Offshore tech support
I've posted help-requests to a number of Flex developer forums (including Adobe's) without getting any satisfactory answers. So, I've started looking into hiring offshore Flex developers to help me with tech support questions on a per-incident basis.
On the one hand, using a (cheap) offshore tech support service could help me climb the learning curve faster.
On the other hand, it *does* make me wonder if I could make a living as a computer programmer in America anymore. If I can cost-effectively outsource my tech support questions to offshore developers, then I could outsource the development of entire components offshore, or perhaps even whole applications.
On yet another hand, it's one thing for me to send a tiny little test app to an offshore developer, asking him to fix a very clearly-defined bug that I just don't know enough to fix myself. It's quite another thing for me to draw up a spec for (say) my QWERTY keyboard control, or for my entire music education courseware. I thought up new functionality for the QWERTY keyboard component as I wrote it -- for example, changing the color of the buttons to reflect the current scale. That's going to affect the design of my other controls, too. I never would have included that in the QWERTY keyboard spec, because it was the process of developing the component myself that led me to think of it.
I've contacted ExpertsFromIndia and Catalytic Software. I also signed up as a buyer on RentACoder. I had a bad experience getting projects done on RentACoder before, but for little tiny tech support questions it ought to work OK.
From what I know now, I'd prefer to go with Catalytic, because I know and trust the folks who run it -- ex-Microsofties that I worked with Back in the Day. Will they be cost-competitive? I'm not sure. Catalytic's main added value is its American management, extremely skilled and knowledgeable staff, and its overall professionalism. Those things cost money. For any serious mission-critical, big-ticket project they would be my absolute first choice vs. anyone else anywhere in the world, but...for piddly tech support questions and a few little Flex components? I suspect that Catalytic might be overkill. I would be delighted to discover otherwise.
On the one hand, using a (cheap) offshore tech support service could help me climb the learning curve faster.
On the other hand, it *does* make me wonder if I could make a living as a computer programmer in America anymore. If I can cost-effectively outsource my tech support questions to offshore developers, then I could outsource the development of entire components offshore, or perhaps even whole applications.
On yet another hand, it's one thing for me to send a tiny little test app to an offshore developer, asking him to fix a very clearly-defined bug that I just don't know enough to fix myself. It's quite another thing for me to draw up a spec for (say) my QWERTY keyboard control, or for my entire music education courseware. I thought up new functionality for the QWERTY keyboard component as I wrote it -- for example, changing the color of the buttons to reflect the current scale. That's going to affect the design of my other controls, too. I never would have included that in the QWERTY keyboard spec, because it was the process of developing the component myself that led me to think of it.
I've contacted ExpertsFromIndia and Catalytic Software. I also signed up as a buyer on RentACoder. I had a bad experience getting projects done on RentACoder before, but for little tiny tech support questions it ought to work OK.
From what I know now, I'd prefer to go with Catalytic, because I know and trust the folks who run it -- ex-Microsofties that I worked with Back in the Day. Will they be cost-competitive? I'm not sure. Catalytic's main added value is its American management, extremely skilled and knowledgeable staff, and its overall professionalism. Those things cost money. For any serious mission-critical, big-ticket project they would be my absolute first choice vs. anyone else anywhere in the world, but...for piddly tech support questions and a few little Flex components? I suspect that Catalytic might be overkill. I would be delighted to discover otherwise.
Labels: programming
posted by JimPlamondon | 2:30 PM
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