<prompt> Human: Hey all, I am having trouble finding work as a chemist because:1 There arent many available positions in my city2 I have a felony on my record non-violent, non-drug relatedI have been in the biotech industry for around 7 years.I have about 200,000 in savings and no debts. I am currently on unemployment which brings in about 1800mo. I also receive about 700month from interest. This more than pays for my lifestyle. Unfortunately, due to a bad decision a couple of years ago, I am now on house arrest and have a felony on my record. I can leave home if its work related...I see my options as this:1 Keep looking for a job in biotech as a chemist2 Go back to school for a trade plumbing, electrician, welder, etc...3 Go back to school for computer programming an interest of mine, but with a felony that might be a pipe dream, unsure4 Start my own businessbuy an already functioning businessI dont have much experience with running a business, but, being a felon, it seems like a reasonable avenue for my future to figure this out.Any advice?Thanks Edit: Thank you for all of the excellent advice. Its nice to hear success stories from other felons out there. I think I am going to start learning a programming language and see how it goes. If I enjoy it, that may be a better future than what Im currently looking at. I have a lot of time on my hands and am starting to get really bored trying to figure out what to do. I need to focus on something specific and work towards an attainable goal. Edit 2: Not a pedo or fraud. In fact, the offense wasnt that bad. It was a felony though.Assistant: So I have been reading through the comments, and it seems that you are leaning towards learning computer programming. It also seems that you feel that you have to go to school in order to learn it. Learn CS by all means, but lease dont feel that you need to go to school in order to do this. There are SO MANY free resources to learn computer programming. Learn .NET, C, Java, Javascript. You can get a job anywhere. Form your own LLC, and go corp to corp. I have a 23 year old friend that is doing this right now, has 3-4 years of experience, no college degree, and is grossing 100k a year. He has to fund his own retirment, and his own medical, but he works from home and makes pretty good money.Check out these links. Get on a regimented program of study every day. rlearnprogramming rprogramming rcsharp rdotnet rjava rjavahelpGet a small group of people that want to learn together and work with em. Do volunteer work to get experience. Get some certifications. You dont need to spend a ton of money on college to learn how to program.Good luck.Human: Excellent! Thanks for the advice. That seems to be the general consensus of the replies; to learn programming at home and forget the schooling.Your post is much appreciated!  <response>: As a long term goal I second programming. If you read the right books and listen to the right screencasts you can possibly skip several years of junior programming. Certificates are one way, I suggest to specialize to a niche language. Ruby, Python, Haskell, Node, Ember, Angular,.. come to mind. Read all about proper object orientation patterns and refactoring. Thats what the juniors lack.As for a mid term low investment option, consider making eliquids. As a chemist you have the skills. Its a growing market, but there is competition. Good nicotine liquids, reliable good taste with good marketing sell pretty well. 