Outsourcing your own job?
Outsource your job to earn more!
"... Says a programmer on Slashdot.org who outsourced his job: "About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 out of the $67,000 I get. He's happy to have the work. I'm happy that I have to work only 90 minutes a day just supervising the code. My employer thinks I'm telecommuting. Now I'm considering getting a second job and doing the same thing."
Smarter techies are working for three to four companies at the same time, outsourcing all the coding and just supervising them for few hours a day. This way they are able to earn four to five time more than what they used to.
..."
How very Tom Sawyer like ... While I laughed when I first read this, and had to wonder about it myself, I think this is has to be a short term thing.
[Greg puts his Manager hat on]
1) If I were the employer, and the employee did not disclose what he was doing, he'd have to go... Sorry, but I could not stand that kind of dishonesty or unethical behavior.
2) If I did know about it, then I'd have to think, "Why pay the employee to outsource when I just do it and eliminate the middle man?"
3) If the outsourcing employee was able to do so much more, having all that extra time, then I'd just give him 4 times MORE work to do...
[Greg puts his Developer hat on]
1) I just wouldn't feel right about it. Sure money is nice, but it would feel dishonest. I've seen enough unethical and slimy crap to last a life time. It wouldn't pass the sniff test for me (i.e. if it smells bad it probably is bad...).
Now if it was fully disclosed and accepted, that would be a different story.
2) I LIKE coding. I like solving problems. I like having ownership of my work. I feel pride in what I do and what I deliver...
I'm not going to pay someone else to do the fun stuff while I "manage". Especially when my job title/responsibility is not management...
Still, sometimes I have to respect the courage people have and their initiative...
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2 comments:
I agree.
I telecommute, and this just *feels* wrong to me too. But it does seem to open up an avenue for a new kind of manager role. You hire developers who are really outsourcing managers. They can manage the work, and the work gets done, where's the harm?
But the key does seem to be disclosure.
Putting on my Machiavellian hat though -- what the employer does not know will not hurt them, so get away with it while you can.
That said, there is likely legal exposure for the company if there is code or business processes that get exposed to the final programmer (who knows, maybe the programmer outsourced to is actually outsourcing his work too!).
Intriguing situation, and one I bet we'll see more of as people continue telecommuting.
The Times of India article begins, "Outsource your job to get a new one! This is the new mantra doing the rounds in the US IT sector." FUD?
If this were true, we wouldn't be reading about the mantra in The Times of India. I don't even believe the anecdote attributed to some unidentified programmer on Slashdot.org. Sounds bogus.
If it's true, it's unequivocally unethical, at least tortious, and in most cases, likely a breach of contract.
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