Quote:
Originally Posted by JenniP
I know very few people who have had good experiences from "developing countries" outsourcing, those that do have the following
- Absolutely nailed down specs
- Technical advisors in their own country that can check the quality of the work coming back
- Pay a premium (In your case say $15 an hour instead of $10)
- A good set of testers in your location who can find any issues quickly
The nailed down spec is the essencial bit, my experience of Indian workers is they are hard workers, churn out code like there is no tomorrow however they will follow the spec no matter how bad it is they wont question it, they will rarely say no to you when a western developer would (Sometimes a good thing but normally gets you into trouble).
As for the £60 per hour thats fairly reasonably, on the rare times I do freelance work I normally charge £700 a day, or £1000 per day for certain types of project.
Jen |
Spot on. I think that those of us who do some work in computing in the UK will have to get used to the fact that there will be more and more outsourcing. The economic logic is compelling.
The problem lies in the fact that having in house developers, who usually have a good idea of the products, is that it generates a certain laziness. It's all very well to say to a programmer "fill in this form" when the programmer can always come back and ask for how exactly you wanted the form to be filled in, but it's not that easy when the programmer is a continent and a few time zones away.
You can save money on outsourcing but e prepared to get the specs absolutely right - or hire a business analyst to write those specs and check the programming.