Re: Book on Offshore Outsourcing

Chuck Whealton wrote:
> Gill Bentry wrote:
> > b2bhandshake_at_yahoo.com wrote:
> >
> > I'll tell you how to manage an offshore project: Don't send your
> > project offshore. 3rd and 4th world programmers bungle, bloat, and
> > mangle code. Any cost "savings" will be quickly lost in performance
> > penalties and lost business.
>
> I'd have to agree.
>
> The unfortunate part is that upper management still just doesn't seem
> to get it.
>
> Even when a company is getting material sent back to them that's not
> documented in readable English, that doesn't work, and that is so wrong
> it's faster to rewrite it from the ground up than to correct it, they
> STILL continue this trend that in most cases serves no other purpose
> than to lower quality while ultimately not saving a single red cent
> (save for stupid accounting tricks).
>
> Part of the problem is that we simply can't compete against an exchange
> rate, and the other part is that you can't fight an upper management
> that has no concept of quality. For all the talent we are told about
> that exists in other countries, and I'm sure there is PLENTY of high
> quality talent in these countries, I don't believe those talented
> people are being used in most offshore projects.

Good post, Chuck, and I'll touch on just one of your posts for now as it's kinda late. RE: Talented people offshore. I agree that there are some very talented people offshore. All the Indian propagandists on this board call me a racist, but I don't believe that Indians are fundamentally incompetent. Indian guys who work for $10 an hour are at about the same level as guys in the US who work for $10 an hour: Complete knuckleheads and the quality of their work reflects that simple fact. The *smart* guys offshore get the same rates as the *smart* guys here. Anyone technically competent will get at least $40 an hour. If you know a business discipline as well, at least $60 an hour.

The problem with the 3rd world countries is, you have a very small pool of trained and experienced talent in these places. It takes a first world infrastructure for a person to train and gain experience in programming. I figure the 1st world population of India is in the 10's of millions, probably equivalent to one of the larger US states. So, figure how many competent programmers you'd have in the state of California and you get the idea. OK, comparing India's "First World" to California is pretty generous. It's probably more like New York or Pennsylvania.

>
> The stories posted by one of the other people in the group about
> projects being backsourced are absolutely encouraging. Unfortunately,
> it takes a long time for corporate America to learn lessons and
> implement change.

Absolutely. Fortunately, this has been going on for a number of years, long enough for the winds to blow in the opposite direction.

>
> Charles R. Whealton
> Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com
Received on Mon Sep 04 2006 - 21:30:24 CDT