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So a good friend of mine calls me up on Friday night, and he tells me about his close friend abroad who messed up and, without going into details, needs me to do his C# project for a course. The deadline was on Monday. I said I couldn't promise anything, but send me the requirments and I'll look into it.

Now, the pay was good and I felt that the guy's reasons were valid (and that the prof was being a dick), also the project was doable in a day and a half, so I said ok. I spent my entire Saturday working on it till I had most of it done: I just needed to refine the code and do the report.

I sent the app to him so that he can check it out, to which he responds by freaking out and explaining that he has missed most of the classes and has a barely passing average (huh maybe the prof isn't so much of a dick). If I get him a high grade, the gig will be up and his prof will fail him. He wants a 60-70/100, no more.

Feeling obliged by our agreement, I spent my Sunday complicating trivial code, breaking standards, and adding minor bugs. Had I know this was what it was going to lead to, I would have never accepted.

It's just so much harder to break good code than to write it.

Comments
  • 2
    Oh you poor thing!
  • 6
    Cut to a few years from now, when the software he writes kills a bunch of people...
  • 9
    F--k you.

    The person you helped cheat will most likely make a whole bunch of other developers very miserable in the near future. (Although i guess we might get a few nice rants out of it)
  • 1
    Oh, you don't have to worry about that. He's a soft science major who took the course as an elective.

    As much as I'm happy that all those people won't die, it's still sad that we won't get more rants from ex-future co-workers =/

    (and eventhough I know it's my own business, like I said, the circumstances surrounding my acceptance of the request were out of the ordinary, and justified - from a moral standpoint - to a degree I was comfortable with.)
  • 3
    Let the kid rewrite it himself.

    That way, it's in his style (formatting) and the fine was created on the same license set his previous work was. Besides, copying your work is also a good way for him to learn. Not as good, but still existent.

    Also, it's crazy of him to change requirements on you like that.
  • 1
    Seriously?
    I've repeatedly included snide remarks about the culture of hiring inexperienced students. Now we know why they actually pass.
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