Posted by entrigan on April 19, 2012 at 7:51pm
I might need to hire some additional developer power for a project. I have heard good things about off shore development coming from eastern Europe. Does anyone have experience with doing so or any recommendations?
Thanks!
Comments
In india , Their are couple
In india , Their are couple of companies which do offershore development , based on contract .
This is one of the topics
This is one of the topics that's been discussed at the monthly Let's Launch! Drupal for Entrepreneurs meetup we've been having at Droplabs.
The meetup has a wiki, which includes a few resources regarding off-shoring:
Let's Launch Meeting Notes and Wiki
http://groups.drupal.org/node/221469
I missed the last meetup so hopefully one of the attendees can jump in here if you have any questions about the meetup or what's in its wiki.
Off shoring in general
I couldn't agree more with Vesa Palmu. I was a developer on a project in Hamburg moving a phone book from BS2000 to Oracle. Apart from enjoying the hospitality of some fine Indians we found the development process, involving several dozen developers in Kolkotta (TATA Consultancy), frustrating and time consuming. Communication and different cultures was the problem. Several of us had to fly to Kolkotta - what a shock that was -, several times to try and iron things out.
No matter where the team is
No matter where the team is from I suggest you check out their work and if possible references. I'm noticing a lot of overseas companies claiming they do Drupal work but when you look at the things they built (themes, modules, configuration) it was as if they didn't know anything about Drupal or Drupal code standards. I have worked on several rescue projects that were started and/or developed overseas so caveat emptor.
the best thing when anyone
the best thing when anyone from the team has at least 1-2 contributed modules to community. you'll be able to check the code (like example)
In house first, off shore if you have lots of time to get it rig
While I was at Citigroup I worked with 2 offshore vendors in India, one was Polaris Software Labs, the other was Tata Consultancy (TCS). They both have excellent software engineers, but you need to screen everyone on the project because they will try to pass Civil Engineers off as Software Engineers, they do not have the resources they used to because Microsoft, HP and other large American companies opened development shops there to save on costs.
As mentioned above, the best way to start a project is to send your team lead and technical lead to their facilities to interview the offshore team, train the offshore team and then get the project started. The first release will be late, and where you thought it would be a full release, it will really be a prototype. The second release will be a solid release.
Communications is difficult plan on having a conference call 3 nights a week from 10pm to midnight, because they are 12.5 hours off from us. For each conference call have them record the minutes and action items and send it to you immediately after the meeting. You must keep on top of them if you expect the project to remotely resemble the requirements, at least the first time, they get much better after the first release, because they know what you want and how you work.
Define a clear workflow and a clear list of responsibilities for both sides, the onshore team and the offshore team.
Buy me a single malt scotch and I'll tell as much as I can.
Paul
Paul Chernick
CEO
Chernick Consulting
(310) 569-2517
Harvey Nash
I may be able to help with this, in two possible ways.
Firstly, I work for Mortimer Spinks (www.mortimerspinks.com) in the UK and I have access to a number of UK based Drupal Developers who could deliver remote Drupal solutions to you. If you check out my LinkedIn page (http://uk.linkedin.com/in/paulrichardchurch) and you can see a number of recommendations from candidates and clients involved in the Drupal community, which should hopefully give me a bit of credibility :)
Secondly, we are part of the Harvey Nash group who have offices all over the world (including the US). Another part of our portfolio of services includes an offshore centre in Vietnam, which houses 2000 developers. Depending on the size and nature of your project, this could also be worth a discussion.
If you'd like to chat is paul.church@mortimerspinks.com
Cheers!
Paul