Long time lurker, created an account just to add a comment here. Your friend's situation hits close to home as I spent most of my 20's in prison and am a software developer.
He can move forward and be reasonably successful despite his felony record. There are plenty of people in the world who will be willing to look past that and give him a chance, but to be balanced, on the flip side there are equally many who will not. It saddens me to hear he has little family, it is hard to underestimate the value of personal support to a recent ex-con.
Job hunting can be difficult. Many organizations will flat out not consider you because of the felony record. I had good luck with smaller companies, where you met the boss and had the chance to make a personal impression, where I was given the opportunity to explain why I was sent to prison and why the employer should take what is admittedly a bigger chance on hiring me.
But here's the kicker with software development. I was already good at it before prison. It was no challenge to demonstrate some level of skill that outweighed the uncertainty of hiring a felon. In your friend's case, this may or may not work as well.
It's great that he had the chance to work with computers and Access in prison. I had similar opportunities and in fact learned .Net during my stay, letting me come back into the job market with relevant, polished skills.
My first job out of prison was the type that gives you plenty of fodder for The Daily WTF, but it was a job and it was much easier to get the second job than the first. If your friend can get his foot in the door - at any job - he'll have the opportunity to prove himself and may find that the disadvantage of a felonious past fades quickly into the background. My experience has been that if you can actually do useful work as a programmer and show this to potential employers, you will quickly get past the felony tag. A programmer that can produce is still a hot commodity at least in my area (and Indiana is likely no different).
Drugs, I had a brief encounter with methamphetamine in my late teens that landed me a hefty sentence for selling small amounts to support my habit (12 year sentence, though between normal parole time and early release via prison boot camp for drug offenders I served about half that).
I have a friend who is in a halfway house after finishing a two year sentence for manufacture. He's lucky, and I hope to get him working soon. He's made emulators since he was 12 (now 28). Good luck and god bless.
He can move forward and be reasonably successful despite his felony record. There are plenty of people in the world who will be willing to look past that and give him a chance, but to be balanced, on the flip side there are equally many who will not. It saddens me to hear he has little family, it is hard to underestimate the value of personal support to a recent ex-con.
Job hunting can be difficult. Many organizations will flat out not consider you because of the felony record. I had good luck with smaller companies, where you met the boss and had the chance to make a personal impression, where I was given the opportunity to explain why I was sent to prison and why the employer should take what is admittedly a bigger chance on hiring me.
But here's the kicker with software development. I was already good at it before prison. It was no challenge to demonstrate some level of skill that outweighed the uncertainty of hiring a felon. In your friend's case, this may or may not work as well.
It's great that he had the chance to work with computers and Access in prison. I had similar opportunities and in fact learned .Net during my stay, letting me come back into the job market with relevant, polished skills.
My first job out of prison was the type that gives you plenty of fodder for The Daily WTF, but it was a job and it was much easier to get the second job than the first. If your friend can get his foot in the door - at any job - he'll have the opportunity to prove himself and may find that the disadvantage of a felonious past fades quickly into the background. My experience has been that if you can actually do useful work as a programmer and show this to potential employers, you will quickly get past the felony tag. A programmer that can produce is still a hot commodity at least in my area (and Indiana is likely no different).