<p>What are the chances of being successful in the field of computer science with a felony (thefts and drugs). I am looking into becoming a Software Engineer. I do find the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning interesting though. I am a first year computer science student right now, by the way. Does anyone have any advice or first hand experience of my situation? Thanks!</p>
<p>Almost every company does a background check after an interview if they’re interested in hiring you, and it varies as to how how far back they go.</p>
<p>My guess is lots of bigger companies will have policies that automatically rule out anyone who’s committed a felony in the past xx years, but most smaller companies and start-ups will have more leeway. As time passes, it should be less of a concern.</p>
<p>If you get called in for an interview, make sure the potential employer knows about your legal issues by the end of the interview. If they learn about it from a background check, they’ll feel they can’t trust you.</p>
<p>I’ve had a couple former co-workers tell me they were in jail for felonies. </p>
<p>You will probably have to be more persistent in getting that first job, but you can certainly be successful.</p>
<p>The type of crime could also be relevant to an employer. A bank or finance firm may be more suspicious of a theft conviction, while a pharmaceutical company, pharmacy, or hospital may be more suspicious of a drug conviction.</p>
<p>@DavidPO1</p>
<p>My father is a felon and he just got a job at Burger King and he was lucky to do that. I’m not going to lie to you dude, IT’S GOING TO BE EXTREMELY HARD for you to get a job. My father holds a bachelor’s and he looked for a job for a year and a half before he could find any job what-so-ever. Basically cross all the big companies like, “Apple, Google, Microsoft, Capcom, etc.” off of your list. They are background Nazi’s. Another thing that will hurt you is that your felony was for theft, and that’s a HUGE red flag for companies. Companies are terrified that felons with theft on their record, because they think that you will steal from them. </p>
<p>However, not all hope is lost. After all, you did do something that my father wasn’t able to accomplish and that was to get back into a college after being a felon. So that may be the icebreaker for you. Since, you will be interacting with your professors on a constant basis, get in good with them and show them that you are a dedicated student: talk to your professors, read the flyers around your school, and go to the college sponsored computer science events for students, shake hands, kiss babies if you have to (lol), just do whatever it takes to get people to know you as a hardworking, and dedicated student. </p>
<p>After doing this, you can probably use your social contacts to get a job with the local college as a programmer and that’s your best bet. Colleges often hire students as part-time programmers and usually pay them about $12-15 an hour to start. As a programmer you can also take some IT classes as electives, and you may be able to work for the IT department as well with these classes taken. The bottom line is, try to do whatever it takes to get a job within your school, because that’s your best bet. </p>
<p>Also, if you are on probation, don’t tell your probation officer that you have a job in the school until about a month to a month and a half after you get it. My father made this mistake and the probation officer called my father’s job and ruined his reputation. The probation officer basically called and told my father’s employer that my dad was a no-good, dirty crook, just to screw him over. DO NOT TRUST YOUR PROBATION OFFICER, THEY WANT TO SEE YOU FAIL! Now of course, they might do a background check before they hire you, and that will make you look bad, but again, if you get in good with your professors and the computing department in your school, then they may just over look that.</p>