The Workplace Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for members of the workforce navigating the professional setting. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I'm a software developer (at a small company with no government or military customers) and just out of fun left an easter egg in the code. The only way for a final customer to see it is if they press the same button 25 times, which is unlikely to happen. The easter egg itself just contains a small photo of myself and a variant of "All your base are belong to us"
If discovered, what are the likely consequences, either while I'm employed or after?
If you are not absolutely certain that your team, your manager, and your company will chuckle at this, don't include an easter egg.
I have seen cases where developers were summarily dismissed for including an unauthorized easter egg. The problem is that, almost by definition, the easter egg was code that wasn't peer reviewed that was doing something that wasn't properly documented. If a developer can sneak in code that shows their own picture without any sort of review, the fear was that they could just as easily have inserted a back door that would let them compromise the system in the future. The company treated it just as it would have treated finding any sort of unauthorized code in production (which likely made reference checks for those developers rather problematic in the future).
Now, is it particularly likely that you'll be fired if you include an easter egg? It likely depends on the nature of the software-- companies producing medical or financial software are probably going to be a lot less amused than companies distributing a game. But even within a particular industry, there are going to be more straight-laced companies and more free-wheeling companies. It's possible that you'll just get told to knock it off. It's possible that management will lose confidence in your professionalism or that your team will think that you're being a self-aggrandizing jerk by singling yourself out over the team. It's possible that everyone will think it's hilarious.
Given the tremendous potential downside and the minimal upside, though, it doesn't make sense to take the risk. Either get formal approval to add it (which will presumably mean at least picking a more inclusive picture) or don't include it.
Easter eggs are company initiatives, not renegade initiatives. The reason they are hard for a company to do well is because so many employees go renegade about it and think it's a magical time to just stop exercising normal levels of caution and judgment. Don't do renegade things in your company, like, ever. I mean, there are exceptions, but this clearly isn't one of them.
Easter eggs:
So now you need to fix it. This doesn't sound like a serious situation to me but you're likely to get in a lot more trouble in an ill-thought out attempt to cover your butt than to get the problem on track. Deal with this problem like you would have if someone else did it, and you're likely to look a lot better.
That possibly means escalating to your boss in case more damage control needs to be done (probably not), or possibly just getting an actual code review when you remove the offending code, just like you always get a code review when you remove any offending code.
I'm a toddler and just out of fun left a scribble on the house. The only way for a parent to see it is if they look behind the cups in the cupboard, which is unlikely to happen. The easter egg itself just contains a small scribble of my name and a variant of "All your cups are belong to us"
The mentality is largely the same. You are adding graffiti to an object you do not own, without permission, and you believe that you won't be caught, so you should be ok, right?
The problem is that you don't have permission, and that this is a product which represents the company. When the easter egg is revealed, and it's not a matter of if, then there will be serious repercussions towards you. Just because you may be willing to be fired for it now doesn't mean that you'll appreciate the exposure if it comes to light in 3 years when you have another job with a security minded company.
Do not allow this product to be released to any customers with your digital graffiti. Take it out of the codebase, and hope no one else notices it.
Are you afraid of it being discovered? You left a clear way for them to track the Easter egg to its source by leaving a picture of yourself in the code, not to mention a technological thumbprint.
It would be prudent to remove the Easter egg. Even if you think it is unlikely to be discovered, you cannot guarantee it wouldn't.
But, you asked about consequences, so here are my thoughts.
On the other side, knowing my co-workers, you are bound to get a chuckle from your more light hearted co-workers for the Easter egg. Just don't expect management to find it as humorous.
Easter eggs were cool 25 years ago. They're not cool anymore. Don't do it.
Installing unauthorised easter egg opens you to all kinds of unpleasant questions:
IANAL, but many aspects of your actions could easily constitute a sackable offence, or worse.
If you work at Microsoft, you will be fired once this is discovered.
If you work for a company which provides software to any government, or with any government contractor, your company could lose its contract now and be forever banned from further dealings with said customer.
Easter eggs are undocumented features that have never been tested or analyzed to ensure that they are not security holes, and therefore are unacceptable risks to many customers. They are not funny. They are not cute.
If you want to have a funny user interface element that gives credits to team members, write a web page. Don't put undocumented, untested, unverified features in user-accessible code. The customer will quite reasonably ask what other undocumented secret features that subvert their security measures that employees of your company have added to their software.
Best case, you have a chuckle. Worst case, you have a chuckle until HR gives you your papers. It's your decision how much you value a chuckle.
Consequences after you left: Worst case, your old company sues you. If this happens in the USA, you can get sued for any reason whatsoever. And the best possible result of being sued is that you pay your legal expenses, which won't be cheap. Again, it's your decision how much you value a chuckle.
But look at it in a positive way. Maybe the guys at your company have a sense of humour. So HR will have a chuckle while they give you your papers, and the company's lawyer has a chuckle while he sues you. That's certainly worth it.
Did I forget to mention that this is a very, very bad idea? If you want an easter egg in your company's software, suggest it the product manager.
There will be three main factors here:
If you'd be entirely happy to be called into the CEO's office to explain it, or for it to appear on your CV for evermore, then go for it. If you'd feel embarrassed to explain it to a room full of colleagues/customers then best leave it out.
You also need to be really damn sure that there's absolutely no way it could possibly interfere with the function of the software - as Pratchett's law states: "Million to one chances happen nine times out of ten"
My personal view is don't put your name or a photo of your dumb face in there, that sort of thing is likely to be as embarrassing in 5 years' time as your baby photos, and smacks of vanity rather than fun. There's some well documented (and well-loved) easter eggs that print out developer team credits and fun little messages, but just sticking yourself in there seems a bit narcissistic.
I would consider the possibility that somebody who hits the same button 25 times maybe isn't having a great experience, either with their computer or your software.
Maybe they think that your software has frozen, maybe their computer is running slowly or playing up, maybe their kayboard/mouse is having issues, maybe they are just having a really bad day and take their frustration out on your software.
Either way, if that is the case, and a picture of you shows up along with some silly meme, it's not going to end well for you!
Several good answers, no point repeating what's been said, let me just add:
As others have noted, if management finds out about your Easter egg, depending on the personality of the managers and corporate culture, they may chuckle and compliment you on your cleverness, or they may fire you for making unauthorized changes to the software, or anywhere in between.
BUT ... if it turns out that there's a bug in your Easter egg that causes something bad to happen, like it creates a security vulnerability or a customer loses data, the laughter is going to come to an abrupt end. Odds are that you just did a quick test of the Easter egg, and presumably never told the QA department about it so they haven't tested it at all.
Someone on here said to consider the best case and worst case from your personal point of view: You get a chuckle for a few minutes versus they fire you. Consider best case and worst case from the customer's point of view. Best case: they find the Easter egg and get a little chuckle. Worst case: they find the Easter egg and then the software fails. The probability that the customer will say, "Oh, I lost all my accounts receivable for the last six months, but that sure was amusing to see a picture of the programmer and a funny message. It was worth it." ... odds of that are pretty much zero. And if the result is that the patient whose life support system this software is controlling died, or two trains collided because you introduced a bug in the traffic control system, etc.
Hey, I've gotten in trouble for making unauthorized changes to software that really did improve the functionality.
Yes, I've put Easter eggs in software myself. I wouldn't do it again without clearing it with management.
