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Comment by geraldwhen | Hacker News Reader

I’ve never worked anywhere that would hire an ex con. Have you?

The vast majority will, some won’t. Some aren’t even allowed to based on their investors, client set or subject matter.

The longer it is in your past, the easier it is to overlook. It’s more about the actual charge than anything. Obviously some charges are harder to justify ignoring.

Source: I’m a felon. Been there, done that.

I have never been asked this question for employment. In my country being forbidden to work in some area is an extra sentence that the judge would impose (it's mostly around being forbidden to manage a company, being elected, or using weapons) and would be checked by the probation officer, not the employer.

It isn't a matter of being forbidden to work in an industry, but rather that some companies may be forbidden to employ you (and even then, the restrictions may only be for certain roles).

Let's ignore the computer/security aspects of this particular situation, and come up with other examples.

If you are convicted of a financial crime, for example, you are not barred from working as an accountant. You can even get a license and work as a CPA.

But some companies may not be able to employ you as an accountant due to your conviction.

And, it is worth noting, you can certainly lose your license if you commit a relevant crime after getting your license (or for failing to report some other felony to the licensing board).

All the above varies considerably in the details between countries, and in the US between states (eg. in some states a conviction for a felony requires a hearing before the certification board before being allowed to take the relevant exam, and the board may not decide in your favor).

Circling back to computers and security, the situation is much more forgiving since there is no relevant licensing barrier; nevertheless, some companies may be restricted from employing people convicted of certain categories of crimes in particular functions: think of having access to a bank's or credit company's customer information and accounts, or a health provider's patient data. But even organizations that are subject to such restrictions have plenty of roles (potentially even security roles) that aren't affected by these restrictions (except by their own internal policies, anyway).

We have a famous example here of someone who is forever forbidden to work around financial markets, that include the IT systems and network equipment.

But I don't think companies here are ever barred to go further than the law. If employees have to be vetted, there is a department in the Ministry of Interior that does just that, they say yes or no without any detail as to why (and there is an appeal process that still doesn't involve the employer).

But here if you cook the books as a CPA, you will probably be barred from the job for at least a few years.

Yes, 100% of the places I worked at didn't care. the USA are a crazy place

That's what remote work is for

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