Comment by prisonthrowaway | Hacker News Reader

Comment by prisonthrowaway | Hacker News Reader

prisonthrowaway

Throwaway because I want to put my past behind me.

I've been to prison. Convicted of assault when I turned 18 years old. At 20, I was released and the system provided no re-integration efforts for me. In Feb 2003, I was homeless, no family, and I lost all my friends.

I applied for over 100 jobs while sleeping in the back of an abandoned car with no luck.

Finally I lied to get employment at a local McDonald's. Then I begged a literally insane person to let me sleep on her couch until I received enough money to get a place of my own. I had to pay her in sperm donations (as she wanted a child).

I had to steal food to eat in those first few months.

On top of that, I had $18,000 in restitution and 10 years of probation. If I missed payments, I'd go back to prison.

Fast forward 10 years, I put myself through college, paid off the restitution in full, got off probation 5 years early, moved the hell away from my home town, and built a million dollar company.

I got curious a few years ago and looked up all my fellow inmates. 100% of them were back in prison.

When I think of how lucky I am to have escaped that life, I have no words...

Wow, what an awesome story. I don't think you should be ashamed of it - really inspiring.

Being a company owner, would you be more or less likely to hire folks with a criminal record based on your experience?

I wrote a book describing my experience in detail and how I overcame particulars, but every time I think about publishing, I back down. The last few years, I'm finally rid of that "black spot" over my head that I'm not ready to bring it back quite yet. Not to mention, I need to focus on running my company at the moment.

I never ask if a person has been arrested/convicted of a felony during the hiring process. People can do great work regardless if they're black, white, male, female, immigrant, or felon.

Your story isn't just an inspiration, but it's also what the world needs.

I've never been to prison, but I have been homeless for months; battled addiction; jailed for minor offense; still haven't achieved a higher education. Still though, now I'm an engineer at Google.

What we can find is that being ashamed of our past is a very limited way of thinking. There are millions of people out there who can benefit from our struggle. People in better situations and worse situations. The more we share our stories, it helps society as a whole.

And, really, that's what this is all about, isn't it?

Would love to read your book, and would definitely endorse it. Hell, I'd would be interested talking more sometime as well. Add me to your mailing list if you have one! Email: hello@wyatt.engineer

Congrats on making it out as well.

I wrote the book thinking about the people I could be helping, but I don't publish it because I finally feel "free." I'm not sure if it's an irrational fear, or something I need therapy for, but the idea of going back to how I felt is something that I'm not ready for right now.

Quick story for emphasis:

In 2011, just as my company was off the ground, I found out I had a warrant for my arrest. When you're on probation and you are convicted of another crime, you serve length of probation + new crime. In my case even though I was not on active probation, my unsupervised probation cited that I would serve 10 years plus new crime.

The people who know me today would describe me as very stable and light-hearted/funny. When I got that warrant notice, I had a complete meltdown. I left work, physically ran to my apartment, and locked myself away. I was informed on a Friday, so my attorney couldn't get back to me until Monday with all the information as to why I was being warranted.

The reason? It turns out the State that I moved away from had lost all the records of me paying my restitution.

Lucky for me, I'd been carrying those receipts around for nearly 10 years at that point. I photocopied every single one of them and a week later, the warrant was revoked.

I lived in chaos after prison for years, and in fear for more than 10 years. I just need a bit more time to heal up before I'm ready.

I'm away from SF (where I typically live) for a few more months, but I'll reach out when I'm back.

I'm glad you had those receipts.

Looking forward to your contact :)

How did you get your foot in the door?

Submitted an application via the normal process https://careers.google.com/how-we-hire/apply/

Did you go straight from the state of chaos to learning engineering to Google, or there were incremental steps of employment in between? What are some key factors in the process? Stories like yours are very inspiring and I strive to think what can we as a society do to replicate those. Thank you!

There were incremental steps in between. A couple years of freelance development and open source work, then a couple years of working at a startup plus freelancing at night.

When I write a book (people have been encouraging me for a while now) I'll post it to HN. Thanks for your interest. My abilities are not extraordinary and I believe anybody can accomplish greatness with enough passion, perseverance, and unglamorous work

Whats a good place to start getting freelance gigs?

I hope one day you can publish it.

So many others in your position could use the hope.

The US is too harsh on so many offenders - if you've 'done your time' - I can see not being able to buy a gun, but I don't think employers should be able to ask.

You can always publish under a pen name. It could be an important story to tell.

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