Terato Tech

That Blurry line between Business and Ethics

April 17th, 2012 by imran

Allow me to write about something that has been bothering me for quite a bit.

The short story: I find it repulsive when students email inquiring to outsource their homework to us.

Now here’s the long story:

We get a lot of requests from students, usually working on their Final Year Projects (FYP) with outsourcing inquiries. The most common line used would be:

“I am not an IT student/I am not a programmer, and this is for my FYP.”

Rephrased, of course but you get the general idea.
I don’t know about anyone else but I’ve always believed that in the pursuit of a goal, you should sweat blood and shit tears. If you are not prepared to go through the hard work of finishing that particular discipline in your FYP, DON’T BOTHER TAKING IT.

Really, DON’T BOTHER. The same thing applies to working life but let’s not get too sidetracked here.

There are many other fields out there and if you feel you have to take this (whatever lah) field, make sure you work hard for it. Now, I’m not suggesting programming is something you can pick up over a few days (some of us might be able to do so but speaking on behalf of myself, errrr….) but if you’re going to take up something related to programming for an FYP title, by extension you (die die also) have to shit bricks and cry blood until you can get it. At least enough to get the proof of concept ready, IMHO.

Sure, others do it as well. Sure, us small fishes, we need to make money to survive (just like everyone else) but I believe the line pops out like a sore thumb when matters like cheating and plagiarizing comes into play. Sure, there’s market demand and supply but there’s also a demand for genocide in some parts of the world. Care to supply?

I am of the opinion that FYPs are something you should dedicate a lot of time into, and willingly. It’s not something you choose on a whim, nor it should be. In real life, it would be akin to this: If I were to work in an advertising company, shouldn’t I FIRST master the various terms, industries, and terminologies in advertising before pursuing it? One may argue that mastery is something you pick up along the way but I believe that just drives the point deeper: you want it, you learn it.

Personally, my tick is not about whether or not the work is outsourced but the fact that students are daring enough to approach 3rd parties to do their work for them. I feel it reflects badly not only on them but us providers as well. Are they not indirectly implying that you are as lowly as they are, to acquiesce to their requests? Money’s good, but good ethics should always come into play and draw the line where it should be. Yes, it’s hard work that bloody FYP but it’ll be one of those things you will learn to cherish for the rest of your life.

Business owners and freelancers, I call upon you to help stop this shit. Students want to outsource their FYP titles to you?

Tell them “No.” 

Tell them you have a strict code of ethics that do not encourage cheating of any sort. Tell them how difficult it was to get to where you are right now. Tell them how easy it is to be tempted to do things that may book you a ticket to hell to get your business up and running but tell them about how you pulled it off, without slipping cash under the table, without falling to into the dark side.

Okay, I’m done ranting.

Tags: application, college, final year project, hardwork, iphone, outsource, pay, shortcuts, siti nurhaliza, students, terato tech, university
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