[wpietri]

Yes, that person is still an unprofessional idiot.

If a doctor accidentally removes the wrong organ because administrators have overscheduled him, "whoopsie, not my fault" is not the appropriate answer. The same applies to engineers working on bridges. Professionals take responsibility for their working conditions.

There is an enormous shortage of programmers right now. Anybody shipping stuff that is bad or dangerous is choosing that. If we drop our professional standards the moment a boss makes a sadface, then we're not professionals.

[bulatb]

It's hard to be professional if no one wants or values it but you. The word your manager would use is "obstinate."

If they have not internalized the consequences of the risks they're asking their subordinates to take, they'll weigh what look like vague misgivings about "mumble, should be better, dangerous, blah blah" against the better understood risk of their bonus disappearing if the product doesn't ship on time.

Even if you choose to sacrifice yourself, your reputation, and your future prospects--again, if almost no employer in your industry would value what you call professionalism over short-term profits--someone else will ship the code you wouldn't.

That isn't a defense of anything; it's just a fact. Taboos (e.g. against bad code) don't work if they're not shared by the majority.

[wpietri]

Sure, you can tell yourself that, and it will remain true. Or you can act like a professional and seek out places that value that. I have, and know others who do. I don't think we've sacrificed anything.

[comex]

> If a doctor accidentally removes the wrong organ

Incidentally, that sort of thing does happen sometimes.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/18/health.surgery.mixups.c...

[dgreensp]

Agreed 100%. The number of people defending the author(s) of the code or saying the user should have backed up their data is disturbing. This isn't about protecting programmers' egos, it's about not deleting users' data.