Do average tech companies care about felony probation for SWE?
I know some will and I assume some won’t, but if anyone has any insight into how most companies feel about hiring a software engineer with a felony probation please share
Depends on the nature of the conviction and the employer. Theft, fraud, sex offenses, violent crimes, drugs will likely count against the candidate. Companies don't "feel" any specific way since companies don't "feel" or have the same policies. How much a record counts against a candidate will depend on company policies (both formal and informal), and the judgment of the interviewers.
I know someone with a felony fraud conviction who can't get a job at any financial company (the business domain he has most experience in). Instant disqualifier.
Not all employers run background checks, but they may ask about felony or even misdemeanor convictions and if you lie and they later find out they can fire for that reason.
A candidate with a record may get passed over with the employer giving some other reason, to protect themselves from lawsuits. In other words the candidate may get told "We hired a more qualified candidate" when they actually got rejected because of a criminal record.
If it’s related to violence or theft I think they would care. If it’s drug possession I don’t think they would care. If it’s selling drugs and you were successful at it then you’re a great fit!
(Assuming the company is media, social media or gaming related)
It very much depends. I have been with a company that found and hired someone because they became known through a felony conviction related to hacking.(They had a specific set of skills we needed related to the hacking conviction.)
...But ultimately we couldn't complete the hiring process since there was a bank on the first floor and the building owners would have terminated our lease if they found out they worked there.
I would assume specifics are important
I worked for a company that hired a tech as he was being prosecuted for company equipment theft for a previous company. I think it had to do with him selling unused and outdated equipment on ebay. Anyway, he got the job and there was never any secrecy about it. Not sure why they did it but obviously it was not a big deal. I guess it all comes down to what the felony is.
Depending on the role and company there might be legal limitations, regardless of hiring manager views on the crime.
For example, working at a software firm focused on trading and financial systems we had contractual requirements to never send felons onto customer sites. So for sales or support/engineering roles given that traveling to customer sites was part of the role description, that limited employees we would have otherwise hired.
Also, all the regulated financial's I've worked at have background checks at onboarding, and then annual compliance reviews where you have to attest to not having felonies in a range of related areas. You can't manage money if you've been convicted of stealing it.
I can't say if they truly care, but they can't a priori DQ you just for that. When I was a hiring manager, it wouldn't have bothered me a bit, assuming the interview went well, it had been a while, they weren't applying for a classified task / job, and their explanation satisfied everyone. It would have been a factor, but not the only factor.
Regardless, you can only apply with your background, so all the usual advice applies: interview well, practice, be confident, be deep, have good stories, questions, and talking points ready. The extra advice for folks with a record (like myself) is to prep a good explanation.
You'll do fine.
Most tech companies have to care even if they don't want to. Standard contracts with clients as well as industry regulations (like SOC, ISMS, PIMS and more) all enforce clean background checks for all employees.
It will come up during background check. I personally wouldn’t give a shit as long as the person was hard working in a consistent manner.
Didn’t they already pay their “debt to society” by serving whatever their sentence was?
I can't tell you if they'll care, but I saw a guy not get hired because he didn't disclose it up front and then it came up in the background check.
I doubt a human cares that much or at least takes the circumstances into account. However, insurance and other policies required to make business possible probably care a lot.
Is it lawful for an employer to factor in criminal history when choosing employees? Asking for my own education.
How would they know this information? Maybe in my country this isn't a thing before getting a job.
Do average tech employees care about criminal misconduct by their employers?