5 ms·

I don't know how I feel about this race to the bottom that is design work through sites like fiverr. I can only hope oDesk and the like don't ever replace the

by orik 12y ago

I don't know how I feel about this race to the bottom that is design work through sites like fiverr. I can only hope oDesk and the like don't ever replace the need for a full time programmer or I'll be out of a job.

300bps 12y ago
My philosophy is that any company I do side work for that hints of "adding horsepower through odesk" or similar, I fire as a client. With that philosophy, they don't value your work and need to see how things are on the other side.
- morgante 12y ago
  You're right that 90% of the clients on oDesk are absolutely horrible, but so are most of the developers. There are some, however, who are genuinely just trying to find affordable talent in places where it's available. I know plenty of great developers in Russia and India making $40/hour as programmers for US companies.
  - learc83 12y ago
    I tried looking around on oDesk for contract work, but every time I clicked on a job and looked at the client's history they were paying less than $10 an hour on average. I couldn't find anything paying near $40 an hour.
    - morgante 12y ago
      Are you still looking for contract work? If so, email morgante@cafe.com.
      - learc83 12y ago
        Yes I am. Just sent you an email. The email address is learc83@gmail.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
fsk 12y ago
Having inherited a bunch of products that were developed by outsourcing companies, at several different employers, I can safely say that outsourcing companies aren't going to replace the need for COMPETENT full-time employees. I even spoke with several clients who switched from outsourcing in 3rd world countries back to hiring local developers. Wages are going up 10%-20%/year in the 3rd world countries while they stagnate in the USA, so there was no long-term economic benefit to outsourcing. On each of those projects, the outsourcing company did the minimum effort to get paid, and left an unmaintainable mess. Then the employer has two rough choices. Keep the outsourcing company on at inflated rates to support it, or hire full-time employees to do the support. Or find someone to rewrite it, they don't deliver, and now a couple years and a lot of money is down the drain. The outsourcing company does not have the same incentive as a competent employee. An outsourcing company just wants to get paid, and technical debt doesn't matter. An incompetent employee will obfuscate things to protect his job security (or because he doesn't know better). A competent employee wants to eventually move to another project, so the incentive is more to do a good job so it can be handed off to someone else.

by orik 12y ago

300bps 12y ago

My philosophy is that any company I do side work for that hints of "adding horsepower through odesk" or similar, I fire as a client. With that philosophy, they don't value your work and need to see how things are on the other side.

morgante 12y ago
You're right that 90% of the clients on oDesk are absolutely horrible, but so are most of the developers. There are some, however, who are genuinely just trying to find affordable talent in places where it's available. I know plenty of great developers in Russia and India making $40/hour as programmers for US companies.
- learc83 12y ago
  I tried looking around on oDesk for contract work, but every time I clicked on a job and looked at the client's history they were paying less than $10 an hour on average. I couldn't find anything paying near $40 an hour.
  - morgante 12y ago
    Are you still looking for contract work? If so, email morgante@cafe.com.
    - learc83 12y ago
      Yes I am. Just sent you an email. The email address is learc83@gmail.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

fsk 12y ago

Having inherited a bunch of products that were developed by outsourcing companies, at several different employers, I can safely say that outsourcing companies aren't going to replace the need for COMPETENT full-time employees. I even spoke with several clients who switched from outsourcing in 3rd world countries back to hiring local developers. Wages are going up 10%-20%/year in the 3rd world countries while they stagnate in the USA, so there was no long-term economic benefit to outsourcing. On each of those projects, the outsourcing company did the minimum effort to get paid, and left an unmaintainable mess. Then the employer has two rough choices. Keep the outsourcing company on at inflated rates to support it, or hire full-time employees to do the support. Or find someone to rewrite it, they don't deliver, and now a couple years and a lot of money is down the drain. The outsourcing company does not have the same incentive as a competent employee. An outsourcing company just wants to get paid, and technical debt doesn't matter. An incompetent employee will obfuscate things to protect his job security (or because he doesn't know better). A competent employee wants to eventually move to another project, so the incentive is more to do a good job so it can be handed off to someone else.