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Ask HN: I'm stuck, should I outsource a part of my project?

3 points by dirkdeman ↗ HN
I have a project that involves a lot of PHP (which I can handle) and a little bit of actionscript. I know a little bit of AS3, but not enough to complete my project. I've spent the last two weeks figuring it out myself but it has become really frustrating, my time is limited and I can think of better ways to spend it than poundering through AS3 books and internet fora.

My question: should I outsource the actionscript to India/Pakistan/China? It's a relatively straight forward, non-trivial part of my project, so there is no harm in outsourcing. On the other hand, I'm used to keeping matters in my own hand, and outsourcing feels like, well, cheating a bit. Did any of you outsourced stuff like this before? If so, can you recommend someone?

8 comments

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n00kie
Depends. If it is your product/startup then be careful:

We had a split between founders (business vs technical) about outsourcing vs hiring more people, but I finally gave up. So we outsourced 2 non-trivial components, I interviewed both teams (that was my condition and they were really good!) and of course they shipped.

The problem was that we had to throw both outsourced components out and eventually expand our team. Why?

1) Minor tweaks: code was hard/impossible to extend - no long term thinking and why should your outsourced team really care? They follow the specs! 2) Pivot 3) Expensive 4) No know-how 5) Hidden costs -> communication 6) After some time the code quality dropped dramatically

If you need something YESTERDAY and have the resources to do that... then why not? Just be mentally ready to throw that code away next month.

In retrospect we should have used outsourced teams only for mockups/experimental front-end prototypes and not for the actual product.

dirkdeman
Thanks! In my case, the part of the project is'nt something that requires 'long term planning', it just executes what my app produces. I'd be more than happy with them just following my specs. May I ask what outsourcing companies you've used?
n00kie
We avoided middlemen/agencies. Searched for actual teams relatively near us (via google/recommendations). I would recommend companies/teams in Baltic states if you're from US/EU (good quality, relatively cheap, less cultural issues). After that: Eastern Europe (more cultural issues that might make you feel that the entire team has the total IQ/motivation below average), Pakistan, India. No idea about AS3 :( !
centdev
We've have some big pitfalls in the past when outsourcing relatively minor components of much larger projects to India and Eastern Europe. Even with the best technical documents, results have varied from ok to simply bad coding practices. With such a low hourly rate, the goal is to code and deliver as fast as possible. We've had good experiences and bad. You're mileage may vary.
OpenAlgorithm
Instead of looking for a typical outsourcing company, why not look for a blogger or forum member (stack overflow or HN) that answers questions/writes tutorials on the topic you are struggling with.

Contact a few with the offer of a small bit of work and I'm sure if you email enough people you will get a response.

By already viewing their work and being able to hand pick only the best you will ensure that their work is top-notch.

sheff
Depending on how much time it needs ( you mention "a little bit of actionscript" ) something which I have used in the past to speed up this kind of small task is to look at oDesk and search for developers who know the technology in question and who like to pair program. You get to learn something along the way, and can keep the project focused and completed quickly.
dirkdeman
I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of Odesk before, but it looks like I'll be able to find someone there. Thank you all!
astrodust
You have a problem. If you outsource your app to some random company you may end up with two problems.