Outsourcing -- Good or Evil?

Outsourcing. Just the word is sure to start a lively discussion. This is true even in the world of web design.

Many small web development companies outsource parts of projects, or even entire projects. This is done when projects need specialized attention, or when the company needs some assistance in times of heavy workload. At HockeyGurl Designs, we have our special sub-contractors that write beautiful content, create fantastic Flash, or whip up a WordPress blog on demand.

The kind of outsourcing we will NOT be involved in, however, is that job outsourcing that sends web design and development work of any kind overseas.

It is everywhere you look; web development services being offered from places like India, Pakistan and the Philippines. Cut rate prices. Less than USA minimum wage in most cases. And I know it is tempting for some to pick up a few virtual web workers at $5 an hour to get some of their projects done.

It won't happen here.

There are those who will say I am bitter, that I have lost large contracts when projects have been outsourced to $5/hr coders in the Philippines. And that might be true. But I am also someone who is passionate about my country, and its economy, and keeping jobs here at home. I will not put a coder or programmer or designer in Arizona or Wisconsin or New Hampshire out of work to send a project to the Far East.

It won't happen here.

So you have a choice. Take a risk with that offshore programmer, hope that you can get your project finished without long time delays, lengthy rewrites, miscommunication problems, and missed deadlines. It might be worth it to you to save a few bucks.

It might.