Over the past three years, I have officially off-shored some projects in hopes to save just that; money. I sent one small and one large project to India. I worked on two small applications with a team in Croatia. And currently, I work on various projects with contractors and teams in Germany.

Here are the top three reasons I hire in-house developers first and off-shore developers second.

Distance

Regardless of the collaborative software you use, the conference calls, the Skype meetings; distance is the number one issue with outsourcing web development. The timezones make the communication so much more difficult. Distance also lends it’s self to chaos. When things go wrong, they really go wrong. You can’t exactly gather everyone up in the conference room and triage the situation.

Level of “Big Picture” Experience

The actual work ethic and drive have never been an issue. The speedy return on data input or changes has always been good, but it’s the level of experience that I find the most problematic.

Many times, the project simply does not have good documentation, is not compliant, does not meet standards, and is surrounded by deprecated code which drives me crazy, ah, but thats not all. It’s like I say in the header, not much “big picture” experience. Sure I have met amazing developers from Denmark, Scotland, Chile, etc., but those people are rare. Very rare. The majority of the off-shore teams I have worked with simply don’t have the savoir faire when it comes to building a web application. This is crucial from day one. Starting out on the wrong foot simply eats the time and money up. What does this application really do, what does it mean, will other developers be able to read my code, am I refactoring my code, am I optimizing my DB for traffic, etc., etc. This is the big picture.

Language and Culture

Whenever you have a team or a contractor document or write code that is not in their native language, you could end up spending hours and days cleaning up the mess. I have had applications sent back to me littered with spelling errors. Not only in the code comments, but in the DB and in the functions. QA also seems to be a lot more thorough when you are working with an in-house team. When everyone is working inside the same office culture, it physically puts everyone on the same page. Less chance of error.

…

In conclusion, my goal is not to pit one country against another or to say all developers from these areas are bad, my goal is to illustrate the issues with off-shore development rather than in-house development. While many intermediate developers might be paid 50K - 80K/year which is a stark contrast to paying only 5K for an entire application to be written, you have to think of all the time spent managing a project, stressing over it, putting it into QA, bug smashing and describing the MRD or PRD over and over and over again. 5K can turn into 20K real fast and that still doesn’t mean you have an application you can roll out. Besides, sometimes it’s just not worth the gray hairs.

I recommend hiring locally first, then making a case for hiring or outsourcing your development.

This is the continuation of Part I.

I truly believe there is a lot of unrealized talent in the IT resource pool, however, tapping into it is tough, so applicants, please don’t make it any tougher.

Many of the problems I see seem to stem from culture, inexperience and what people have been able to get away with in the past. From all the phone interviews I have conducted or been a part of, here are some issues I always encounter.

Don’t be in a Hurry

If you are looking for work, please dedicate some time to have a phone screening. If you don’t have much time, you will either come off hurried in the phone chat or might frustrate a potential employer. Furthermore, please try and meet your dates and commitments. Most companies will go after new IT hires aggressively, but when the company has to rearrange its entire schedule two or three times for one person, your resume ends up at the bottom of the stack.

Be Honest

Also in part I, you need to be upfront about what your exact fluency is. If you say you are fluent in, let’s say English, more than not a potential employer will expect a fairly robust conversation in that language. If you say you are (pardon the adjectives, but it happens) a master, guru, sensei, yogi, ninja or expert coder in PHP, be prepared to speak in that language. Don’t inflate your skills. Just be upfront. Honesty is good.

Quiet Time

Try to find that “special” place in your world where you can have a decent conversation. I find it difficult to have discussion about development cycles you have been a part of or applications that you have built when you are at the local coffee shop. If I can hear the “barista” yell out “solo espresso for John!” and hear the wisping of all the machines in the background, then I am going to be just as distracted as you are.

Ask Questions

“What else would you like to know about our company?” Silence. Eventually a few murmurs and then the answer, “what do you guys actually do?” Ok, so you tried. At least you asked a question even if it could have been answered by reading our web site or the posting. Many applicants do not even have questions. This is a great opportunity to really dig into the company. Not having any questions either means I have covered every single thing (sorry, I’m just not that good) or this person just is not that interested in who they work for. Question, question, question. Remember, the potential employer is probably going to be supplying you with the means to live and put food on the table. Find out who as much as you can.

In conclusion, be prepared to discuss everything. Everything I read on a resume, I consider fact. Based on that, the phone interview should not test your memorization on what you wrote in your resume, it is simply a discussion, in your own words, about your roles and involvement in certain projects. I want to hear it loud and clear. The written word is many times miles away from the spoken one. Following these ultra simple tips, will increase your chances at the in-person interview in part III. Despite all the technology and all the automation in HR, people still want to hear a human voice.

During my life, I have scanned probably 500 resumes, phone screened hundreds and personally interviewed at least 100 people thus far. I might be old school, but there are some key things that you just don’t do when applying for a position.

1. Don’t just spam a bunch of listings with only a line for your email and a resume attached. Take the time to read what the listing entails. Yes, this takes time, but any job worth having, should.

2. Include an intro with your email. Describe why you applied for the position. Get personal. Look at the company’s web site. Read their about page. Google them. Most likely, they will ask you why you want to work for them and “to get paid” doesn’t usually cut it.

3. Read the posting. Read it all the way. Follow the directions. Many times attachments should not be sent. This relates to number one above.

4. If you are applying for let’s say a developer position, having a massive bulleted list of technical proficiencies is not enough. Write about something you created, that you had personal experience with. Write about it like a story.

I was handed this napkin with some marketing requirements on it, then I had to confirm the requirements so that I get someone started on some comps after or during which I could start an functional specifications document…something, something, something…I then began building with some testing in between. We QA’d it a few times, did a bit of bug smashing and rolled that sucker out.

5. Send over a list of web properties you have worked on. Include your “real” involvement in each case, don’t just document what the entire team was responsible for, but document how “you” helped the team. Get granular.

6. There is nothing wrong with being a sales clerk, a “barista”, or puddle jumper as your only paid work experience. Just make sure to convince someone of your side projects and how you have attained the technical knowledge to fulfill the position. You must demonstrate your skills. Don’t leave the examples for an in-person interview.

7. Most employers will aggressively go after the right candidates, I know I do, but please don’t make them work on frivolous stuff like trying to find a number to call you back at or reformatting your entire resume just to make it legible.

8. If you state that your are fluent in Russian, Mandarin and English, be expected to demonstrate that. Many times I have had to end the interview due to a total lack of verbal fluency. The employer will expect you to effectively communicate with your team on all levels.

9. In your resume, don’t forget to plug-in a few other areas about yourself. Once again, this borders on old school resume tactics, but it makes the resume human thereby making you more accessible. Write about a new dance move you learned from DDR, a recipe you are famous for, or time spent in another country. Most employers are not looking for automatons, they are looking for humans.

10. Don’t list salary requirements on the resume. This has it’s obvious downfalls.

I understand that in IT, the market becomes hot with listings, but negating these resume fundamentals will restrict your opportunities thereby decreasing your visibility for that killer job and make you susceptible to drone work.

My Outro

I have had so many awkward silences, convoluted explanations, hedged said talents, etc. that I just had to post this. I hope at least one person benefits from this posting.