5 ms·

Sure but who really cares about back office staff in this context

burkaman 5y ago
I had a CS professor in college who every year would give a speech about a hypothetical engineer designing pipe fittings that are eventually used in concentration camp gas chambers. The point is not that if something you make is used for evil that makes you a bad person, but that you should pay attention to the broader consequences of your work even if it appears innocuous, and if you find out it's being misused, do something about it. Quit or complain to your boss or tell the media or alter your design or something. I'm sorry to jump to Nazis, I know you're not supposed to do that on the internet. I'd like to explicitly state that I don't think McKinsey employees are as bad as Nazis. This comment just reminded me of that very valuable lesson in engineering ethics. In this case it's not really relevant - engineers on consulting projects are not "back office staff". They're part of the team, on site, in meetings, making decisions.
- rkk3 5y ago
  Or you could work for IBM > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
- nwatson 5y ago
  The "pipe fittings" reminds me of the first season of "Patriot", an Amazon Prime show whose first season was excellent, a spy/engineering thriller (I only watched the first two episodes of season two, not sure whether it's good or not, seemed weak by comparison). In any case, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5-9Rfrui9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5-9Rfrui9A "'Patriot' Piping Lingo, The McMillan Way (Amazon Prime)", where a seasoned CEO / engineer talks about pipe fittings at length. I'm sure software/devops engineers sound just as obtuse to those not familiar with software.
  - robocat 5y ago
    That is the long running “Turbo Encabulator” trope, the original is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2Ag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2Ag but there are some wonderful rerenditions and tributes if you search for those keywords on YouTube.

I had a CS professor in college who every year would give a speech about a hypothetical engineer designing pipe fittings that are eventually used in concentration camp gas chambers. The point is not that if something you make is used for evil that makes you a bad person, but that you should pay attention to the broader consequences of your work even if it appears innocuous, and if you find out it's being misused, do something about it. Quit or complain to your boss or tell the media or alter your design or something. I'm sorry to jump to Nazis, I know you're not supposed to do that on the internet. I'd like to explicitly state that I don't think McKinsey employees are as bad as Nazis. This comment just reminded me of that very valuable lesson in engineering ethics. In this case it's not really relevant - engineers on consulting projects are not "back office staff". They're part of the team, on site, in meetings, making decisions.

rkk3 5y ago
Or you could work for IBM > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
nwatson 5y ago
The "pipe fittings" reminds me of the first season of "Patriot", an Amazon Prime show whose first season was excellent, a spy/engineering thriller (I only watched the first two episodes of season two, not sure whether it's good or not, seemed weak by comparison). In any case, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5-9Rfrui9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5-9Rfrui9A "'Patriot' Piping Lingo, The McMillan Way (Amazon Prime)", where a seasoned CEO / engineer talks about pipe fittings at length. I'm sure software/devops engineers sound just as obtuse to those not familiar with software.
- robocat 5y ago
  That is the long running “Turbo Encabulator” trope, the original is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2Ag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2Ag but there are some wonderful rerenditions and tributes if you search for those keywords on YouTube.