I attended a networking event recently where I was asked the question, “What do you think about India?”. When someone asks me a question I am usually pretty quick to respond with an answer that will at least start some conversation. This one stumped me, and for some reason my answer was “Well, it’s crowded”. Which is true, but not quite what the person asking was looking for.
The reason I was asked that question had to do with outsourcing. When I explained what I do on a full time and consulting basis (web development among other things), the question really meant what I thought about my job being outsourced to India. After the initial shock and a quick laugh I expanded on my original answer. The truth is, and I quickly added “I love India”.
To further expand on that- I actually love outsourcing. Many people may see it as a threat but the truth is that we (as developers and other techies) have no choice but to accept the fact that there is someone across the world who will do our work for half the price. Great. Instead of fighting it, embrace it. Embrace that many of the basic, tedious web development tasks can now be taken care of for a good price. It leaves us to pick up the pieces here on projects that may have been outsourced. You’ll always hear the success stories and how much money people saved. What you can’t forget is that we possess a very strong advantage. That advantage is communication. We have the ability to communicate effectively with the stakeholders in a project far more that someone facing a language barrier across the world.
So the truth is “I love India”. I love it because it puts me in the position to step into projects that have a decent groundwork laid out for me. Projects that I now can spend time on the parts that just didn’t work in an outsourced environment. More often than not I get to focus on the part of projects that I enjoy working on, and that is the chance to learn someones business and industry and put a real taste of technology into it.
Have you started a project that was outsourced and gotten to the point where you need someone to step in and really learn your business? Contact us, we can help.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vitorcastillo
Similar Posts
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
