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Comment by ForHackernews | Hacker News Reader

This right here is exhibit A in why developers are wage labour, not professionals, regardless of how many RSUs they get.

Actual professionals, [that is, doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers (real ones, not the phony software kind)] have obligations to their professional standards and ethics that supersede obligations to their employer.

A good accountant won't cook your books for you (unless he's crooked), but the world's best code monkeys are happy to write up whatever invasive spyware adtech or emissions standards-cheating software you ask for, as long as they keep getting their peanuts.

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>Actual professionals, [that is, doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers (real ones, not the phony software kind)] have obligations to their professional standards and ethics that supersede obligations to their employer.

That's incredibly naive world view. Doctors are constantly letting themselves be bribed by pharma companies (let alone "ethics" that allow them committing things like Tuskegee experiment, forced sterilizations or stuff like [0]) and lawyers are regarded as biggest liars for a reason (and not only defence or civil law lawyers, we keep constantly hearing about prosecutorial misconduct). And it's not like they get shunned by their peers when caught usually they get only slap on the wrist, they don't even have to turn in their license or get disbarred.

[0]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2018/05/14/pelvic-exa...

Some people fail to uphold the ethical standards of their profession, therefore we shouldn't have ethical standards? Is that the argument here?

Oh, we should have them. But despite all their education (which includes ethics) and professional associations, your revered "professionals" aren't any better than the "wage labourers".

They absolutely are. The very first question asked by any lawyer is "who is the other party". Lawyers are very aware of conflict of interest.

Software developers are wage labour because they don't need a license to practice. That is the only difference between the other professions that you mentioned here and software engineering. And let's not act as if there are no questionable practices amongst doctors, accountants, lawyers, and 'real engineers'. I agree about the need for an ethical code though. Maybe a license could enforce that? I don't know how a license would work in a relatively easily outsourced job though.

I mean, you’re right—there does seem to be a close similarity.

That makes a strong argument for development needing more regulation / certification from an ethical standpoint.

There may be some questionable behavior by doctors, but medical board exams minimize the number of malpractioners, and ensure baseline competency. Why don’t we expect the same accountability and baseline competency for developers?

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