I have attempted to out-source a couple of small jobs via online job
boards, twice. Both times were dismal failures and a complete waste of
money.
That's not to say that there are some talented, professional developers
in India, etc but I don't think freelancer.com et al is a reliable way
to find them!
On 11/09/10 11:54, Kent Parker wrote:
I would tend to disagree with Bruce and would maintain that you get
what you pay for regardless of where the developer is. If you are
paying someone $15 a day to code html, then it is going to be pretty
basic stuff. You are probably developing sites of not very high
quality, maybe destined for use in the countries where you source your
workers and where expectations are not high. If your website is
destined for use in a Western country and has to compete then it is
likely to be built by people paid a competitive Western wage using
skill levels required to achieve the necessary standards.
I say this as a telecommute developer myself to clients in Europe,
North America and other select parts of the world. You can more or
less judge from the country of origin whether or not you are going to
get a worthwhile return. That rules out Eastern Europe, South
America, most of Asia, especially India and all of the Middle East
except Israel. I would say that this advert is for sites whose final
destination is in one of those regions that I just ruled outt. It
should be noted that the population of non-Western countries is larger
than those of Western countries and their internet usage is growing,
therefore the number of developers and the proliferation of cheap job
offers is also growing.
These cheap developers are not competing against people such as myself
because they are in a different market. I have had a number of North
American clients come to me after dissatisfaction with Asian
freelancers. The primary problem is language, followed closely by
culture and in that I mean business culture which includes everything
from law to how to do business. The Western business culture is far
more sophisticated than anything you'll find in those countries.
You could liken it to building a house. There might be someone who
could do it for $360 a sq meter but it wouldn't last long in a 7.1
earthquake! (NZ houses typically cost well over $1,000 per sq m)
On Sep 11, 11:23 am, Bruce Clement<[email protected]> wrote:
On Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 6:01 AM, Leandro Carvalho<[email protected]> wrote:
Really, is this a joke? 0_0
No, it isn't a joke. It's the reality of the international
availability of services. In some countries the cost of living is low
compared to the west and so an amount of money that would be poverty
level here is a reasonable income there. The ad was placed on an
international board, not a New Zealand one and in some parts of the
world US$360 for a fairly entry level programming job would be a good
wage.
Part of the problem is that the currency of some countries is low
because it is in little demand or infrastructural problems, but part
of the problem is because the high population density means that
businesses (and government agencies) can do so much more with the same
fixed cost facilities so businesses can afford to work on much lower
margins than would be required here helping keep the costs down.
If you're looking at offering site or software development services
over the internet you are directly competing with people who can get
the same standard or living as you for a lot less money so you can be
undercut. If you want to retain a New Zealand standard of living in
New Zealand you need to be offering services that can't be delivered
remotely ... the ability to front up at your client's office for a
face-to-face being the obvious one but there are others including
detailed knowledge of the local environment and the other issues
surrounding confidence that dealing locally provides,
--
Bruce Clement
Home: http://www.clement.co.nz/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Bruce_Clement
Google Buzz:http://www.google.com/profiles/aotearoanz
"Before attempting to create something new, it is vital to have a good
appreciation of everything that already exists in this field." Mikhail
Kalashnikov
--
Phone (04) 381 4827 or 021 823 129
Skype rimu123
Web http://rimu.geek.nz/
--
NZ PHP Users Group: http://groups.google.com/group/nzphpug
To post, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe, send email to
[email protected]
