Most of you don’t even need to read this post to know why outsourcing your software development work to cheaper countries may not ultimately help you. You already know why.
The thing is that many people outsource their work to IT hubs like Bangalore to save a lot of money. But the problem is that you get a low quality product at last. The reason? You tried to cut cost too much.
You cannot get a high quality work done for a low cost. Never. Quality always comes with a price.
When outsourcing to foreign countries, always try to do it to people who promise quality product, not to people who promise lower cost. Also, never ever outsource your core development work.
I am an Indian myself and let me tell you some facts I came across:
- Major Indian software companies are recruiting low quality programmers.
- A large percentage (I am afraid more that 50%) of the programmers are from non-CS backgrounds. Many are mechanical engineers, electrical/electronics engineers or civil engineers.
- The pay scales for fresher posts here are not the best even according to Indian standards.
- We don’t care for the quality of the work we do for you. Now I don’t want to piss off any one, but the fact is that seriously no one cares about the quality of their code they do for some American company which they don’t know much about. You will get quality code only if it comes from your heart – like when you code for yourself. Most Indian software engineers don’t feel any kind of commitment to their organizations (mainly because of the way companies treat employees).
- Part of the reason why many companies recruit low quality programmers is that the works we get here are mainly some support work or very monotonous and boring development work that looks like it will take ages to get completed. Many Indian programmers have their own pet projects which they dedicate their free time to and they concentrate on the quality of the code they produce for that pet projects instead of the projects they have to do in their organizations.
- I never meant that there are no quality programmers in India. There are many, but the chances are very low that big software giants will recruit these bright minds (which they cannot afford). Instead, they go for cheap mechanical engineers or graduates from some second class institution.
- This bullet point is supposed to occupy the place where I bash the project management BS. I don’t like bad mouthing that much. So just skip…
I guess you guys understand the situation here.
So what is the solution?
Don’t outsource. Seriously.
If your work is very monotonous and does not demand high quality, outsource. If you want a very good software product and if it the flagship product of your company, never ever outsource. You are doomed otherwise.
I was thinking about this once while I was taking a shit and another time while I was having gay sex. Truth is, I think I wouldn’t care much about the software project if I were given crap work. I’d much rather be laying on the beach with a bunch of naked men and women.
I’m programmer from Ukraine. Yep, I’m working in outsourcing industry.
That’s looks like a joke, but I amazed by an incompetence of programmers from US and EU
All of these are issues are tangental to the real issue, which is whether _I_ (an American computer programmer) will get interesting work in my location of choice at a very high rate of pay. Whether or not outsourcing is a good ideal, the attempt has had a negative effect with respect to this issue.
While it might be heartening to hear that outsourcing software development is of limited effectiveness, my biggest fear is that the problem will be solved by outsourcing not just the software developers but the entire business — including the software users and their managers.
Most of your talk sucks; do you know how many jobs outsourcing has created for us.
Software development has three aspect to decide on cheaper; faster and better and we in India write cheaper software; chances are high that a cheaper software will never be better but thats not be blamed to companies; they can not pay you out of there pockets.
you say that there are mechanical and electronics people writing software its not a big deal any one can write software; I have seen a sociology graduate writing better code than many CS graduates; stream does not matter what matters is how you articulate things and your alogorithm building capabilities; knowing syntax of 3-4 odd programming languages does not make you great developer.
If outsourcing is stopped people will starve; small recession affects our economy so badly you are talking about stopping it all together.
Get your basics writes before you start writing on such sensitive issues.
Thanks Niyaz – I always appreciate people who have the courage to tell things like they are – this is the only way to a better world and improvement among all of us. Thanks for your candor and sincerity with this article. Yup, quality anything will cost a company – cheap programming ultimately is a losing deal especially for a project that requires quality design and programming. The same thing is true with documentation and training – low salaried employees deliver poor quality – only those who are paid a nice salary end up producing something that is really great.
All The Best & Namaste, Keith
This is not true always. There are leading software engineering companies in South Asia, which are helping shape the technology landscape of the Globe. WSO2 (http://wso2.com) is one such company. All the leading developers of this company are Sri Lankan’s and are based in Sri Lanka. Some of the best talent is found in this part of the world.
Nicely said Niyaz; and you make some good points – ones that I didn’t actually consider.
silky,
Glad to hear from you after a long gap.
What happened to your blog?
The trend in London seems to be away from outsourcing and towards importing Indians for contract positions. I don’t know if they are cheaper than native developers but the ones I have worked with are certainly as qualified.
Flamebait really.. low on facts, high on baseless blanket assumptions.
You are correct in bits and pieces only and mostly incorrect. I suppose you are stuck with one of the Tata companies, is it?
[...] Why Outsourcing Sucks 아쉽지만 부정하지 않을 수 없다. Core 기술을 outsourcing한다면 쩝 볼장 다 본거 아닌가?(outsourcing)2008-08-15 05:31:31 [...]
[...] came across really interesting article by Niyaz. He is an Indian IT guy an he promotes same ideas Rubal Offshore sales person try to communicate to [...]
“Flamebait really.. low on facts, high on baseless blanket assumptions.
You are correct in bits and pieces only and mostly incorrect. I suppose you are stuck with one of the Tata companies, is it?”
Typically – What you don’t understand is that a large proportion of Indian sweatshops ( NO, they don’t deserve to be called companies ) suck because they have no idea what they’re doing.
I’m an Indian Entrepreneur and I run an Indian IT Company ( Typically, I’ve been there done that – not many of you can claim that ).
The fact is that – its not because of the companies that the quality of work sucks – its because of tendency.
Hire an Indian Data Entry Operator who does the same monotonous job every day – after 6 months, he will want a raise and his claims will be that of “experience”.
But, the fact is that he’s been “sitting” towards the raise and has not really learn’t anything new – he just assumes that all that he has to do is stay with the company in order to deserve a raise.
And, what happens when you feel the person doesn’t deserve a raise? He just moves to another sweatshop and produces low output there.
There needs to be “specialization” – I’d say the core basics before you outsource something should be this:
1. Is the company your outsourcing to specialize in the process?
( Mega sweatshops have no specialization and they can never deliver quality )
2. Can the company your outsourcing to grow with you?
( In the Indian IT landscape, companies usually grow extremely quick, so they may just ditch their old clients for new ones who seems more appealing resulting in loss of productivity and quality)
3. What kind of a team does the company possess? ( Apparently, not just the manager counts )
Ashwin,
Thanks for the thoughts.
So true.
I am an engineer in a big company, like IBM, MS, QUALCOMM etc. I work with Indian Engineer everyday. I have never met them. But I felt that they must be the kind of bad engineer described by you. I am very frustrated by the quality of their work.
3 lines of code, one serious bug. That is my feeling.
I always thought, there must be some smart Indian engineers. But sorry, I have to say I never met an ordinary engineer. All of them suck, and the mangers suck.
About the quality and quantity of work, 10 of them can not compare with me. They just don’t know what they are doing.
By the way, my work really need serious engineering ability.
It doesn’t imply that when a person graduates from a non-it course that he can’t be good in programming. What is important is he underwent training from the outsource providing company.
It is depressing to know that an Indian would try to speak ill about the companies that are sources of income of your fellow indians.
You cannot disregard the reality that outsourcing is rapidly spreading because of it’s advantages in businesses.
The solution is not to outsource. PERIOD. Dear morons, please figure it out. If a compnay decides to outsource their IT work, they will just have to bring it back in house at a certain point. The costs start to become astronomical as far as having to re-hire local talent. Let’s be serious, do you really want to move your knowledge base overseas? It’s much easier to cut executive salaries, if cost is your issue. Here is the problem: American companies focus on cutting costs instead of putting out a competitive product at a profit. Let’s try it again,
American companies focus on cutting costs instead of putting out a competitive product at a profit.
Until the concept of scientific management is ditched, the American economy will ever fall into nothingness.
do you even know what you are saying?
probably you worked for a crappy outsourcing company that’s why you are saying this junk.
either: you want to put up an outsourcing company and doing this to discourage others; you do crappy work and gets away with it; or you are fired from work and bitter about this issue.
if you must know, outsourcing is made in order to fit the need of the client company. while there are some outsourcing companies which produces rotten software, there are more which does the right stuff. why would you buy pre-made a point of sale system which doesn’t suit your company (with features that you don’t need and/or lacking features that you need)? why would someone buy a commercialize ATM software (wouldn’t it be odd if every ATM’s you see uses the same software, only the logo differs?)?
it’s like manufacturing cars, they don’t do the entire thing. they outsource the engine, and other parts from companies who specialize on that field. outsourcing is not only making medium sized software. its letting others do what you don’t want to do. it’s being done globally. done by apple in their iphone. done by computer manufacturers. Microsoft also outsources.
the problem with you is… you have narrowed your mind to “outsourcing on crappy software companies” and did not took into consideration that people from big software industries started as an untrusted company as well.
do some research, get some proofs, verify every information you get and think before writing. this post of yours indirectly says “hey! i outsource and i am doing crappy work, still i earn cheap money”.
[...] China or the ten other trendy-emerging tech beds, unless you’ve managed an outsourced team. Niyaz PK offers his view on outsourcing, but this is not why I say to refrain from outsourcing. My point is if you have to outsource your [...]
Maybe it’s true. But our American senior java architect does not correspond even to a middle-level developer
of our team. Situation is same at the neighbouring project. Those architects earn about 150k. It just means outsourcing can be different. I am from Ukraine.