Ask HN: Recent computer hacking convictions and employability?
&gt; <i>I&#x27;m not particularly talented</i><p>Stop telling yourself that. You wouldn&#x27;t be #11 out of 25,000 if you weren&#x27;t talented.<p>As long as you&#x27;re open about your past and convictions, and your legal standing permits employment doing the work you&#x27;d do, then there&#x27;s nothing stopping you from applying.<p>When you see a job posting then look at what the requirements are. If you fit more than half then you should apply. The things you don&#x27;t know can be learned on-the-fly. You&#x27;ll no doubt have interviews that try to find your strong points and weak points. You&#x27;ll have failures. But that&#x27;s not a problem: everyone has those.<p>This is <i>your</i> market: there are tons of companies that are hiring for your skillset and you&#x27;ll land a job quickly if you&#x27;re good enough at the core skills that are needed... which I&#x27;m sure you are.<p>Edit:
I would also add that I&#x27;m also completely self-taught. The only computer class I&#x27;ve taken was typing... and I got kicked out for cheating because it was boring. I&#x27;ve been employed in software for over 20 years and currently make $160k salary in TX, USA building software for drones. There are a lot of people in the computer industry who are self-taught. Don&#x27;t let that stop you.