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Ask HN: Unethical Software Developer Behavior?

3 points by 0x445442 ↗ HN
Would it be considered unethical/unprofessional behavior for a developer/engineer to continue to work on a project where:

1.) The developer knows, with certainty, the ROI for the project is negative... by a large amount. 2.) The developer knows, with a high degree of certainty, the project will never have a positive ROI. 3.) The project is not under any type of R&D heading or mandate. 4.) The organization is a financial institution. 5.) The organization is of the mutually owned variety.

3 comments

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saas_co_de
If you are hired as an engineer and it is not your job to provide investment or business advice then I would say that you have no professional or ethical duty related to your personal private evaluation of the business merits of the project you are working on.

If that is not your area of expertise then your evaluation may be wrong or you may be missing information on the bigger picture to understand the strategic reasoning behind a project.

If you are highly confident that a project will result in financial losses then the only really important questions are personal: do you want to work on this project given that you think if will fail financially? will financial failure negatively impact your career later?

matchmike1313
If you are a contractor / employee I would simply voice your concerns, and if they don't listen that is on them, as long as the project is paying your bills and you are learning I would continue.