[DyslexicAtheist]

> why do these software engineers take such risks

I blame ageism in Tech. Where else should we go except jumping the Ättestupa[1][2] /s :-)

I guess everyone is different, but if you read the story behind Paul LeRoux[3] there is a lot more to becoming a criminal (including personal hardship and a pre-existing proneness for Denning Kruger - which seems more rampant in our field than anywhere else). And like learning vi / emacs it's actually really hard, so once you get very good in this it's hard to stop

(I'm trying too hard to be funny and understand my analogy sounds ludicrous but there are psychological concepts at work which connect difficulty/struggle of a task with whether we can identify with what we are doing and if it fulfills us. Ofc there is also that who else would do this kind of work if not a software/security engineer.)

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwD7f5ZWhAk

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%84ttestupa

[3] https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind