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Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#91

Post by FLUX-YOU »

nyolfen wrote: post #82
akudha wrote: post #77

Not me personally, but the company I started my career with (was an intern there for a few months). ERM software. When a new client comes onboard, install the product and database, but make sure not to make any optimizations, not even the basic indexes in the DB. Depending on the usage, the DB will get slower and slower in a few months. Then send a "consultant" who will simply run a script and add indexes etc and tes…

i wouldn't sweat it, a lot of economic activity is just information arbitrage.

Sounds like a dream job or a nice side gig if you just want a job. Login, run script, log out, bill for thousands, then go back to doing your own thing.

Intentionally withholding stuff without offering an upfront option is shady though.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#92

Post by Raed667 »

(I didn't go through with this, but considered) While I was a student I worked for a small shop that sold online services. I was something between an intern and a junior developer/security guy.

The boss (non technical) privately asked me one day to do some research about automating some data entry processes, basically reading from excel files, some databases, formatting and putting it all in another database.

I found out later that if that script is made it would lay off a number of people doing data-entry. I didn't go through with it for many reasons.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#94

Post by mnm1 »

throwaway0255 wrote: post #8

I was once assigned a task that had been estimated at 8 hours of development time, but only required the modification of a single line of code. I finished it in 5 minutes. My boss asked what happened, I told him, and he told me to revert the code, work on other tasks, and redo it at the end of the day so he could bill for 8 hours (in addition to billing for the other tasks I worked on). I did it and didn’t say anythi…

For a salaried position, this wouldn't even be unethical. When I finish my work, I take off and have fun. Even for hourly contracting, it's dubious whether this is unethical. The only mistake is telling people it took five minutes. Ideally you'd spend the day having fun and check this in at the end. Not getting paid for actual work done is so common in contracting, however, that I certainly wouldn't feel bad about using up the whole time estimate for a five minute task.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#95

Post by beagle3 »

beaker52 wrote: post #66

I worked on a penny-bidding site. These guys "auctioned" items like PlayStation, tvs, cars to the user who placed the final bid on an item after 60 seconds of no further bids. Each bid would increase the final price by 1 pence/cent, but each bid would cost 50 pence/cents. You could "win" a $20,000 car for $500.37 and the house would have taken 50,037*50 cents. It might be okay if that was it -- but I was asked to cod…

I think it's more often referred to as a Dollar auction[0] - an example where a series of rational decisions leads to irrational behaviour.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_auction

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#97

Post by [deleted] »

diminoten wrote: post #45
albertgoeswoof wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Payday loans are bad but they are not that unethical. The alternative option for people reliant on payday loans are actual loan sharks, which will turn out a lot worse for the debtor. So don’t be so hard on yourself. I think it would be difficult, but possible to run an ethical payday loan company that focuses on building people up and out of long term debt.

I love the Freakanomics podcast that gives both sides to the Payday Loan industry: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/payday-loans/

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#98

Post by [deleted] »

linkmotif wrote: post #53
iammiles wrote: post #31

Circumvented browser features to force autoplay on videos with high volume on our websites. While not a morally bankrupt thing to do especially compared to some of the other examples, we all felt dirty doing it.

Your superiors thought this was a good thing? Funny how people do t realize that makes your product insta-toxic. Or am I naive?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#100

Post by insickness »

Raed667 wrote: post #92

(I didn't go through with this, but considered) While I was a student I worked for a small shop that sold online services. I was something between an intern and a junior developer/security guy. The boss (non technical) privately asked me one day to do some research about automating some data entry processes, basically reading from excel files, some databases, formatting and putting it all in another database. I found…

There is nothing unethical about this. In fact I applaud your boss. If you can automate something instead of pay people to do it, you should do it.
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