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Outsourcing Revisited And No One Is Safe

by Paul Kenjora on December 27th, 2008

The recent article Outsourcing Killed By Django And Ruby On Rails has caused as much proper debate as it has blind controversy. The feedback provided by readers here as well as other sites like Y Combinator and Reddit have brought up some good points. If I had to write the article again here is what I would change…

Django and Ruby On Rails wash away the economics of outsourcing.

Drop the US as an example, define outsourcing relative to any geographic point. If you’re in Germany as US developer would be considered offshore. The same problems and the same numbers would apply.

Remove references to quality, focus on incurred cost of outsourcing. Quality is difficult to quantify and easy to debate. When frameworks like Django or Ruby On Rails effectively reduce core project development (coding) significantly enough, periphery project costs grow in proportion. Communication can become the bottle neck, for example. A time zone difference of a few hours (8 – 12 in the case of US to India) means project decisions have a significant lag. Over the phone or email communications are not as effective as face to face time, especially with cultural and language differences. Even with highly experienced staff the cost of doing business time zones apart is higher than face to face.

Avoid the term “low skill”, and focus instead on the risk of hiring talent you’ve never interviewed face to face. There is a reason Ebay, Google, Microsoft, YouTube, and so forth interview people in person before hiring. The risk of making a bad hiring decision that will cost significant dollars down the road drops after a good interview. How does one interview an individual several thousand miles away with the same level of confidence? You can’t, hence a risk of outsourcing that can be avoided by hiring local, which is made possible by frameworks like Django and Ruby On Rails.

Django and Ruby On Rails wash away the economics of outsourcing.

Place emphasis on cheap labor as the target segment. Of course there are expensive developers everywhere, there are also cheap ones everywhere. Here in the US we have both, same as India, China, and Germany. Point is you get what you pay for and the mantra around outsourcing (at least here in the US) is cheap. Its a brand that was crafted by the outsourcing companies, now its back firing. Bean counters think dollars not skills and in US corporations bottom dollar wins out more often than not. So chances are if a US company outsources to India, it will outsource to the lower bidder regardless of skill.

Write a whole paragraph about how it doesn’t matter that developers in India or anywhere can pick up Django or Ruby On Rails. The frameworks have marginalized development to a point where its not the selling point. Communications, coordination, risk, and schedule are now selling points. The risks in those areas only get worse with off shoring or outsourcing across time zones.

Reference some of the frameworks in Java, PHP, and Perl that came before Django and Ruby On Rails. Yes, there were others but none as successful. Why? Ask the developers of Django and Ruby On Rails, they figured it out. For the rest of us, the important question is what does it signal for the future of web development. I’m guessing the end of off shoring, at least for a while.

Emphasize that Python is not Django and PHP is not Cake. Too many comments came back giving metrics for Java vs. Python or inferring PHP is the same as Cake. The discussion is around Django (not Python) and Ruby On Rails (not Ruby). Python itself reduces some development and coding because its an interpreted language with no type casts. Django on the other hand is a collection of functions crafted for the sole purpose of developing web applications. There is a huge gap between the two, thats why the focus is on the effects of Django on outsourcing.

Django and Ruby On Rails wash away the economics of outsourcing.

The original message holds. No matter how you dress it up or how much mud gets flung at it, Django and Ruby On Rails are killing outsourcing. There will always be jobs, and like many readers pointed out, good developers will always have them. The difference will be that they will come from down the street instead of the other side of the world.

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  • I agree with your views on the matter. I’ve visited your site for some time now. I found your blog on Google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google Reader. Keep up the good work! -Jaiden
  • As a follow-up to my own post...Just had a conversation with a scientist who's developing a 'flexible' screen for applications in a hostile environment. He said that if and when they get it developed, the possibility of it being produced in the US are nil because the infrastructure for high tech production is now overseas as well. It's no longer just 'cheap labor' that we're talking about. Doesn't bode well for the USA.
  • I suppose this article is focused on some reasonably complex skills. If I'm looking for someone to do rather tedious tasks, such as link building, aren't I wise to go to somewhere like the Philippines where there are workers willing to do monotonous tasks for $2?
  • Absolutely, there are still tasks that don't require complex tasks like coding or architecting software. This article does not talk about those things.

    By the way Link Building is a thing of the past, with Twitter and Facebook there are better tools out there. Try looking at:

    http://www.arkayne.com
  • While I understand that more companies are choosing to outsource, I believe the quality of their services should be compromised if only for the sake of cutting costs. Customer service should still be at the top of their agenda.
  • Sadly, some companies insist on outsourcing to other nations just to save up on costs not because of their expertise. Then after a couple of months later, they kick themselves because things went horribly wrong.
  • I usualy just outsource stuff only to people I know personaly. This way I know it'll be a high quality original content. Also I'll have someone to blame if something goes wrong.
  • I agree with John - you shouldn't compare different nationalities. It's obvious that American ones are usualy a lot better. However this still doesn't change the fact that outsourcing is pretty risky. 2 most commons reasons to outsource is either the lack of knowledge or the lack of time. In case of the former you won't be able to check if the job has been done the rigth way and in case of the latter you'll need to waste time to verify the whole thing anyway. I think that you shouldn't outsource unless you have someone really trusted.
  • Joe
    Ruby On Rails (not Rails) should read Ruby On Rails (not Ruby). I would hate for someone to get confused, especially if you are targeting someone who would mix up PHP and Cake.
  • John M
    Well, I for one thought the article was fine, don't think you needed to add much.

    However, what's wrong with referencing Quality? I work for one of the largest outsourcers in USA and no one even thinks for a minute that the quality is the same between USA and India or China, get real?

    There is a reason the tech revolution started in the USA, and most of the best tech companies are here. Let's not kid ourselves.

    J
  • Depends on what you need. If you want to outsource writing content or tech support, sure the US based companies are the best. If you want to outsource building your website or some design stuff I think you might find some offshore companies better (and cheaper) for the job.
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