has outsourcing web dev to cheaper countries caused job losses in EU & Ireland?

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 12:19PM #1

Hi all

I am thinking of starting a career in web design & development but I was dissappointed when someone told me that nowadays nobody really pays for these services in Ireland or at east not as much as before and that most work is outsourced to cheap countries in Asia. Is this really true? If it is how do you guys feel about it and do you still do well in this career here locally?

And alsooooo, please don't try and deter me just because you don't want the competition once I graduate haha

Speedwell · 19-04-2016 12:27PM

We just tried to get a developer from India and had the worst time reading CVs, getting in touch with the people, interviewing, dealing with availability issues, and (since we found one we thought would do) making sure we are understood and that we understand them. The first one we tried flaked out on us, and the second one didn't have the skills he claimed on the CV. The third one, the one we think will do, clearly thinks we're know-nothings who need our hands held... to be fair that is not all that far from being true on this project. It is exhausting.

Dave0JV · 19-04-2016 12:44PM

As someone who works in web design and development in Ireland I can tell you there are still loads of these jobs going in Ireland and I can confirm companies definitely do still pay well for them. You just have to keep and eye on where's hiring.

armabelle · 19-04-2016 01:15PM

Just recently outsourcedmy project to india. Couldnt find a reason to pay someone in ireland 4 x the price of what some developers were charging me there. Feel terrible because i really wish i could have stayed local.

JackHeuston · 19-04-2016 02:01PM

I currently work as a full stack web developer. I think it's easy for companies to outsource small projects like a standard website or blog. If you specialise a little bit in complex web services, you'll have less competition from cheaper countries.

So far I haven't heard of successful stories about outsourcing in this field, but I have a very small network so take this with a grain of salt.

A friend of mine is trying to start a website+app and his dev team is in Ukraine. It sure is cheap, but it's almost 6 months they are working on it and they encounter problems, misunderstandings, poor quality of the work all the time. He also needs to travel regularly to Ukraine to see them and make sure they are actually spending time on his project, etc...

Same with the company I work for. They tried to look for someone to "help me" on the job. I found myself having to spend days to teach people how our framework worked (and also basic web development logic) without success. Even dealing with consulting companies in Ireland that promise to find you cheap foreign developers didn't bring them anywhere, most of the times they were asking for money in advance to give a mediocre job in return and disappear.

Who's going to stick around a company for years, holding precious know-how, being reasonably dedicated to the company's goal? Certainly not a random guy who's seeing their employer via Skype, when the connection is good.

Just see your profession as if you're an artisan. If you don't find anyone to employ you, you can always do something on your own.

Btw I'm a EU national, but my salary is in line with other Irish web developers, it's not that they hired me because I'm foreign and expect less money, so the same should work for you too.

Graham · 19-04-2016 02:03PM

Dave0JV wrote: »

As someone who works in web design and development in Ireland I can tell you there are still loads of these jobs going in Ireland and I can confirm companies definitely do still pay well for them.

+1

There's plenty of demand for developers of all flavours including web dev.

listermint · 19-04-2016 02:09PM

Out of various projects in out sourcing. Very few of them have been full success stories.

Any serious development companys will not outsource this work to India as frankly speaking its a mugs game unless you have a PM that has 'all' the boxes ticked and is quite literally all over the project.

From experience there is very little room for free thought from developers over there. It is delivered sometimes with scant logic applied to the end user or the the efficiency of the code under the hood.

Smaller companies may get small packages delivered on a budget at this end of the market but tbh that is about it.

There is plenty of jobs in Ireland and i would not let out sourcing remove you from getting into an exciting and constantly evolving career path

techdiver · 19-04-2016 02:13PM

listermint wrote: »

Out of various projects in out sourcing. Very few of them have been full success stories.

Any serious development companys will not outsource this work to India as frankly speaking its a mugs game unless you have a PM that has 'all' the boxes ticked and is quite literally all over the project.

From experience there is very little room for free thought from developers over there. It is delivered sometimes with scant logic applied to the end user or the the efficiency of the code under the hood.

Smaller companies may get small packages delivered on a budget at this end of the market but tbh that is about it.

There is plenty of jobs in Ireland and i would not let out sourcing remove you from getting into an exciting and constantly evolving career path

100% this.

Having worked with teams in India on a couple of occasions, this is what stands out the most. Apart from not being up to the task, they cannot think for themselves when it comes to technical tasks and require an obscene amount of hand holding.

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 02:57PM

armabelle wrote: »

Just recently outsourcedmy project to india. Couldnt find a reason to pay someone in ireland 4 x the price of what some developers were charging me there. Feel terrible because i really wish i could have stayed local.

You see now this is what worries me. Who would pay 4 X the price. I mean, you probably get a market for clients who want to work face to face or have someone come over and deal locally but this would be a very niche market and one which 100% of the Irish web development workforce will be competing for. I don't know....

StupidLikeAFox · 19-04-2016 03:02PM

armabelle wrote: »

Just recently outsourcedmy project to india. Couldnt find a reason to pay someone in ireland 4 x the price of what some developers were charging me there. Feel terrible because i really wish i could have stayed local.

As the saying goes, "if you think hiring the professional is expensive, wait until you hire the amateur"

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 03:02PM

JackHeuston wrote: »

I currently work as a full stack web developer. I think it's easy for companies to outsource small projects like a standard website or blog. If you specialise a little bit in complex web services, you'll have less competition from cheaper countries.

So far I haven't heard of successful stories about outsourcing in this field, but I have a very small network so take this with a grain of salt.

A friend of mine is trying to start a website+app and his dev team is in Ukraine. It sure is cheap, but it's almost 6 months they are working on it and they encounter problems, misunderstandings, poor quality of the work all the time. He also needs to travel regularly to Ukraine to see them and make sure they are actually spending time on his project, etc...

Same with the company I work for. They tried to look for someone to "help me" on the job. I found myself having to spend days to teach people how our framework worked (and also basic web development logic) without success. Even dealing with consulting companies in Ireland that promise to find you cheap foreign developers didn't bring them anywhere, most of the times they were asking for money in advance to give a mediocre job in return and disappear.

Who's going to stick around a company for years, holding precious know-how, being reasonably dedicated to the company's goal? Certainly not a random guy who's seeing their employer via Skype, when the connection is good.

Just see your profession as if you're an artisan. If you don't find anyone to employ you, you can always do something on your own.

Btw I'm a EU national, but my salary is in line with other Irish web developers, it's not that they hired me because I'm foreign and expect less money, so the same should work for you too.

but if the story really was like that then why do the statistics say something else? I did some researching online and the facts are shocking. From the 1st world countries, an overwhelming chunk of work is outsourced fto India and other parts of Asia nowdays.... Especially in design and web development. Just google it and you will see. If it was a failure then surely it would be in decline? Surely that chunk of work that went off shore would have found its way back home upon discovering that it just wasn't working out?

Graham · 19-04-2016 03:03PM

regi3457 wrote: »

but this would be a very niche market and one which 100% of the Irish web development workforce will be competing for.

It wouldn't.

You don't want the ultra-low budget/pocket-money work, let it go offshore. Half the time it comes back on-shore with a realistic budget or it gets dropped never to be mentioned again.

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 03:05PM

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

As the saying goes, "if you think hiring the professional is expensive, wait until you hire the amateur"

Why would someone who is in India be an amateur just because he is in India. Do you think yourself better just because you live in europe? If you consider your statement you will see it is not very fair to say that. People there may work 3 times as hard to succeed because they don't have it easy .Not as easy as we do in Ireland or any other western EU country.

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 03:06PM

Graham wrote: »

+1

There's plenty of demand for developers of all flavours including web dev.

well this is great news but do you ever personally feel like the chunk of work may be diminishing? do you think people in Ireland do outsource?

Graham · 19-04-2016 03:08PM

regi3457 wrote: »

Why would someone who is in India be an amateur just because he is in India. Do you think yourself better just because you live in europe? If you consider your statement you will see it is not very fair to say that. People there may work 3 times as hard to succeed because they don't have it easy .Not as easy as we do in Ireland or any other western EU country.

The decent Indian off-shoring companies can command daily rates that come within 20 - 30% of Irish rates. In general, if you're paying a quarter of the Irish rates there's fairly good odds you're not dealing with one of the professional outfits.

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 03:10PM

Graham wrote: »

The decent Indian off-shoring companies can command daily rates that come within 20 - 30% of Irish rates. In general, if you're paying a quarter of the Irish rates there's fairly good odds you're not dealing with one of the professional outfits.

So you are saying that because they only charge 25% of what irish developers charge, they can't be very good?

Graham · 19-04-2016 03:16PM

regi3457 wrote: »

So you are saying that because they only charge 25% of what irish developers charge, they can't be very good?

I'm saying it's less likely that they'll be any good. Why, because if they were the professional end of the market they would be charging 75 - 80% of Irish rates.

Put it another way, if you were offered a job at $4/hour or $20/hour, which would you choose?

Graham · 19-04-2016 03:17PM

regi3457 wrote: »

well this is great news but do you ever personally feel like the chunk of work may be diminishing?

Not really.

regi3457 wrote: »

do you think people in Ireland do outsource?

Yes, in fact I have an outsourced project of my own running at the moment. That's a decision thats not entirely financial either, the availability of skilled resources plays a big part too.

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 03:18PM

Graham wrote: »

I'm saying it's less likely that they'll be any good. Why, because if they were the professional end of the market they would be charging 75 - 80% of Irish rates.

Put it another way, if you were offered a job at $4/hour or $20/hour, which would you choose?

do you know what the difference in cost of living in Ireland and India is? do you know how much people get paid in India? Nobody earns 70% of what and Irish person earns. Even in Spain people don't earn that much. If somebody charges 25% in India it would be a lot of money for them.

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 03:20PM

interesting article

http://www.mcwade.com/DesignTalk/2011/06/has-your-design-job-gone-overseas/

Graham · 19-04-2016 03:27PM

regi3457 wrote: »

If somebody charges 25% in India it would be a lot of money for them.

What's your point, 75% would be a lot more.

StupidLikeAFox · 19-04-2016 03:39PM

regi3457 wrote: »

Why would someone who is in India be an amateur just because he is in India. Do you think yourself better just because you live in europe? If you consider your statement you will see it is not very fair to say that. People there may work 3 times as hard to succeed because they don't have it easy .Not as easy as we do in Ireland or any other western EU country.

I think you missed the point of what I was saying. I was answering the question above which was "why would anybody pay 4 x more for a service thats based in Ireland". That quote wasn't a swipe at anybody, it basically means "paying more for a professional service and job done right will cost less in the long run than employing a cowboy (or Indian

)who will make a balls of it"

Of course you are right, the Indian guys could be great. They could also be crap. That is a risk you take and one you may be willing to take for the knockdown price. It could pay off in spades if you get the right guy, but you just don't know. However, if you pay the extra for a professional Irish outfit you can suss them out beforehand, meet them, call them, you are not dealing with time-differences, there is less chance of them disappearing/cutting contact overnight, can potentially see their other work and talk to previous customers etc. Some of this you can do to an extent with offshore people, but you have to agree that the due diligence is a lot easier if you are dealing with a local bunch

TL;DR The option is pay the money for the established professionals in Ireland, or take a punt on the Indian guys and hope they turn out to be professionals also.

armabelle · 19-04-2016 05:14PM

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

I think you missed the point of what I was saying. I was answering the question above which was "why would anybody pay 4 x more for a service thats based in Ireland". That quote wasn't a swipe at anybody, it basically means "paying more for a professional service and job done right will cost less in the long run than employing a cowboy (or Indian )who will make a balls of it"

Of course you are right, the Indian guys could be great. They could also be crap. That is a risk you take and one you may be willing to take for the knockdown price. It could pay off in spades if you get the right guy, but you just don't know. However, if you pay the extra for a professional Irish outfit you can suss them out beforehand, meet them, call them, you are not dealing with time-differences, there is less chance of them disappearing/cutting contact overnight, can potentially see their other work and talk to previous customers etc. Some of this you can do to an extent with offshore people, but you have to agree that the due diligence is a lot easier if you are dealing with a local bunch

TL;DR The option is pay the money for the established professionals in Ireland, or take a punt on the Indian guys and hope they turn out to be professionals also.

In all fairness, you could have any number of the same issues working local.

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 05:21PM

Graham wrote: »

What's your point, 75% would be a lot more.

so why don't you charge 75% more for your service than another bloke?

StupidLikeAFox · 19-04-2016 05:39PM

armabelle wrote: »

In all fairness, you could have any number of the same issues working local.

Of course, but the due diligence is a lot easier if you are dealing with a local bunch

Eugene Norman · 19-04-2016 05:43PM

listermint wrote: »

Out of various projects in out sourcing. Very few of them have been full success stories.

Any serious development companys will not outsource this work to India as frankly speaking its a mugs game unless you have a PM that has 'all' the boxes ticked and is quite literally all over the project.

From experience there is very little room for free thought from developers over there. It is delivered sometimes with scant logic applied to the end user or the the efficiency of the code under the hood.

Smaller companies may get small packages delivered on a budget at this end of the market but tbh that is about it.

There is plenty of jobs in Ireland and i would not let out sourcing remove you from getting into an exciting and constantly evolving career path

We have Indian programmers as full time employees. Mostly good but we did interview them. If you outsource you have no idea who you get.

Eugene Norman · 19-04-2016 05:48PM

regi3457 wrote: »

do you know what the difference in cost of living in Ireland and India is? do you know how much people get paid in India? Nobody earns 70% of what and Irish person earns. Even in Spain people don't earn that much. If somebody charges 25% in India it would be a lot of money for them.

Indian salaries aren't that low. When you pay for outsourcing you pay a company in general (except for those hire a programmer websites but that is bottom of the barrel) so add in profit and management costs.

In any case you seem to have your mind made up already.

Graham · 19-04-2016 07:27PM

regi3457 wrote: »

so why don't you charge 75% more for your service than another bloke?

You are of course assuming that I don't. Feel free to read my previous posts where I suggest you never ever try to compete with offshore competitors on price. The same principle can also be applied to local competition.

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 08:48PM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

We have Indian programmers as full time employees. Mostly good but we did interview them. If you outsource you have no idea who you get.

But isn't it the same for local developer / designers. I mean you see someones portfolio and you either hire them or not but you don't really know what you will get even the guy lives around the corner. I don't see how local safeguards you in anyway. Please explain?

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 08:56PM

Graham wrote: »

You are of course assuming that I don't. Feel free to read my previous posts where I suggest you never ever try to compete with offshore competitors on price. The same principle can also be applied to local competition.

I am not assuming that you don't. I know you don't because economics works that way. You wouldn't survive charging 75% more than your competitors offering what you are offering. Be honest here?

Lets say you are a 5 star developer. The best in your field. Your counterpart in India will charge much less than you even though you have equal expertise and can provide the same quality of work. Why will he charge less? Because he is in India not in Ireland paying Irish rent and eating Irish food at Irish prices. And don't kid yourself that this Indian counterpart does exist. He does what you do at a fraction of the cost. So why wouldn't your clients hire him?

please dont take me the wrong way, I am simply challenging you to tell me for the sake of good discussion. Hope you are ok with that

regi3457 · 19-04-2016 08:59PM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Indian salaries aren't that low. When you pay for outsourcing you pay a company in general (except for those hire a programmer websites but that is bottom of the barrel) so add in profit and management costs.

In any case you seem to have your mind made up already.

Compared to Irish salaries they are pretty low. I think if you go to rural india you would find many people who would do anything to earn 10euro an hour. I think this would be at least a third of what a programmer would charge here per hour? Or less? I don't know but I am guessing here.

has outsourcing web dev to cheaper countries caused job losses in EU & Ireland?

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