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Discussion on: What should be in the software developers 'Hippocratic Oath'?

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ardennl profile image
Arden de Raaij • Edited

To be honest, I don't think it's viable either. There's a fundamental difference between the medical field and the technical. Nobody wants their surgeon to be an autodidact who mostly learned by watching youtube video's and crashing a few of their first startups. Or can you image your physician being hired because they had some really interesting side-projects? We want all the insurances and credentials we can get with whoever treats us.

In development there's no oath that could be invoked or no license that could be revoked. It's a different situation.

But nonetheless, I think the idea is nice. If a doctor is asked to do something unethical by their boss, like subscribing too much addictive pills, they are supposed to speak up. If a developer is asked to make highly addictive notifications, shouldn't they speak up as well? (this might be a bad analogy...).

Anyway, it's more of a thought exercise than anything else. So let's say it would be viable, do you have any ideas on what should be in it?

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omawhite profile image
Omar White

I don’t think I could have put this better myself. Though I can’t think of too many specifics off the top of my head. I think securing and respecting user data/privacy would be an important part of the oath.

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bgadrian profile image
Adrian B.G.

To be honest, I don't think it's viable either. There's a fundamental difference between the medical field and the technical. Nobody wants their surgeon to be an autodidact who mostly learned by watching youtube video's and crashing a few of their first startups. Or can you image your physician being hired because they had some really interesting side-projects?

Nobody wants but if the employer would have a choice or the laws would restrict it for practicing until he got a license it would be possible.

Even nowday you can compare a street "dentist" from India to an US private office dentist, they both repair teeth, probably just one of them went to a proper school, only one of them would be hired by a hospital.