Ethics in the workplace

by Eric Gazoni

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ETHICS IN THE WORKPLACE - FOSDEMx 2018 - 05 - 03

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ETHICS IN THE WORKPLACE Or “all the things I wish I knew when I still was a student”

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HELLO! I am Eric Gazoni I am the founder of a software consulting company You can find me at @ericgazoni

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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

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WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE ? ?

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“ 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.

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IT CAREERS IN 2018

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PRODUCT COMPANY Pros ⊡ One product, in depth ⊡ Team spirit ⊡ Niche issues ⊡ Open source Cons ⊡ Involves maintenance ⊡ Commercial pressure ⊡ Success depends on marketing

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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”

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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

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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

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FREELANCING Pros ⊡ Money Cons ⊡ Legal responsibility ⊡ Marketing ⊡ Sales ⊡ Taxes ⊡ Dire competition

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PLANNING YOUR CAREER

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STUDENTS Work on yourself ⊡ Know yourself ⊡ Find your weaknesses ⊡ Work on them

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STUDENTS Be social ⊡ Student associations or clubs ⊡ Organize meetups

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STUDENTS

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EVERYONE Build your portfolio ⊡ Maker / DIY ⊡ Open source software ⊡ Work for an NGO / charity

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APPLYING FOR A JOB

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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

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JOB SEARCH Self search ⊡ Twitter Search (#job #python #belgium) ⊡ LinkedIn job search ⊡ Aggregators (Monster / Indeed) ⊡ Hacker News (“who’s hiring”)

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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

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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

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WHAT RECRUITERS ARE LOOKING FOR IN A CV Spelling ⊡ If unsure, apply in English ⊡ You only have one shot, check spelling and grammar. Twice.

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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

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JOB INTERVIEWS

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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

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⊡ 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

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⊡ “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

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ONCE YOU HAVE THE JOB

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“We only work with long-term freelancers” ⊡ No job security ⊡ Lowered legal protection ⊡ “But ... money ! $$$” Don’t fall for it FAKE INDEPENDENT

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BAIT & SWITCH “You will receive internal training” “You will be coding on your next project, for now we need an administrative assistant”

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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”

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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SIGNS YOUR JOB IS KILLING YOU

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OVERPERFORMER BURNOUT ⊡ “You never disappointed us so far” ⊡ “You are our only hope” ⊡ Feeling oppressed ⊡ Anxiety or panic attacks

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OVERPERFORMER BURNOUT Delegate, set clear expectations, stand for yourself

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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

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THE DEATH MARCH Overtime is not a fix for poor planning Schedules can always be changed

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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

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ONE MORE BEER You are exposed to an unhealthy amount of stress, discuss it with your family doctor

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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

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THE DEAD END This is either harassment, either a fool’s job. Quitting is advised.

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THE SCAPEGOAT ⊡ You are globally criticized, without specific details ⊡ You are always working alone on failing projects ⊡ You shut yourself

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THE SCAPEGOAT Another form of harassment, seek help from HR or management.

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DON’T BECOME PART OF THE PROBLEM

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“HUMOR” ⊡ Some jokes are not funny for all ⊡ Racial / physical / sexual jokes are not appropriate in a work environment ⊡ Think before you speak

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“HUMOR” Immediately correct people, don’t close your eyes / ears

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ENTITLEMENT ⊡ Degrees ⊡ Gender ⊡ Age ⊡ Place of origin ⊡ Previous employer(s)

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ENTITLEMENT Put yourself in other’s shoes from time to time

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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 ?”

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MAKING MONEY WHILE DOING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

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INTEGRATORS Companies providing support / custom developments around an existing open-source platform Example: B2CK around the Tryton project

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COMMISSIONS Development performed on behalf of someone else to add features to an existing codebase Example: Charlie Clark, OpenPyXL maintainer

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GRANTS Universities, foundations, companies can spend research funds to finance open source software that fills a specific need Example: Mozilla financing the Django project

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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

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“ “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

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THANKS! Any questions? You can find me at @ericgazoni [email protected]

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CREDITS Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free: ⊡ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival ⊡ Photographs by Unsplash