Ethics in the workplace

This talk was presented as FOSDEMx 0 in May 2018.
Aimed at CS students, it presents some tips for finding a job, and heads-up about what it means to be working in IT in 2018.

Transcript

1. ETHICS IN THE WORKPLACE - FOSDEMx 2018 - 05 - 03
2. ETHICS IN THE WORKPLACE Or “all the things I wish I knew when I still was a student”
3. HELLO! I am Eric Gazoni I am the founder of a software consulting company You can find me at @ericgazoni
4. DISCLAIMER ⊡ Consultant for 13 years ( 5 as employee ) ⊡ Worked in a lot of different industries ⊡ Receive avg. 20 applications per month ⊡ Based on what I witnessed, not scientific Make your own opinion
5. WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE ? ?
6. “ Ethics 1. (philosophy) The study of principles relating to right and wrong conduct. 2. Morality. 3. The standards that govern the conduct of a person, especially a member of a profession. Ethics. (2017, October 4). Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary.
7. IT CAREERS IN 2018
8. PRODUCT COMPANY Pros ⊡ One product, in depth ⊡ Team spirit ⊡ Niche issues ⊡ Open source Cons ⊡ Involves maintenance ⊡ Commercial pressure ⊡ Success depends on marketing
9. CORPORATION Pros ⊡ Bigger is the company, lower are expectations on newcomers ⊡ Diversity ⊡ Money ⊡ Job security ⊡ Internal training (sometimes) Cons ⊡ Bureaucracy ⊡ Politics ⊡ Arbitrary management pressure ⊡ Difficult to identify “success” or “goals”
10. LARGE CONSULTING FIRM Pros ⊡ Money ⊡ Cars ⊡ Get to see many industries Cons ⊡ Equivalent to modern slavery ⊡ High turnover ⊡ Low technical competency ⊡ Get out broken or a mercenary
11. NON SOFTWARE COMPANY Pros ⊡ Part of a greater scheme ⊡ Short feedback loop ⊡ Usually small teams, low turnover Cons ⊡ Competing for resources with other activities ⊡ In-house IT leadership not always consistent with industry standards
12. FREELANCING Pros ⊡ Money Cons ⊡ Legal responsibility ⊡ Marketing ⊡ Sales ⊡ Taxes ⊡ Dire competition
13. PLANNING YOUR CAREER
14. STUDENTS Work on yourself ⊡ Know yourself ⊡ Find your weaknesses ⊡ Work on them
15. STUDENTS Be social ⊡ Student associations or clubs ⊡ Organize meetups
16. STUDENTS
17. EVERYONE Build your portfolio ⊡ Maker / DIY ⊡ Open source software ⊡ Work for an NGO / charity
18. APPLYING FOR A JOB
19. Recruiters ⊡ Low technical knowledge ⊡ Contact often look like spam ⊡ Hit-and-run mindset ⊡ Fill your resume with buzzwords ⊡ Pimp your qualifications without your consent Nope, nope, nope JOB SEARCH
20. JOB SEARCH Self search ⊡ Twitter Search (#job #python #belgium) ⊡ LinkedIn job search ⊡ Aggregators (Monster / Indeed) ⊡ Hacker News (“who’s hiring”)
21. WHAT RECRUITERS ARE LOOKING FOR IN A CV Motivation ⊡ No cover letter = SPAM ⊡ In the body of the email is fine, no separate PDF ⊡ Customization beyond “Dear Company” ⊡ Point to company’s past projects appealing to you
22. WHAT RECRUITERS ARE LOOKING FOR IN A CV Character ⊡ Pictures: not required, but help putting a face on a name ⊡ Avoid confusion, link to your own online persona
23. WHAT RECRUITERS ARE LOOKING FOR IN A CV Spelling ⊡ If unsure, apply in English ⊡ You only have one shot, check spelling and grammar. Twice.
24. WHAT RECRUITERS ARE LOOKING FOR IN A CV Technical skills ⊡ Be honest ⊡ Only list if professional proficiency ⊡ Avoid buzzwords ⊡ You can break a requirement, but justify it
25. JOB INTERVIEWS
26. DISCRIMINATION ⊡ Gender or (perceived) sexual preference ⊡ Children, family situation, ... https://5085.f2w.fedict.be ⊡ Skin color, place of birth, cultural background, handicap, ... https://www.unia.be
27. ⊡ Be relax. Seriously. ⊡ This is only a job, not your whole life ⊡ Smile and remember what you replied at my first slide ⊡ Feel ok to say “I am not comfortable discussing this topic”, this is not the police ⊡ Examine how (new) employees are valued JOB INTERVIEWS
28. ⊡ “Mensa” tests, logic puzzles ⊡ Whiteboard coding ⊡ Multiple choice question Only capture your fitness to a model, not your actual abilities, again, failing them is OK JOB INTERVIEWS
29. ONCE YOU HAVE THE JOB
30. “We only work with long-term freelancers” ⊡ No job security ⊡ Lowered legal protection ⊡ “But ... money ! $$$” Don’t fall for it FAKE INDEPENDENT
31. BAIT & SWITCH “You will receive internal training” “You will be coding on your next project, for now we need an administrative assistant”
32. SALARY SCAM “You will start with a two months internship” “We don’t pay overtime” “The salary is low, but we will give you shares of the company”
33. GOLDEN HANDCUFFS ⊡ Salary is twice what competitors offer ⊡ Lots of paid holidays ⊡ Free food / video games at the office ⊡ Luxury company car ⊡ Stock options Think about your dependency to the company
34. HARASSMENT ⊡ Personal attacks □ Origin, religion, culture, language □ Physical condition □ Perceived intellectual abilities ⊡ Inappropriate language or gestures ⊡ Asking out Contact HR/manager/safe person immediately (do not rationalize behaviour)
35. ABUSE “Take your laptop with you on vacation, in case we need you” - No “Since we provide you with a phone, you should be reachable at all time” - No “Please dress more feminine” - No
36. UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR ⊡ Writing code to conceal CO2 emissions in cars ⊡ Stealing and selling personal information ⊡ Reading customers private messages ⊡ Not working “too fast” so the mission lasts longer ⊡ Selling unnecessary software/technology to naive customers
37. SIGNS YOUR JOB IS KILLING YOU
38. OVERPERFORMER BURNOUT ⊡ “You never disappointed us so far” ⊡ “You are our only hope” ⊡ Feeling oppressed ⊡ Anxiety or panic attacks
39. OVERPERFORMER BURNOUT Delegate, set clear expectations, stand for yourself
40. THE DEATH MARCH ⊡ “Oh you took your afternoon off ?” at 5PM ⊡ “Everyone will have to do overtime from now” ⊡ You are tempted to sleep at your desk ⊡ Personal hygiene is time wasted
41. THE DEATH MARCH Overtime is not a fix for poor planning Schedules can always be changed
42. ONE MORE BEER ⊡ You start drinking every day ⊡ You need to drink to relax after work ⊡ You start contemplating substance abuse ⊡ Your relatives are being worried for your health
43. ONE MORE BEER You are exposed to an unhealthy amount of stress, discuss it with your family doctor
44. THE DEAD END ⊡ Nothing to do for most of the day ⊡ Your supervisor does not care if you work or not at your desk ⊡ You start wondering about your purpose in life
45. THE DEAD END This is either harassment, either a fool’s job. Quitting is advised.
46. THE SCAPEGOAT ⊡ You are globally criticized, without specific details ⊡ You are always working alone on failing projects ⊡ You shut yourself
47. THE SCAPEGOAT Another form of harassment, seek help from HR or management.
48. DON’T BECOME PART OF THE PROBLEM
49. “HUMOR” ⊡ Some jokes are not funny for all ⊡ Racial / physical / sexual jokes are not appropriate in a work environment ⊡ Think before you speak
50. “HUMOR” Immediately correct people, don’t close your eyes / ears
51. ENTITLEMENT ⊡ Degrees ⊡ Gender ⊡ Age ⊡ Place of origin ⊡ Previous employer(s)
52. ENTITLEMENT Put yourself in other’s shoes from time to time
53. BE A DECENT HUMAN BEING “Sorry, I was wrong earlier” “Instinctively, it looks very simple. Am I missing an important detail ?” “Is there something I can do to help you ?”
54. MAKING MONEY WHILE DOING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
55. INTEGRATORS Companies providing support / custom developments around an existing open-source platform Example: B2CK around the Tryton project
56. COMMISSIONS Development performed on behalf of someone else to add features to an existing codebase Example: Charlie Clark, OpenPyXL maintainer
57. GRANTS Universities, foundations, companies can spend research funds to finance open source software that fills a specific need Example: Mozilla financing the Django project
58. SEE THE FULL LIST Nadia Eghbal (@nayafia) has compiled a guide to financing your open-source work https://github.com/nayafia/lemonade-stand Be sure to star the project and share
59. “ “We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: more than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.” The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin, 1940
60. THANKS! Any questions? You can find me at @ericgazoni eric@adimian.com
61. CREDITS Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free: ⊡ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival ⊡ Photographs by Unsplash