Two Interviews - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I once took this job interview and the conversation started out quite affably, but it didn't stay that way. It' was the one time that I deliberately decided to blow the thing.

Him:     "So tell me about yourself." and so I did, discussing several projects from my resume

             which I was free to discuss without violating any confidentiality issues.

Him:     "Let me ask you a question. Suppose you're working on something and it turns out that the

            performance requirements need to be changed. Would you be okay with that?"

Me:       "What would make the requirements change?"

Him:     "The requirements would change because they can't be met. Would you be okay with that?"

Me:       "Well, I'd certainly want to discuss it with the customer to get........"

Him:     "No, no, no. Without involving the customer, would you be okay with that?"

Picture in your mind an image of me sitting there with my pulse rate and blood pressure each starting to rise. This guy was asking if I would be willing to commit fraud.

Me:       "I will not cheat a customer." and that interview came to a very abrupt end.     

 

I'd been asked essentially the same thing in an interview once before, but I guess I wasn't as tuned in as I should have been because I regrettably took that job.

This other company was purchasing a product that was to be re-sold under the company's own private label. That was perfectly fine. However, one day, I read an EMI test report showing that this particular purchased product was failing to comply with its FCC required limits for radiated emissions. I brought this to the attention of my boss.

He told me to ignore the report. His position was, the company's position was, that the company wasn't buying enough of those items for its true manufacturer to be interested in taking notice of the failure to meet the FCC requirements. ( I didn't say this would make any sense. ) I had no power over the situation and shortly thereafter, I quit.

A couple of years later, I saw a news item that this same company had been cited by the FCC for selling a product that was in violation of radiated emissions requirements, not for the product that I had seen, but a different one.

Still, I guess somebody finally got interested in the issue.

Comments

[John Dunn]

I was quite disturbed in the aftermath of each of these two incidents which occurred only a short time apart from each other.

The open willingness of each individual to disregard legalities, to disregard public safety (the emissions issue), to willingly engage in what I would consider criminal conduct and to expect me to abet them in that, to do the same thing myself, had an unsettling psychological impact for quite some time.

I guess it still does.

[Michael Miller]

Once had a job designing the front end for satellite receiver boards for a satellite-ip company.
At a signoff meeting with an end provider, they asked, no, TOLD me to remove the GDI shunt which served as lightning protector. As this product was for use on both laptops and desktops, I said it was certain that someone would be electrocuted on a near strike (protection against a direct strike is pretty much impossible) and a lawsuit for wrongful death was an absolute certainty. I said I would absolutely NOT remove this mandatory safety device, nor would I go below the U.L. safety recommendation for an equivalent shunt.
Their answer? "We'll be selling to the Japanese. Everyone knows the Japanese do not sue."
I told them I didn't need to do business with people willing to kill clients to save $1.04 per finished good.
Later I learned they went to a competitor, killed a few dozen people, had an arrest warrant issued for the company President and V.P. of Engineering and dared not ever set foot in Japan for as long as they live.
Lesson? Some people's money is just no good.