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Sounds dangerous - mistakes happen - will I get thrown under the bus by the media if a bug in my code causes an accident that no QA process could have reasonabl

Sounds dangerous - mistakes happen - will I get thrown under the bus by the media if a bug in my code causes an accident that no QA process could have reasonably picked up on?

ars 10y ago
Yes, that will happen. Consider an analogous situation: You made a mistake designing a building. Should you be able to shrug it off as "mistakes happen"? This has actually happened in the real world with buildings, and when it does if you are responsible and work diligently to correct the problem people are understanding. Do the same here.
- notmything 10y ago
  I'm not saying you should shrug it off - I'm saying you should't have your life ruined over a mistake in some code you wrote. I'm yet to see a building collapse around me in my city - I see software fail all the time though - I think we are better at building tall buildings than we are building software.
  - ars 10y ago
    Or, it might be the exact opposite: For a building the engineer and builders are required to take personal responsibility. Not so for software. Perhaps if you change that software might change.
    - notmything 10y ago
      Nothing would ever get built if individual devs were held liable by the public. The liability sits with your employer.
      - MyNameIsFred 10y ago
        Sorta. The basis for your concern underlines one of the problems. When such gaffs happen in engineering, the firm is blamed. Within the firm, individual actors are blamed. In software, on the other hand, your major system might have responsibility for a critical system spread across a total of 1 persons, so he gets all the blame. Is that really okay for one hip-shooter to take this on in the first place?
analog31 10y ago
Doctors have malpractice insurance, paid for by their employers. Also, from what I've read, the malpractice insurance companies are largely doctor-owned.
- notmything 10y ago
  As a contractor - I had insurance to cover me up to a million pounds. As a full time employee, the liability falls on my employer.

Sounds dangerous - mistakes happen - will I get thrown under the bus by the media if a bug in my code causes an accident that no QA process could have reasonably picked up on?

ars 10y ago

Yes, that will happen. Consider an analogous situation: You made a mistake designing a building. Should you be able to shrug it off as "mistakes happen"? This has actually happened in the real world with buildings, and when it does if you are responsible and work diligently to correct the problem people are understanding. Do the same here.

notmything 10y ago
I'm not saying you should shrug it off - I'm saying you should't have your life ruined over a mistake in some code you wrote. I'm yet to see a building collapse around me in my city - I see software fail all the time though - I think we are better at building tall buildings than we are building software.
- ars 10y ago
  Or, it might be the exact opposite: For a building the engineer and builders are required to take personal responsibility. Not so for software. Perhaps if you change that software might change.
  - notmything 10y ago
    Nothing would ever get built if individual devs were held liable by the public. The liability sits with your employer.
    - MyNameIsFred 10y ago
      Sorta. The basis for your concern underlines one of the problems. When such gaffs happen in engineering, the firm is blamed. Within the firm, individual actors are blamed. In software, on the other hand, your major system might have responsibility for a critical system spread across a total of 1 persons, so he gets all the blame. Is that really okay for one hip-shooter to take this on in the first place?

analog31 10y ago

Doctors have malpractice insurance, paid for by their employers. Also, from what I've read, the malpractice insurance companies are largely doctor-owned.

notmything 10y ago
As a contractor - I had insurance to cover me up to a million pounds. As a full time employee, the liability falls on my employer.