Comment by typetehcodez | Hacker News Reader

Comment by typetehcodez | Hacker News Reader

>"Access to developers is a bigger constraint than access to capital"

As software continues to eat the world, I am reminded of Uncle Bob's blog on a Hippocratic Oath for software developers and the gravity behind the consequences of what we produce.

http://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2015/11/27/OathDiscussi...

It's only a matter of time before the discussion changes from "Developer Coefficient" to much more dire tone. To quote Bob Martin,

"With that great power ought to come great responsibility. And, indeed, society will hold us responsible when our actions result in disaster. And yet nothing binds us together as a profession. We share no ethics. We share no discipline. We share no standards. We are viewed, by our employers, as laborers. We are tools for others to command and use. We have no profession."

Ethics is fine and most of us probably believe that we are doing a proper job at any point in time but to look back in 10 years and say that code you wrote when you were 18 years old 3 companies ago is having a bad effect now is unlikely to illicit any practical response other than making insurance and legal companies richer.

Unfortuantely, it is harder to measure how "good" things should be in software engineering compared to the need for a bridge to stay up or a doctor to not make somebody sick.

I could see governments introducing laws that say every company who writes software need certain credentials etc. but as we already know, ISO registrations or PCI certifications do not actually mean the people who do the work know what they are doing well enough.

There is the ACM Code of Ethics that some of us subscribe to. Though I understand if many people have never heard of such a thing.

I've personally found it very difficult to discuss ethics and professionalism. Many SWEs either don't care or see it as an opportunity to try to inject their personal ethics. Neither is helpful in formulating a professional ethical system.

Do many understand what a professional ethical system. I'd say I'd only have a fuzzy idea, having not worked in a real profession.

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