[OT] partialy I was wondering what suggestions for programing

[Leo J Mauler]

On Mon, 9 Feb 2004 15:49:19 -0600 "Michael Shaw" <dbwizzard at kc.rr.com>
writes:
> >
> > Of course, companies outsourcing programming to 
> > India are losing fast too.  Re-integration of programming 
> > code written by an individual who has problems with the 
> > English language can cost almost as much as twice the
> > cost savings of hiring lower paid Indian programmers.  
> > For starters all the documentation, if there is any, is more 
> > likely to be in a different language than English.

[snip!]
 
> In response to these statements I say:
> 
> 1)   The argument about documentation being in some 
> foreign language is terribly weak.  

I did say "for starters".  NPR did a piece on this a few weeks back, and
the language barrier, while not as much in some areas, was only one of
the arguments used by a guy on the program whose company lost money
outsourcing programming code to India.

The language barrier is just one element of the main issue: you have no
direct project control when you outsource, especially to another country.
 If you are outsourcing part of your new software application to another
country, any level of language barrier will be the *least* of your
problems.  

They don't have to write good code, and if they write lousy, bug-ridden
code, you've already paid out money for it.  A weak argument, but
consider the other elements of loss of control.

You have to integrate their code into yours (take your bugs and their
bugs and multiply the two to find the new number of bugs to remove).  

Your engineers know the kinds of mistakes they usually make.  Your
engineers do not know the kinds of mistakes the foreign engineers usually
make.  This will make finding the bugs even harder.

And add in all the inter-continental patent and copyright issues (such as
their country may not recognize any of your patent/copyright rights to
your own code) as well as the unreliability of inter-continental NDAs,
and you've just released your new application's source code into the
hands of foreign software companies (or worse, into the Public Domain).

So the *total cost* to the company will probably be quite a lot higher
than any savings from outsourcing.  Its not the same as handing the
programming work to Phil's Consulting three blocks away.  The foreign
engineers add whole new levels of bugs and patent/copyright issues which
most companies seem to be ignoring in their rush to make their bottom
lines.  Long-term costs get ignored in the modern business world, but
while shipping with a few bugs works most of the time, ignoring the
additional and longer term costs of outsourcing will kill any "savings"
from foreign outsourcing.

Its still a sweet deal for India.  We provide them with access to
American application source code, help train their engineers to have
better skills than American engineers, and generally add more to their
companies than they give to ours.  Eventually they'll start demanding
American salaries for their work, and the foreign outsourcing savings
will dry up.  

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