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Seven Engineers Suspended After $2.3M Bridge Includes 90-Degree Turn

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171 points _sbl_ | 1 comments | 10 Jul 25 16:10 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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threatofrain ◴[10 Jul 25 16:25 UTC] No.44522729[source]▶
Bad engineering or impossible constraints?
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rsynnott ◴[10 Jul 25 16:42 UTC] No.44522892[source]▶
Potentially both. If there are impossible constraints, then at a certain point you do _not_ build the impossible bridge, you say no instead.
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spacemadness ◴[10 Jul 25 16:52 UTC] No.44522995[source]▶
I am at a loss with all of the “well they were forced into it” comments. Don’t build it.
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darth_avocado ◴[10 Jul 25 17:10 UTC] No.44523154[source]▶
Have you never worked on projects where the management wants to do things a certain way but you know it’s just plain wrong. The only option sometimes is to let the slow rolling disaster unfold or risk your own job. Obviously this only applies where you aren’t risking people’s lives, but there is an entire subreddit dedicated for this. (r/maliciouscompliance)
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ryandrake ◴[10 Jul 25 17:16 UTC] No.44523215[source]▶
This comes up all the time on HN about terrible, failed software projects, and the same excuses get brought up. "But engineers are forced to build it!" "It's really the Manager's fault!" "It's really the PM's fault!"

The job of an Engineer implies a capacity for technical judgment and willingness to not do something if it's unsafe or doesn't make sense. Even if we're not official, licensed "Professional Engineers," we still need to make these calls and stop projects like this from happening. Whether it's building a ridiculous, unsafe bridge, or building ridiculous, defective software, if the engineer doesn't have the agency to stop it, who does?

Just letting it happen and letting it fail with a "malicious compliance" smirk on our faces is passive aggressive, and doesn't elevate our profession.

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1. darth_avocado ◴[10 Jul 25 21:07 UTC] No.44525630[source]▶
Sounds good, but doesn’t work. I still have bills to pay and a family to feed. If the cost of saying no is that I lose my job or get put in the doghouse without a promotion because a person with more influence got upset, I will put up with it and do whatever is asked of me. I may leave the company later if I find another job and they might also find another person to replace me, but that project is moving forward one way or the other.

Again, if I’m being asked to risk people’s lives, I’d push back harder and resign if I can’t change minds, but I’m not doing any of that to “elevate our profession”.