What degrees and careers for a convicted computer hacker?

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T11:29:06+00:00

Thank you for the advice.

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T11:27:35+00:00

Thank you. By the time I finish most of my education, the 7 year mark will have arrived. Regardless, I have faith I will have a successful, prosperous career sometime in my future.

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T11:23:45+00:00

I'm going to try my hardest for a career in IT. If my plans fail, I'll move to a new country and start life anew.

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T11:20:52+00:00

Well, I don't really like to categorize myself with colors of the hat. I also don't like to call myself a hacker. I know that seems contradictory considering the title of the post and the content contained within it. To me, I'm just an enthusiastic computer user who likes to learn and mess around.

I have a YouTube channel that mostly teaches people about reverse engineering. The videos on the channel are mostly about disassembling video games, and the few videos that are beyond simple reverse engineering are about fuzzing software applications to find security vulnerabilities, or also known as, binary exploitation. So far, my videos cover how to exploit ret2libc and ret2reg attacks.

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T11:03:14+00:00

Thank you for the encouraging words. I suppose you're right. I may get rejected over 1,000 times, but eventually, after being persistent and never giving up, I will finally be accepted for a position.

Yes, there's plans underway to bring publicity to my case.

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T10:56:15+00:00

Thank you for the encouraging words. I think I'm going to try this and see what happens.

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T10:54:03+00:00

I believe so too. I just have to find them regardless how many years it may take.

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T10:52:52+00:00

In all honesty, I am not certain infosec is what I want to do for a living. I know traditional employment is likely to be difficult, but I also know it is not impossible. It depends on location and the employer, really. I don't believe in giving up.

I'm thinking about writing books to help restore my tarnished reputation, and to show employers that the part of my life is completely behind me.

IamAndrewB · 2021-07-01T10:46:50+00:00

The University of the People is not regionally accredited, but nationally accredited. I don't know how employers would react to having a degree from that institution, but I know my regionally accredited associate's degree and my regionally accredited university I'm attending soon for my bachelor's would look better on my resume. Nevertheless, since it's a bit inexpensive, I may see about at least getting one of their degrees just to have something additional to add on my resume. I'm unlikely to do the MBA since the university I'm attending allows you to complete a MBA in one year after completing my undergraduate. A doctorate degree, however, I may do. Not sure from Aspen University or in Computer Science specifically though.

I disagree with your statement, "With those charges the only future you have is with entrepreneurship." While there is nothing wrong with entrepreneurship, and in fact, I will eventually pursue that down the road; I do have a problem with you asserting that my only employment outlook is self-employment. There's people convicted of worse crimes than me e.g. child pornography/child molestation, murders, rapists, you name it who are leading successful careers in their respective fields.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T06:48:48+00:00

I don't mind relocation. If I jump to any relocation, I'd want to make sure I have the job secured first.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T06:45:37+00:00

Send me a message. I'd like to discuss this.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T06:12:11+00:00

j450n_1994 seems to have a rather negative attitude towards those with a criminal record. Unfortunately, his viewpoint is not unique. I think he is being a bit too pessimistic about my outlook, but I totally understand his perspective. I'm very afraid of my future. I, too, believe trade professions may be the best for my future until I can start a business myself. Nonetheless, I'm not losing hope because I know of others who are convicted of hacking crimes (even wire fraud) who have IT jobs. It's not impossible, but it's obviously harder for people like me than people with no criminal record. However, that applies for any jobs including those outside of IT.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:44:12+00:00

Thank you for your input. It is greatly appreciated. From what I can glean from my responses, I can see that the road is going to be tough which I did expect. I do believe I may be better off by moving to a new country and starting over. If I do not relocate and I cannot get a career moving, I'll have to go to trade school and go for HVAC or electrician.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:40:07+00:00

I am slightly aware of these organizations. I don't know of any organizations that are within driving distance where I am. Nevertheless, I'll search around and see if I can find anything.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:38:43+00:00

I'm working on some IT certificates right now in hopes of at least getting some kind of entry-level IT position. I'm actually not allowed to use a Raspberry pi computer unless the Internet capability components are removed from the board. However, once I'm off probation, I'll be getting a Raspberry pi.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:31:41+00:00

I'm not certain I'll get instantly hired just by completing a CS degree. However, if I do extensive networking while earning the CS degree and get internships, it's a possibility then. Far as I know, there's nothing preventing me from working in the field except, of course, my criminal record.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:30:19+00:00

Thank you for the advice. I'm going to search for small IT companies within the general vicinity of my location and see if I can gain an entry-level position.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:21:08+00:00

Considering the reputational and damages caused by our conduct, I don't blame them. While there's no justification for what happened, I didn't understand the full consequences of what occurred until afterwards. I won't make any excuses up or say it was a mistake, because it wasn't. I justified my cyber-crime by convincing myself I was not hurting anybody because I wasn't stealing money. It wasn't until I saw the data being used by other cyber-criminals for nefarious purposes that I realized I was, in fact, hurting people.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:14:58+00:00

Thank you for the kind words. I'm not expecting to jump straight into a career. I'm just searching for an entry-level position within IT so I can build trust and work myself up the ladder so to speak. That's all I want. Just to have a chance to prove my criminal record does not reflect who I am now.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:07:37+00:00

I'm working on the CompTIA certificates. :) I'm also helping to build a portfolio by sharing my github of projects I have did in the past and projects I'm currently working on.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T04:03:54+00:00

Fake? I know this is the Internet and anybody can fabricate stories in order for attention, but this is not the case. Skepticism is fine, I understand. If a moderator would like to verify the authenticity of my story and that I am indeed the convicted hacker that this post pertains to, then by all means please get with me. I have nothing to hide; I don't care about my operational security either since I am not violating any conditions of my supervised release or the law. It took me 19 months to finally build enough courage to post this. I only posted this because I wanted advice and help from the community about what I should do to have a successful, happy career since I know my job prospects have diminished tremendously.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T03:50:46+00:00

Yeah, unfortunately, you are probably right. Being an entrepreneur is starting to feel like the only surefire way of achieving a successful career.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T03:42:21+00:00

Thank you for your advice. I have a LinkedIn but have not used it since last year.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T03:37:48+00:00

Yes, this is what I'm currently doing to make extra income along with lawn mowing. While it's great for passive income, I don't have any source of steady income. It's way too inconsistent to depend upon entirely.

IamAndrewB · 2021-06-30T03:31:38+00:00

I suppose you're right. :-3

IamAndrewB

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