this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2024
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Depends on what field you're in. There are entire sectors of tech that seek out skilled hackers for things like pen testing.
They have a good point though. Pen testing is a vanishingly small corner of our field, and I haven't seen anyone with a past conviction get hired for those roles, in a long time. (Edit: Of course, I work with privacy respecting folks, so there could be, and their conviction just isn't famous.)
I've seen too many hacker kids think their hacker reputation is going to get them out of trouble, and it didn't.
I'll defer to you on this as I'm by no means an expert. I suppose I thought there was more demand for young people who have that specific skillset than there actually is.
Yeah. The demand for red team skills is complicated.
There's plenty of work to do. But there's a lot of anxiety, and in some cases laws, that make hiring managers cautious.
When a team member is going to sometimes physically break into a data center, things are much simpler if they have an unimpeachable reputation.
And that, itself, is unfair, since everyone's definition of "unimpeachable reputation" is going to be a bit different. I'm inclined to factor in motives, but not everyone can.
So it's not the end of the world for a young hacker with a conviction, but they definitely have a more difficult time.
Again, it depends. Some of the most notorious hackers of all time literally had their prison sentences commuted so that they can work for the NSA (or US Gov't in some capacity).