One of the latest developments in the ongoing investigation of the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernie Madoff is the filing of charges against two programmers. It is alleged that their work included the creation of phony documents to cover up the fraud of Mr. Madoff. At the end of this posting is a link to the Wall Street Journal article that provides more details on this story. I encourage you to also look at the comments readers have posted in response to the article.
Going a bit further into programmer behavior in general, programmers face decisions as to what professional decisions they make on an almost daily basis. I have been faced with minor decisions such as did I do a thorough job in coding and testing. Am I truly done in completing all of my programming tasks? I have actually been told by other programmers that their work was incomplete but it was easier to just not tell management the work was flawed.
In short, programmers and other professionals are faced with ethical decisions. Some professions have adopted professional standards and certifications to encourage better "behavior" (such as the CPA certification and AICPA organization for accountants).
I will end this post stating the human element & the need to do good deeds is a vital component for professionals in the IT world. You can have the best tools and expertise but we should have a personal ethic to do beneficial work for the company and ultimately the consumer. Not easily worded but I hope you can take a different perspective on the daily jobs we do & will do in the future. Good luck all! Bill Stephens
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574533483600301134.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
May be i feel its better to create a new special position or employment for checking the completion of all programming tasks..The programmers after continuous implementation and execution of tasks, might not identify any mistakes or incompleteness in the works they have done...
ReplyDeleteI think QA would be fine way to check quality of any product. However, the main thought I was attempting to share was regarding intentional bad behavior of an IT professional. In some professions such as medicine or the law, you could be forced to leave your profession for extremely bad behavior that caused harm to others.
ReplyDeleteNice post Bill .... probably an attempt to sensitize the IT folks regarding the soft issues in the dynamic IT world would be a step in the direction to build a sold foundation ....
ReplyDeleteawareness is what we can target ....