Thread: Anyone have experience good/bad with outsourcing?

I'm looking at getting a website developed, but not sure if I should outsource the job or not. Other than it possibly being cheaper, I cant think of any other advantages as to why I would do such a thing. Seems to me, the cons far out-weigh the pros.

But I'd like to hear what others have to say about their outsourcing experiences.

When I hear outsourcing I think of hiring staff from another country. In that case I've had many awful experiences.

I have done a lot of outsourcing, but it depends on what you have more of...time or money.

Try to outsource $5-$10/hour jobs to allow you to do $400/hour work simultaneously. That is the idea of hiring anything to be done by anyone other than you.

Well the problem is that the development company i went to gave me an astronomically high quote for what i wanted to have done. Maybe they didnt fully understand what I wanted, or maybe they're just a rip off.

I've been checking some companies in india that have some good ratings, like smartData Enterprises , and Agile Technosys which charge between 15/16 an hour, where-as here in the states, im sure its more like 20.00 at least?

The idea im trying to get made is a online listing service...kinda like a real estate listing service, but not for real estate. members create a listing, and create a user profile, but nothing fancy. I wanted most of it done in plain text so pages would load quickly. Members pay for the listings that they create, and pay a small monthly fee. in short: a simple search engine with a social networking aspect.

I was quoted at 30,000, and I walked out of their office saying "fvck that!..there is no way in hell thats going to cost me 30 grand!"

I thought about turning to the University of Birmingham / Samford university and asking some of their tech students for help, if I cant find a decent/honest quote.

You may want to checkout some stateside based providers before outsourcing. There are various freelancers in the US (and here on L4P) that can give you decent quotes for whatever you require.

I've outsourced before with good and bad results, and twice for web development. I used eLance, but they have many many many gaps. I would NOT recommend eLance. I have been using oDesk lately for some outsourcing projects, and I absolutely love it. I use the hourly format, and it works really well. You can even see the contractor's screenshots when he's working. You can set weekly limits on the number of hours worked, etc... They also have a "Team Room" so everyone you hire for various projects can interact, to ensure they're all on the same page (if you desire).

99Designs.com is great too, but a bit more pricey. I have used them a few times for logo and graphic design projects, and have NEVER had a problem. Their format is awesome and I'd really recommend their service.

^ Thanks for the heads up on elance JP. I'll check out Odesk and 99designs and see what i can find. Sorry, what do you mean stateside providers? . My idea is simple in concept, but I im going to need my own search algo, which may be out of the scope of the typical freelancer. Most my money is probably going to go into the damn search program, so my vistors get the most relevant search requests.

side-note: When I say "search" I'm not looking to do anything like google or any of the big names. The searches would be contained within the website itself.....kinda like when people do searches on youtube. Those searches are contained within youtube only, and do not involve any outside web content.

I'm currently having a pretty complex graphic / database website business built from the ground, and I think you should shop around for more quotes. I have thought about outsourcing to China before, but I've always like the idea of being able to talk to someone face to face or bang on someones door if they aren't pulling their weight - I would wait to outsource if you want for the realllly menial stuff. I wouldn't outsource up front. My .02

Ok I see what you mean now. Yea, for the coding and such, that seems fairly intricate for a US developer to give you a decent price. Have you tried emailing Brendan ("_b" on here) to see where he may price it? He has a great portfolio, and he may be able to guide you in the right direction.

I've outsourced limited-timeline work (initial web development, logos, etc) with high success on oDesk. For the type of programming you're referencing, I know overseas devs can do it - but I would really try at home first.

J

"hello my name is peggy"

Originally Posted by Bignmz04

"hello my name is peggy"

lol! I love that commercial!