1. Ensure that clients, employers, and supervisors know of the software engineer's commitment to this Code of ethics, and the subsequent ramifications of such commitment.
2. Software engineers are those who contribute by direct participation or by teaching, to the analysis, specification, design, development, certification, maintenance and testing of software systems.
3. Attract potential software engineers only by full and accurate description of the conditions of employment.
4. Maintain professional objectivity with respect to any software or related documents they are asked to evaluate.
5. These Principles should influence software engineers to consider broadly who is affected by their work; to examine if they and their colleagues are treating other human beings with due respect; to consider how the public, if reasonably well informed, would view their decisions; to analyze how the least empowered will be affected by their decisions; and to consider whether their acts would be judged worthy of the ideal professional working as a software engineer.
6. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Accept full responsibility for their own work.
7. Refuse to participate, as members or advisors, in a private, governmental or professional body concerned with software related issues, in which they, their employers or their clients have undisclosed potential conflicts of interest.
8. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values.
9. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
10. In accordance with that commitment, software engineers shall adhere to the following Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
1. Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
2. Take responsibility for detecting, correcting, and reporting errors in software and associated documents on which they work.
3. Improve their knowledge of this Code, its interpretation, and its application to their work.
4. Review the work of others in an objective, candid, and properly-documented way.
5. Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work, and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
6. Strive to fully understand the specifications for software on which they work.
7. These Principles should influence software engineers to consider broadly who is affected by their work; to examine if they and their colleagues are treating other human beings with due respect; to consider how the public, if reasonably well informed, would view their decisions; to analyze how the least empowered will be affected by their decisions; and to consider whether their acts would be judged worthy of the ideal professional working as a software engineer.
8. Ensure proper and achievable goals and objectives for any project on which they work or propose.
9. Obey all laws governing their work, unless, in exceptional circumstances, such compliance is inconsistent with the public interest.
10. Assist colleagues in being fully aware of current standard work practices including policies and procedures for protecting passwords, files and other confidential information, and security measures in general.
1. Principle 8: SELFSoftware engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.
2. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession.
3. Principle 2: CLIENT AND EMPLOYERSoftware engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer, consistent with the public interest.
4. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.
5. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
6. Principle 4: JUDGMENTSoftware engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.
7. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
8. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
9. Not unfairly intervene in the career of any colleague; however, concern for the employer, the client or public interest may compel software engineers, in good faith, to question the competence of a colleague.
10. In particular, software engineers shall continually endeavor to:Further their knowledge of developments in the analysis, specification, design, development, maintenance and testing of software and related documents, together with the management of the development process.
1. Recognize that violations of this Code are inconsistent with being a professional software engineer.
2. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
3. The Code contains eight Principles related to the behavior of and decisions made by professional software engineers, including practitioners, educators, managers, supervisors and policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the profession.
4. The dynamic and demanding context of software engineering requires a code that is adaptable and relevant to new situations as they occur.
5. The Code is not simply for adjudicating the nature of questionable acts; it also has an important educational function.
6. Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (Full Version)PREAMBLEComputers have a central and growing role in commerce, industry, government, medicine, education, entertainment and society at large.
7. Recognize that personal violations of this Code are inconsistent with being a professional software engineer.
8. As this Code expresses the consensus of the profession on ethical issues, it is a means to educate both the public and aspiring professionals about the ethical obligations of all software engineers.
9. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
10. The Code prescribes these as obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer.
1. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
2. Promote no interest adverse to their employer or client, unless a higher ethical concern is being compromised; in that case, inform the employer or another appropriate authority of the ethical concern.
3. The Principles identify the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups, and organizations participate and the primary obligations within these relationships.
4. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
5. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
6. The Code provides an ethical foundation to which individuals within teams and the team as a whole can appeal.
7. As this Code expresses the consensus of the profession on ethical issues, it is a means to educate both the public and aspiring professionals about the ethical obligations of all software engineers.
8. Work to follow professional standards, when available, that are most appropriate for the task at hand, departing from these only when ethically or technically justified.
9. Be careful to use only accurate data derived by ethical and lawful means, and use it only in ways properly authorized.
10. Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issues related to work projects.