>That'll never work, as long as it's just a personal ethical thing. There's always someone who would rather take the money.
So true
>Now, if there was a professional organization or union with some teeth, which could enforce some kind of ethical code, then maybe "engineers" could do something about stuff like this.
That won't work either. A few years ago most of the "programmers/developers/computer scientists" I worked with (we weren't pretending to be engineers yet), all had C-S degrees (either C-S undergrad or math/physics undergrad with C-S masters+). And by and large these people were usually members of the ACM or IEEE.
Now with the rise of the "self tough (software) engineer", these professional organizations are weaker than ever before. My cube make is not only likely to be a boot camp graduate, they are likely to not know what the ACM is, never mind any ethical standards its has and of course have no concern for being kicked out.
Now I am not saying all this is good or bad, democratization of technology has pros and cons. But its a shift that makes depending on professional orgs more worthless than ever before. (some of this is also coast vs inland US, the west coast as always had more self-tough vs academia tought programmers).
> And by and large these people were usually members of the ACM or IEEE.
> But its a shift that makes depending on professional orgs more worthless than ever before.
I don't think those organizations have ever had any "teeth" in any space, let alone the professional one. I don't think anything like what I'm talking about had ever existed for programmers. I'm thinking of something like more like a Bar Association (like for lawyers) with regulatory/licensing powers or a union with labor-market power. I admit, both are unlikely to arise anytime soon.
> Some states require membership in the state's bar association to practice law there. Such an organization is called a mandatory, integrated, or unified bar,[3][4] and is a type of government-granted monopoly.
> Disbarment is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking his or her law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduct. Procedures vary depending on the law society.
> Generally disbarment is imposed as a sanction for conduct indicating that an attorney is not fit to practice law, willfully disregarding the interests of a client, or engaging in fraud which impedes the administration of justice.
So true
>Now, if there was a professional organization or union with some teeth, which could enforce some kind of ethical code, then maybe "engineers" could do something about stuff like this.
That won't work either. A few years ago most of the "programmers/developers/computer scientists" I worked with (we weren't pretending to be engineers yet), all had C-S degrees (either C-S undergrad or math/physics undergrad with C-S masters+). And by and large these people were usually members of the ACM or IEEE.
Now with the rise of the "self tough (software) engineer", these professional organizations are weaker than ever before. My cube make is not only likely to be a boot camp graduate, they are likely to not know what the ACM is, never mind any ethical standards its has and of course have no concern for being kicked out.
Now I am not saying all this is good or bad, democratization of technology has pros and cons. But its a shift that makes depending on professional orgs more worthless than ever before. (some of this is also coast vs inland US, the west coast as always had more self-tough vs academia tought programmers).