Title: Throwaway because I&#x27;m pretty active here.<p>I&#x27;m so depressed and lost, friends. This has not been an Incredible Journey.<p>About two years ago I was raked over the coals and charged with a white collar computer crime. It was highly-publicized and described in a less shimmering light than what actually happened, as most press releases by the justice department are. My current arrangement with the government involves &quot;special projects&quot; on an as-needed basis, which is why I’m not incarcerated.<p>I was employed throughout the turmoil — being charged (though, never indicted), and ultimately pleading guilty to a single count of computer intrusion. (In this case, computer intrusion was defined by a cURL request, changing a single query param; no other charges were pursued.) My employer knew the details, kept me on as long as they could: they are currently operating in a shell capacity as of late Q2 due to being unable to raise a round.<p>During my search for work I’ve always disclosed that I have baggage and can’t pass a background check. Even with this, I’ve had offers put on the table, only for them to be terminated or rescinded at some point. It&#x27;s not because I&#x27;m not telling the whole truth: when people ask, I tell; if they just say &quot;oh what&#x27;d you do&quot; and I say &quot;well, according to the government, this, but this is the real story&quot; it&#x27;s found to be fascinating, sad, and annoying at the same time.<p>All I know is to be transparent with people, so manipulating the story or the details is difficult for me — I have autism, and my entire existence lives to be transparent and logical because that&#x27;s just how I&#x27;m wired.<p>I really don’t know what to do at this point. I have rent that’s due, and nothing to fall back on: no assets to cash out (legal defense cleaned me out completely), I live off ramen like a founder, I have the bare minimum everything already. I don’t have any family to go to — my mother, and my only, passed away about this time a few years ago. My friends: well, I am usually the person that is supporting them when they are in crisis.<p>I am not used to being in crisis.<p>Being autistic makes it particularly difficult because I&#x27;m already so awful at advocating for myself. Perhaps the most frustrating part is that I outwardly appear neurotypical.<p>Freelancing sites like Upwork are probably my next go-to, even if it rattles my pride and my usual rate, at least I won’t be homeless and starving. I thought I’d post here in case anyone has any resources or ideas I haven’t thought of yet.<p>For the last 15 years I’ve been building MVPs and shaping up Ruby&#x2F;Rails applications, working at some big-name Rails shops, many smaller YC companies, and everything in between. I&#x27;m active and relatively popular in the open-source Ruby&#x2F;Rails world, and my side projects here have been met with great admiration. But I&#x27;m still in this position. With the tech stack I&#x27;ve pigeoned myself into, I’m unfortunately a one-trick in regard, but at this point I’ll take anything I can get. My next stop is retail, if I can even pass a background check.<p>Redacted resume, if anyone can help: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;docs.google.com&#x2F;document&#x2F;d&#x2F;1gZ_-spX5F2sIyJUuL7firQbWK9xNrSYZ69O_xackCjQ (context: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37265203)<p>My email, for this journey, is lostrubyist@gmail.com
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