There has been a great deal of talk about outsourcing jobs to other countries recently. I never thought that I would have an interest in the topic, but I was wrong.
I have been looking for a talented programmer and web designer to tackle some new Internet projects. I found a site called elance.com, a fairly comprehensive site for finding professionals to do just about any computer/internet related job. Logo design, web design, programming of all kinds, print and layout and system administrators are just some of the professionals found at elance.
I signed up with a free account and posted a job description of what I needed, soliciting bids from any of the web designers and/or programmers who could work within my parameters and budget.
Thirteen companies and/or individuals answered my call for help, most of them coming in well within my budget. The interesting thing is that every one of them came from a foreign country. Amongst those represented were India, Pakistan, Russia and Singapore. Apparantly, there are a number of very talented professionals who are willing to work for significantly less than Western counterparts.
I have since hired two different professionals to program and design two new sites for me. Do I feel bad about outsourcing this work to other countries instead of hiring an American? Nope. If I had to pay an American firm to do these jobs, I simply couldn\’t afford it, and the sites would never come to be.
Thankfully, elance does not charge those seeking professionals. Instead, the people hired pay a commission of some sort to elance upon receiving compensation. I shall update you when the new sites are ready to launch.