
Ask HN: Why aren't other professions as generous as developers? - hanoz
I&#x27;m investigating some accounting and legal issues for a potential venture and it seems there is no question you can ask online for which the answer isn&#x27;t &quot;ask your accountant&quot;, or &quot;speak to a lawyer&quot;. It&#x27;s driving me nuts. The contrast with technology professionals, who gladly share their wisdom in response to specific questions, is stark. Why such a difference?
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brudgers
Software developers working on open source projects are typically creating
value for themselves. They use Go. They fix a bug in Go. Now the Go they use
is better.

The Go developer goes to a lawyer and asks for advice. The lawyer's advice
doesn't have value for the lawyer. The law the lawyer uses isn't better. This
is also why designers are rarely interested in designing for open source
projects.

In terms of generosity, as theorized the Go developer's bug fix benefits the
Go developer. It likely also benefits Google, a subset of six-figure Silicon
Valley engineers, and a few Sand Hill Road limited partners.

In the US lawyers "give back" via _pro bono_ work. The beneficiaries are not
corporations, investors, and well paid professionals. When lawyers give back,
they often work on the intractable problems of poor people. _Pro Bono_ work is
_pro bono_ because it is clearly not in the lawyer's basic business and
economic interests.

A lawyer's free legal advice is required by law to meet the same standards as
the lawyers paid legal advice. The free tier has to be just as legally sound
as the paid tier. This extends to online forums.

Besides, if a person is able but unwilling to pay for legal advice, their
problem isn't very serious.

