I chose this project because the fact that the topic of this project is a credit card reminds me that the data software engineers work with can be highly sensitive. This hits home even more because all of my internships thus far have been in financial technology companies. One small mistake could cost someone their life savings and ruin their life. Thus, I believe that this application is a perfect fit for this goal as it helps one to develop an awareness of the ethics involved in protecting financial transactions and just general financial integrity.
Another reason I chose this project is because even though this was a project from my introductory programming class, it feels like it is a micro version of what could be a real-life application and gave me a glimpse into what lay ahead. I learnt so many things through working on this small project since it was one of the last projects of my first semester. It helped me to gain confidence and build upon the skills I had learnt before such as working with scopes, events, try/catch exceptions, and testing in general.
For this project, I collaborated with four other people to create and present about the ethical challenges faced by the popular US based ridesharing app, Lyft. We were tasked with researching the company and its ethical challenges and to then think critically about what we would do if we were put in the position of the CEO. This presentation could not be more fitting for this goal. Lyft is a tech company and while it faces many common issues with regular companies, it also has to deal with the implications of working in a relatively new industry.
New industries face a special kind of moral dilemma because very often they have to operate in spaces that have not yet been regulated by law. This means that the weighing of profit and morality becomes even more relevant to companies like Lyft. For example, Lyft and other ridesharing companies like Uber have been met with heavy criticism and have even sued over misleading driver wages. However, Lyft has made significant headway on attempting to improve on this through offering a proposed $21 hourly wage to its drivers along with paid leave and benefit. Drivers, who are major stakeholders, are still unsatisfied but at least Lyft is showing a willingness to compromise.
This taught me that being ethical is important for winning stakeholder trust and to build a sustainable business model. Lack of foresight will lead the long arm of the law to strike down and customers will lose trust in the brand.