Nothing, that was my point. For OP it would make a lot of sense to found a company / consult / etc instead of working _for_ a company, to get around his felony.
The part with "worthless advice" was about the whole "oh, also be successful and happy" thing.
"be successful and happy" is a useful advice because there is an option of "struggle really hard but you will make it".
But it's not, IT/programming has no downsides, just dive into it and it's awesome.