Outsourcing is one of those ideas that makes sense in theory but usually fails spectacularly in the real world. The idea is simple: pay people in a country with a lower standard of living much less money that a domestic worker for computer tasks. Why pay an American engineer $60/hour when you can hire an engineer from India or China for $15/hour? Again, it sounds good, in theory.
Corporate bean counters love outsourcing. I hate outsourcing because it takes away from American workers, always takes MUCH longer than expected, often produces bad results, and usually costs more. I personally dealt with outsourcing and the best experience was marginal most most experiences were very bad.
Practical Example and Question
For you corporate bean counters consider a practical analogy. Let’s say that you want to add a room to your half-million dollar home. Why pay an experienced master carpenter $60/hour when you can get laborers for $10 hour? If you give each the same blueprint then the resulting work should be the same, right? Would you personally hire the $10 laborer to work on your expensive home?
The experienced carpenter should have the skills and experience to do a much better job, get the work done properly, and know how to deal with unforeseen problems that nearly always arise. Of course you would not hire the laborer to modify your fine house.
Your business requires computer services such as system design, programming, documentation, and training. Why would you even consider using “senior” software engineers who only have one to three years of experience? Again, would you allow the inexperience carpenter to modify your expensive home or would you select someone who has real experience?
Experience Matters
When I started in the technology field you were a newbie for your first two years. At five years you were starting to be taken seriously. After seven to ten years you earned the respect of being one of the experienced engineers. The outsource companies consider an engineer who can barely speak English with two years experience as “senior.” Seriously?! How many serious problems has someone with a few years experience encountered and how many difficult problems have they solved?
Most of us old school engineers solved so many tough problems that we can no longer name all of them. Engineering experience and field experience cannot be taught in books and must be learned from the School of Hard Knocks (whose school colors are black and blue).
Case Studies
Want to read about some outsourcing nightmares? Well, here are a few: