I don't know why we don't hear "sleazy programmer" more often. It's pretty apt. If you're going to write stuff to track people online, that's pretty sleazy. If you're writing stuff for governments to surveil mass populations, that's pretty sleazy. If you're writing a lot of those mobile "freemium" games who's goal is to hook whales, that's pretty sleazy.
I wouldn't call those faults. What you call sleazy lawyers the software profession call those cowboy coders working in advertising, finance, or comp sec.
They are just those outside the mainstream. The fact that those sleazy lawyers win cases should show they perform a valuable service from the ambulance chasers to the corporate defenders.
Re:Just Say No
by TheCoelacanth on Friday April 28, 2017 @01:20PM
(#14221287)
How many TV shows are there about lawyers compared to how many TV shows are there about programmers?
The general public doesn't hear enough about programmers to have much of an opinion on whether some of them are sleazy or not.
Re:Just Say No
by titanomachy on Friday April 28, 2017 @12:24PM
(#14220753)
> same investment in learning materials
Don't you need to go to law school to become a lawyer in most places? That's a lot of money. You can learn to be a programmer using a cheap laptop and public library WiFi.
Re:Just Say No
by logicallee on Friday April 28, 2017 @12:51PM
(#14220987)
I meant time investment - both need to master an objectively large body of knowledge. (By the way it is also possible to "read the law"[1] though not common.)
... how's that working out for you guys?
I mean, no offense, but the two professions require roughly the same mental acumen and amount of investment in learning materials (though lawyers go down a more academic path and must pass a bar exam, strictly there is more they "must" master) -- but out of "sleazy lawyer" and "sleazy programmer" which do you hear?
Likely because lawyers must represent their clients - some if whom are sleazy.
But I wouldn't take the ethical standard set by the legal profession as a paragon for other professions to emulate. Obviously it has severe limits.