hell, I might even consider it a positive. But I'm a government hating libertarian who thinks all drug laws should be abolished, so my position may be a bit unique.
As an interesting note:<p>Lots of companies that do background checks aren't doing them to see if you have an arrest record at all.<p>They are doing them to see if you have been honest and if you haven't been convicted of financial crimes, or computer crimes.<p>The former is a big deal if you do credit card processing and money handling, the latter may or may not be an issue depending on what it is and who you are working for.<p>Smaller companies give a lot of leeway to hiring managers, and there are jobs that you may be excluded from, but it isn't the end of the world. Honestly, places that believe past performance is a predictor of future results need a reality check. Peoples lives, and circumstances change enough that it isn't a good predictor of anything.<p>As you are a CS student, I highly recommend that you start working on and contributing to open source projects and personal projects. Working as an engineer ends one of three ways... You spend your years pushing the buttons and collecting a check, you do that same thing and get lucky with an exit or you start doing your own thing. That last one gives you mastery over your own fate and destiny and is the way a lot of us are really getting ahead.<p>It is much easier to try and fail when your young... eating ramen, working long hours aren't as rough on you and not having kids or dependents are big factors to you being able to sustain a lifestyle that those of us who are older don't have as easy of a time doing.
Felony convictions will close many doors, especially at large companies.<p>Focus on places with "ban the box" laws and jobs that don't have direct impact with financial or health data.<p>You'll be fine. Hold yourself to a higher standard going forward and you'll be fine.
"with the intent to distribute" is what you need to figure out how to explain to a hiring manager (if that's on your record like that, I have no idea how detailed that information might be). Questions like what were you thinking, did you know the law, the consequences, etc. The hiring manager probably couldn't care less about drugs, they want to assess your ability to make judgements.<p>In any case, I'd suggest you keep your dev skills above average. That will help make this situation less important. With a shortage of skilled professionals, certain things can be ignored provided they aren't too blatant (or are shown to have improved).
This thread from 3 years (1223 days) ago discussed this topic rather thoroughly: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6750043" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6750043</a>
I think you'll be OK if you can manage your Google search results to hide your conviction as best you can. Many small companies will limit their "background check" to Googling your name.
In short no. I make over 200k base.<p>I was in the same boat but with worse drug charges. Very few startups will do background checks and after 7yrs an employment background check in california legally cant show convictions before then anyways.<p>Its not like you killed or raped someone.<p>Plus, dont pay lip service to the thought police. You ingested a drug and theres nothing wrong with that. Lie to the judge and say you're sorry if you must but they are in the wrong not you.
- Move to California where everyone is on something. Including the police and judge.
- Try applying to Apple. Steve Jobs is quote for saying everyone should try lsd
- build a cool side project so any company who passes is obviously denying you a job based on your criminal record. Aka discrimination. Take the fuckers to court and own the company at the end of the day
I don't know the answer but I'll say good luck, and the "lemonade from the lemons" might be to just start your own business / startup / freelance from the beginning and enjoy never having a boss or a scrum meeting.
I had a roommate in college that served time for a crime. He was only able to get jobs as a short order cook or as a roofer.<p>But given the resources to start your own company, even if it is bootstrapped, I think you have more options today than he did back them.
The short answer is: if you're a minority, yes. If you're white, no. Either way your potential will be harmed, but like many things, this can be overcome as well. You'll have to be probably way above average to overcome the "gravity" that will hold you back as a felon. After that I'd say there will be no more barriers, sans management positions.
just be honest if you do get a felony if asked about it. If you lie and they do a background check and find it then that's an auto-no.<p>To be honest half of SV is on something or the other. So drug use / arrest for it for a small amount shouldn't be a big issue