Ethics can be considered many and various things depending on each individual’s views on it and it applies to everything thing we do in life, even the most little things which may have an affect on the bigger picture. What do you we mean by ethics? Well, that’s simple. Ethics is usually the morals an individual holds as in what is right of wrong viewed as a society but that is totally different when it comes down to each individual because each person has their own type of morality that they have well grinded into their own thought process. In this case, ethics is applied to software engineering and coding. What does that mean? Just like how we apply ethics to everything else we apply ethics to a software engineer and their code. We apply it as the same as we do for anything else as in the purpose of the code as well as if doing it will help or render productivity as well as an individual’s well-being.
Most times that we are told to do something whether it is a request, a favor, or a job, we often think about what we are about to do. We often ususally think if it is something that we would actually do and if we are able to do it, especially if it was for one’s job. For software engineers they are often requested to write code for somebody else’s purpose and of course they should take it if they are able to do it and since it is their job. But what stop them from declining the request if it only benefits them with pay? That’s easy, it is the very own person who recieves the request. Seems straight forward but the meaning behind it is that each person has their own way of reasoning when it comes to doing certain things. In my point of view, striving to become a professional in my field of study of Computer Science, if I were to take on jobs that people request me to do I would always think about the bigger picture and always ask myself if I should really take on the job. Certainly it is for the pay if accepted but what I see is will it be something I regret in the end of it all?
Continuing on with ethics in a programmer’s point of view, I believe that the code that is written is for the better for others well-being for which it helps the coummnity and the society as a whole. Many jobs require certain and many things but are they the right things is something you should ask yourself. For a programmer, many people assume that they are just human computers that systematically do a job when told but that is not the case. Programmers are of course human too and have the same thoughts and feelings that everyone else expericences throughout their lives. And they also have their own views and opinions on the jobs that they do when writing code. They reflect on what they have to do, they apply their own sense of ethics to their job so that they do not end up doing something that they regret. When it comes to ethics, it applies to evetything and there are many stories out there that explains it very well even in the field of software engineering.