And if this was merely a commutation, that would matter more. But pardons don't just end sentences, they remove all lasting legal impacts of the conviction.

but with a record can they get jobs, pass a background check, et cetera?

This pardon is a good thing, why are we discussing it like it's not a move in the right direction?

Unfortunately everything in life is political now, so you can't just say, "Glad this happened" if you have some other unrelated gripe -- you need to downplay it, imply it's only for optics, say it doesn't go far enough, etc. etc.

they might be on probation tho