I currently work on a legacy system for a company. The system is really old - and although I was hired as a programmer, my job is pretty much glorified data entry. To summarise, I get a bunch of requirements, which is literally just lots of data for each month on spreadsheets and I have to configure the system to make it work, which is basically just writing a whole bunch of SQL scripts.
It’s not quite as simple as that, because whoever wrote the system originally really wrote it backwards, and in fact, the analysts who create the spreadsheets actually spend a fair bit of time verifying my work because the process is so tedious that it’s easy to make a mistake.
As you can guess, it is pretty much the most boring job ever. However, it’s a full time job with decent pay, and I work remotely so I can stay home with my son.
So I’ve been doing it for about 18 months and in that time, I’ve basically figured out all the traps to the point where I’ve actually written a program which for the past 6 months has been just doing the whole thing for me. So what used to take the last guy like a month, now takes maybe 10 minutes to clean the spreadsheet and run it through the program.
Now the problem is, do I tell them? If I tell them, they will probably just take the program and get rid of me. This isn’t like a company with tons of IT work - they have a legacy system where they keep all their customer data since forever, and they just need someone to maintain it. At the same time, it doesn’t feel like I’m doing the right thing. I mean, right now, once I get the specs, I run it through my program - then every week or so, I tell them I’ve completed some part of it and get them to test it. I even insert a few bugs here and there to make it look like it’s been generated by a human.
There might be amendments to the spec and corresponding though email etc, but overall, I spend probably 1-2 hours per week on my job for which I am getting a full time wage.
I really enjoy the free time but would it be unethical to continue with this arrangement without mentioning anything? It’s not like I’m cheating the company. The company has never indicated they’re dissatisfied with my performance and in fact, are getting exactly what they want from employing me.
Wow, I did not expect so much response for this question and from both points of view. Although I get the feeling there’s a specific audience at Stackoverflow, mainly the type of people who I imagine can not appreciate living in a place where jobs aren’t aplenty. Most likely they can walk out of their silicon valley office and shout “I want a job” and get 3 offers to start the next day. Unfortunately, there are places in the country that just aren’t like that. I’m not trying to have a go, I’m just saying that the situation absolutely does matter.
Put it another way - is it unethical to steal? Yes. Is it unethical to steal bread because your family is starving? Well if that’s unethical then what use is ethics as a guide for your actions.
If I could get another job, of course I would. But the fact is, it would not be that easy. And as mentioned, I work remotely - there’s no point asking for other work because I have nothing else to do with their business. I’ve never met most of the people who work there. When I first started, I did ask to add improvements to various parts of the system and the answer was irrevocably DO NOT mess with the system - it works as is. So there’s no middle ground here - I tell them about this - they have no use for me and the reason for my employment vanishes. I guess the middle ground would be to delete the software, but I have a feeling no one wins there.
So as to what I will do, I will follow the advice of the most popular answer which was to ask myself two questions.
Is this the kind of example you want to set for your son? Well, I grew up in a single parent household. My mom worked a LOT to make ends meet and that meant me and my brother didn’t see her much and when we did, she was always so tired and irritable. I don’t blame her for this - she also gave up a lot for us - like getting to go to college and having a social life. So if I can change that for myself, why wouldn’t I? What kind of example am I setting for my son if I lost my job for doing it too well and now I have no job or a job where I had to work so much I never got to see him.
How would your Mom react if she read about your actions on the front page of the newspaper? That one made me laugh because I actually already asked her about this. She literally laughed her head off for a good minute and told me that I had won the lottery. She would probably slap me if I “I was foolish enough to give up such a good thing”. Then again, she is probably the wrong person to ask as she's never caught a break in all her life.
farox on June 29th, 2017 at 01:15 UTC »
What people are not mentioning is the maintenance issue. Yes his job is primarily data entry but he is also the only one now that knows how that thing works. You can't just let someone like that go but need to keep a retainer. So he's actually doing them a favor.
As others have said. He's getting paid for a job, gets shit done...
thilehoffer on June 29th, 2017 at 01:00 UTC »
I'm a developer but I have a Sociology degree. I started doing software support answering the phone and using SQL queries to solve problems / help developers. My second job was as a report writer for an insurance company. I had to generate reports weekly and monthly. After a year on the job I had all the reports automated and had no work. For six long months I had one hour of work per week. My bosses knew it though and they were trying to find work for me. I got some training in ASP.Net 1.0 (in 2000) and they let me start building things. 17 years later and I still work in Visual Studio every day.
JavierTheNormal on June 28th, 2017 at 22:26 UTC »
The perfect employee. He always does his work on time with few errors, and causes no problems or headaches. He could work harder, but he's doing the job we need done.
If you quit this job without something better lined up, you're a moron.