17 4 / 2008
Hire a tester for $4 an hour - [QA/offshore/crowdsourcing]
I recall a story about Nike, and how there was some major hoopla over their production of a $100 shoe that was made by low paid workers in the Phillipines. It didn’t go over to well, but Nike improved conditions and made good on their workers needs.
Well now you can be like Nike, but you can outsource your testers, your programmers, graphic designers, even SEO rainmakers through an American company based in the Phillipines.
Offshoring.com is the one-stop shop for cheap labor - and even the time factor is not an issue. According to the web site, their staff will work when you work.
It’s interesting. People pay for things like grinding their World of Warcraft characters across Azeroth, why wouldn’t someone pay a tester to validate functionality of their killer web app.
It’s a global society. The impact of outsourcing hasn’t killed off the need for American workers, and even though some work may be outsourced, it still requires in-house support. It’s almost a win win.
But $4 an hour is freaking cheap - by any standard. I feel sorry for Fillipino’s who are getting less then what he or she deserves, especially for a technical task that pays well in the U.S. I’m sure that they are paid way more than the low ball price I qouted, but I’m sure they’re not earning 80K plus.
But in all, I think that as services like this increase in value, so will the cost. Then it will balance itself out and some new cost saving scheme will evolve. It’s business as usual.
P.S. - If I am between contracts, you can hire me anytime. Costs are negotiable and I will even travel (to the Phillipines).
