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plutherusI am a software engineer. I work in DevOps, which is a specific division of software that supports the people who actually write the software. In brief, my job consists of writing automation and administering tools that make it easier for programmers to write new software faster.
As a contractor, I've worked for a lot of different companies. For about the last twenty years or so, I've had to take some kind of mandatory training in company policies at every single one. These vary by industry. Telecommunications has different regulations than banking, for example.
One thing that's common to all of them is the non-harassment and non-discrimination policies. This is usually an online course or video, anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours, that explains what kinds of things would be considered harassment, how not to create a hostile workplace and, most relevant right now, the importance of reporting violations of the policy. The training also always consists of an explanation of the laws, which vary from state to state, protecting anyone who does report a violation. One of the things that's illegal anywhere is any kind of retaliation against the reporter.
That is, if I report my supervisor for discrimination, it's illegal for them to fire me, or change my work assignments, or deny me promotions, or any other such actions that could be seen as retaliation. It's even illegal for a supervisor to allow others to harass me in any way because of reporting violations.
I bring this up, in light of all the good cops who stood up and reported violations of policy or even law by their fellow police officers and who were punished for it. Such retaliation is, of course, illegal. In the software industry, it's also fairly rare, especially in larger corporations. Among police, it's super common.
Which means, we, as a society, place more emphasis on making sure that the guy who administers the tools that let the people who write software do so slightly faster is obeying the law than we do on making sure that the people who can use deadly force are.
This is, of course, wrong and bad and needs to stop.
As a contractor, I've worked for a lot of different companies. For about the last twenty years or so, I've had to take some kind of mandatory training in company policies at every single one. These vary by industry. Telecommunications has different regulations than banking, for example.
One thing that's common to all of them is the non-harassment and non-discrimination policies. This is usually an online course or video, anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours, that explains what kinds of things would be considered harassment, how not to create a hostile workplace and, most relevant right now, the importance of reporting violations of the policy. The training also always consists of an explanation of the laws, which vary from state to state, protecting anyone who does report a violation. One of the things that's illegal anywhere is any kind of retaliation against the reporter.
That is, if I report my supervisor for discrimination, it's illegal for them to fire me, or change my work assignments, or deny me promotions, or any other such actions that could be seen as retaliation. It's even illegal for a supervisor to allow others to harass me in any way because of reporting violations.
I bring this up, in light of all the good cops who stood up and reported violations of policy or even law by their fellow police officers and who were punished for it. Such retaliation is, of course, illegal. In the software industry, it's also fairly rare, especially in larger corporations. Among police, it's super common.
Which means, we, as a society, place more emphasis on making sure that the guy who administers the tools that let the people who write software do so slightly faster is obeying the law than we do on making sure that the people who can use deadly force are.
This is, of course, wrong and bad and needs to stop.
