He served as a Navy Corpsman while on active duty at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital and in the Reserves with the United States Marine Corps.

He started shining shoes at the age of eight, and had to work odd jobs all throughout high school to help his family with expenses.

Noland then went to Camp Pendleton where he went through Marine Corps training and served as a Corpsman, attached to NTC Great Lakes, until he got out in 1993.

Noland has worked as a public defender and an attorney in private practice, representing hundreds of clients, many of them pro-bono.

Noland was the Democratic nominee to replace Rauschenberger and faced Republican Mayor Billie Roth in the general election.

[4] Noland was a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1961 which called for the end of a long time practice of elected officials placing their names on taxpayer funded signs and other electronic messaging.

HJRCA31 grants Illinois voters the option, by way of the November ballot, to ratify an amendment to the State Constitution that would allow for Gubernatorial recalls.

Noland's legislation was featured as the main article in the Chicago Tribune's "Clout Street" the following day, October 16, 2009.

[7] After exploring a campaign in the summer of 2015 he announced that he would run for the Democratic nomination, leaving his position in the Illinois Senate.

With the retirement of Judge David R. Akemann in the 16th Judicial District of Illinois, Noland ran for the vacant seat on the bench.