I definitely agree...I definitely had a lot of trial and error with offshore teams. Before I found the right ones in the Philippines, I worked with programmers

I definitely agree...I definitely had a lot of trial and error with offshore teams. Before I found the right ones in the Philippines, I worked with programmers and designers in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, Belarus, India, Canada, Ireland, and Russia. The most talented OO PHP programmer I have ever worked with was from Belarus, but it was nearly impossible to pay him because the government makes the recipient sign an affidavit that the money is coming from a blood relative. In the end I had to wire the money to Latvia and he could withdraw it using an ATM card in Belarus. I've found that some of the best programmers (particularly for .NET) are in Eastern Europe, but the English is not so great. Latin America is great if you speak Spanish (like I do) because the time zone is perfect for the US. Same with the Caribbean for timezone, but their infrastructure isn't the greatest, especially with hurricanes. The hurricanes are a problem in the Philippines, it's a risk worth taking if you have a backup team in another country.