Moonlighting: Ethical Issues for Professional Engineers

Technology plays an integral role in many aspects of today's fast-moving business environment. New ideas, methods, and state-of-the-art advances in computer technology and equipment are being continually developed to help engineers perform their work more efficiently. As a result, the opportunity to provide professional engineering services to those other than the primary employer can be both alluring and profitable. What are the ethical implications of providing professional engineering services to supplement income or to benefit the community, or of volunteering professional engineering services while working for a primary employer? The complex moral and ethical issues faced by engineers today rival the high ethical dilemmas faced by the medical and legal professions. Furthermore, staying within an established code of ethics can be difficult. What role does ASCE's code of ethics play in addressing the issue of moonlighting? This paper focuses on the ethical issues of moonlighting for the professional engineer.