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Discussion on: Have you ever had to take an ethical stand while on the job as a developer?

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v6 profile image
πŸ¦„N BπŸ›‘

But here's a little perspective: he was right about "not something that you should worry about". Because it's not a technical discussion. You're there to make decisions about building the site, not content. Content decisions are made by other people.

Doesn't hurt to have engineers who think about the bigger picture. But yeah, overall I do agree with this.

Ever heard the story of the "The Blue Capacitor"?

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nombrekeff profile image
Keff

I have not, worth taking a look?

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v6 profile image
πŸ¦„N BπŸ›‘ • Edited
I have not, worth taking a look?

Yes. Yes it is.

TL:DR; Company runs into a huge issue due to single sourced part: A capacitor. 'Twas chosen because it was pretty, engineer didn't think to check supply chain of the part because it's "not my area."

Single sourced means there's only one supplier, rather than multiples. If the only source of the supplier runs into capacity issues, the whole damn thing shuts down. We're seeing a bit of this with the whole SARS-2 outbreak's effect on modern supply chains.

Anyway, the VP of this company responsible for supply chains has to go down through 6 layers of management to talk to the engineer who specified it.

The engineer's reason? "It was blue, and looked better on the board. Supply chain's not my area."

really

Suffice to say, many specialized workers do not have much of a good reason to look outside of their area. "Will that affect my paycheck or my performance ratings? NOPE!" But companies who can inspire sidelong glances by their specialists, at other parts of the business will get more opportunities and avoid risks. That example was for an engineer who could have avoided a huge risk by making a sidelong glance at the supply chain implications of a decision.

But what about the sales guy who decides to learn Visual Basic, or the finance VP who tries out Terraform?

Or the backend Enterprise systems coder who asks his employer (ahem) to consider paying for graphic design lessons?

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ogrotten profile image
ogrotten • Edited

I saw that story you posted.

Yeah that person had no reason to poke their head up for any reason, so they didn't.

The person I was replying to had a desire, a goal. There's ways to get that stuff done. Typically, especially for stuff that is not on the Design Doc 😁, you're going to have to color outside the lines to get anything done.

A good supv will help you because it helps you get better.
An average supv can't be bothered to help you.
A bad supv won't help you at all because it helps you get better than them.