Wait a minute, I thought software engineers were in high demand, with companies fighting over them and opportunities everywhere! At least that's what one out of every 10 HN articles tells me. Surely that demand gives them a little power and agency over their work. I think we are pretending here that these developers have only one option: "Sure, boss! Whatever you say, boss!"

I personally believe that you, the software developer typing in the code, should hold yourself personally accountable for what you are typing in. You might also be designing what you type in, or even setting the requirements, but it might be other people. Regardless, you are making the software come into being--you're the one coding it and pushing it to the repo, so you should set the standard of what is acceptable. This "well, boss told me to do it!" rationalization and blame-shifting is how we get dangerous and unethical software.

And, yes, I have quit software jobs where I was asked to write software I considered ethically questionable, and failed to change the boss's mind.