When I started coding back in 1998 I was not aware of the impact my work could have had on others or, to be fair, I didn’t care at all.

I just limited getting pleasure by assembling some graphic in Photoshop/HTML and publishing the stuff on the Web.

When I created my first e-commerce sites, I continue to ignore the effects that coding could have on our society. I focused on getting a higher salary, occupying a better social position and switching motorcycle.

It does not matter if my work contributed to help selling more Italian melodic music CDs, or let a bunch of nazi enthusiasts buying some heirloom of war at a local fair. I do code, just enjoying the process of it, no questions, no remorse, no ethics.

I started adopting better coding methodologies much later than I wanted, pushed more by the urge of my ego, than by the necessity to reduce the pain on the users of my software. It ends out that the more I get better at coding, the more my job have impacts on other lives.

At some point I realized I held a responsibility for my job, well you always do, but since the modern world is built on software, I found myself with powers I never imagined (or wanted) to have.

Few months ago I was contacted for a position within a big corporation. I diligently passed all of their recruiting process and get a generous offer by them. I was at a turning point of my career: earning more money, boost my resume, the future seemed bright.

But it wasn’t.

I had a feeling of being trapped in a corner and started questioning on the root cause. The corporation is one of the biggest on earth, they sell everything to everyone, they get bigger every year. My contribution would let them getting bigger and selling more stuff.

I just decided to refute their offer and felt better upon hanging the phone. No bright career, no bold salary, welcome ethics.

I am now pretending to use my skills in order to leave the world a better place after my code is deployed. I do not want to enter the moral loop in the quest for the perfect ethics. I just keep following a base instinct and asking myself questions.

At the end of the day, I just feel better.