Ever since I read Steve McConnell's After The Goldrush, I've been listening to people tell me why software engineering should be exempt from the kind of controls that e.g. electrical engineering or medicine or plumbing are subject to.
The reason is almost always "Their work can do real harm".
Yeah? Look around you, dude.
@jasongorman I guess the scale of potential damage from software is so large that the average person doesn’t quite comprehend.
It’s not just in our electrical devices, it’s crossed the human-technology barrier into our media, politics, culture, work, leisure and everything in between.
Software is in our bodies and in our minds.
@jasongorman Yes, there is certainly a lack of a sense of morality in the profession generally.
I remember doing a Business Studies module for my undergraduate degree - it didn’t seem to fit very well.
A module on ethics would be more useful, more so today than ever.
@joost_rekveld @Shepharo @jasongorman Makes sense. It also opens the way for restitution in case of accidental harm.
I always thought Google's "don't be evil" was quite a low bar. And then they even removed that...
@Shepharo @jasongorman The ACM Code of Ethics for example has this. (And IEEE's.)
However, most people are neither aware of those, nor are they considered relevant in day to day work since they're not legally binding.
Jason Gorman
Craig Shepherd
Tjen Wellens
Joost Rekveld
Lars Marowsky-Brée 😷
Frederic Thevenet