5 ms·

I have to wonder how many competent software engineers there are in eastern Europe that aren’t already employed at companies there.

wonderwonder 3y ago
I guess the real question is do they have to be competent if they can hire 3 of them for the price of 1 in the US? Edit: Thought I would add my current experience with this. My company is replacing contracted staff with permanent staff but out of South / Central America. The salaries are pretty much 1/4 of the US salaries. The people I am given to thumbs up / thumbs down (and that's very much what it is) are just ok. A couple are good but the rest are meh. I am allowed to thumbs down maybe 1 out of every 4 before I get push back. So this is very much a real thing where the US engineers are stuck filling in the gaps when the company onboards very cheap but not very good engineers. I am curious to see how this plays out in the long term
- throwaway5959 3y ago
  I’d rather have one competent software engineer than three incompetent ones. At any price.
  - switch007 3y ago
    Then you aren’t ready to be a CTO at a public company! That long term thinking will get you nowhere!
    - throwaway5959 3y ago
      Another year of not being a sociopath I suppose.
  - wonderwonder 3y ago
    This is true for most of us under the c-suite. But for those in the CTO/CFO, etc. role it makes financial sense for them to chop labor costs even if projects take a little longer. It just means the few competent engineers have to work 2x as hard for the same salary. I hate it.
    - throwaway5959 3y ago
      Agreed. There’s only so much you can cut costs. I feel like that’s the only focus for most companies now, not expanding revenue/markets, unfortunately.
- switch007 3y ago
  Or: does the incompetency only become apparent in 6-12 months, enough time for the CTO to perform another sleight of hand and distract people (or quit and move on)
Thoeu388 3y ago
Working for US has many advantages, for start they will ask you to work at office. And there is a surplus of Ukrainians with right to work in EU.

wonderwonder 3y ago

I guess the real question is do they have to be competent if they can hire 3 of them for the price of 1 in the US? Edit: Thought I would add my current experience with this. My company is replacing contracted staff with permanent staff but out of South / Central America. The salaries are pretty much 1/4 of the US salaries. The people I am given to thumbs up / thumbs down (and that's very much what it is) are just ok. A couple are good but the rest are meh. I am allowed to thumbs down maybe 1 out of every 4 before I get push back. So this is very much a real thing where the US engineers are stuck filling in the gaps when the company onboards very cheap but not very good engineers. I am curious to see how this plays out in the long term

throwaway5959 3y ago
I’d rather have one competent software engineer than three incompetent ones. At any price.
- switch007 3y ago
  Then you aren’t ready to be a CTO at a public company! That long term thinking will get you nowhere!
  - throwaway5959 3y ago
    Another year of not being a sociopath I suppose.
- wonderwonder 3y ago
  This is true for most of us under the c-suite. But for those in the CTO/CFO, etc. role it makes financial sense for them to chop labor costs even if projects take a little longer. It just means the few competent engineers have to work 2x as hard for the same salary. I hate it.
  - throwaway5959 3y ago
    Agreed. There’s only so much you can cut costs. I feel like that’s the only focus for most companies now, not expanding revenue/markets, unfortunately.
switch007 3y ago
Or: does the incompetency only become apparent in 6-12 months, enough time for the CTO to perform another sleight of hand and distract people (or quit and move on)

Thoeu388 3y ago

Working for US has many advantages, for start they will ask you to work at office. And there is a surplus of Ukrainians with right to work in EU.