Modular Data-Retrieval API and Slack-Bot Application for Efficacious Software Maintenance and Debugging/Corporate Cultism, Internal Competition, and the Perpetuation of AI-hype through Technological Determinist Messaging: An Autoethnography of Life in Corporate

Thesis Project Portfolio
Modular Data-Retrieval API and Slack-Bot Application for Efficacious Software Maintenance and Debugging
(Technical Report)
Corporate Cultism, Internal Competition, and the Perpetuation of AI-hype through Technological Determinist Messaging: An Autoethnography of Life in Corporate
(STS Research Paper)
An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Virginia • Charlottesville, Virginia
In Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Computer Science, School of Engineering
Timmy Tourigny
Spring, 2025
Department of Computer Science

Table of Contents

Sociotechnical Synthesis
Modular Data-Retrieval API and Slack-Bot Application for Efficacious Software Maintenance and Debugging
Corporate Cultism, Internal Competition, and the Perpetuation of AI-hype through Technological Determinist Messaging: An Autoethnography of Life in Corporate
Prospectus

Sociotechnical Synthesis

Introduction
My technical and STS projects both reflect upon my experience working at a large software company during the summer of 2024. My technical project analyzes the specifics of the project my intern team created, while my STS research analyzes what social factors could have guided the priorities of our development process. I use the form of autoethnography to reflect on why certain aspects of our design bothered me, like a strong proclivity toward AI use. I expand to comment on disconcerting aspects of company culture and their effect on design choice, using the project outlined in my technical report as the example.
Technical Report
My technical report reflects on the internal product my team created during my summer 2024 internship. Software engineers at my company need to quickly obtain transaction data to remedy bugs and monitor system performance. The system our team created provides a user interface that software engineers can type commands into and receive relevant transaction information. The team developed an API hosted on AWS Lambda to handle various request types. A Slack-Bot serves as the front-end for user interaction. Current company software engineers are now modifying and further developing the system to prepare for use in production.
STS Project
My STS Research Paper is an autoethnography that reflects on my 2024 summer internship. Through my research and reflection, I argue that the organization’s leadership practices are eerily similar to many practices of cultish leadership. Additionally, the company promotes competition between employees with its internal ranking system. I find that these practices do not exist in isolation, as they promote dogmatic attitudes toward AI rooted in technological determinist thinking. This organization’s corporate cultism and competitive stack-ranking incentive structure promotes the indiscriminate use of AI regardless of efficacy.
Conclusion
My technical report is an important piece of material for my STS research paper. I don’t believe I could have made the arguments I made in the STS research paper without technically analyzing our team’s product. Pinpointing the parts of my project that caused my concern became much easier with the technical data I created in the report. I found the holistic reflection of my time at the company personally valuable, as it helped me better understand all aspects of my experience. I believe it also prepared me for my future work in the software engineering industry.

School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Technical Advisor: Rosanne Vrugtman
STS Advisor: MC Forelle
Prospectus Advisor: Rider Foley
Computer Science Advisor: Briana Morrison