If you had a piece of IT work that needed doing...

[DimPrawn]

...would you hire a permie at great expense and hassle in the UK, hire a contractor at great expense or sub it out overseas for plenty cheapness?

And even ignoring cost, think of the red tape hiring in the UK versus having the work done overseas.

No brainer really.

[d000hg]

As a very small company, I don't yet understand the process of hiring someone as an employee, but I'd like to one day.

For work that can be parcelled up, finding freelancers in the USA is easier than all the worries of IR35. And if you work 1-2-1 with developers, as a technical lead, people in Asia and Eastern Europe can be ok too... but I don't know my system would scale to a large project using 20-100 developers, it relies on me working personally with each developer which probably puts an upper limit of about 10 before 100% of my time is spent managing and I run out of time to do anything technical myself.

[ctdctd]

...would you hire a permie at great expense and hassle in the UK, hire a contractor at great expense or sub it out overseas for plenty cheapness?

And even ignoring cost, think of the red tape hiring in the UK versus having the work done overseas.

No brainer really.

I'd specify the task properly and then find someone / company / thing who could do it for a fixed price and who had approachable references.

Bob or Rentacoder could end up doing it if I was confident they could deliver.

[Moscow Mule]

I'd specify the task properly and then find someone / company / thing who could do it for a fixed price and who had approachable references.

Bob or Rentacoder could end up doing it if I was confident they could deliver.

I've put work on here when I've needed to sub something. Been quite happy with results actually...

[Mich the Tester]

I've put work on here when I've needed to sub something. Been quite happy with results actually...

Yep. There’s a freelancers site in Holland I’ve used for getting little bits of work done. Haven’t used the Bobs outside of where clientco has demanded it as I don’t want to specify everything down to the level of every function and variable; may as well code it myself if I do that. I need people who can think along with me to solve a problem, not people who need constant management and low level spec.

[NotAllThere]

...would you hire a permie at great expense and hassle in the UK, hire a contractor at great expense or sub it out overseas for plenty cheapness?

And even ignoring cost, think of the red tape hiring in the UK versus having the work done overseas.

No brainer really.

Indeed. That's why you should hire me. Except for the "plenty cheapness", of course.

With some companies I worked with, offshoring has worked well, because they've limited it. Where companies have offshored 90% of their IT, it's a total mess - complete lack of control over quality, and it takes forever to get the simplest things done. Handing over control of your IT to a third party, is the company equivalence of having an over-enthusiastic lobotomy... i.e. a real no-brainer.

[Mich the Tester]

Handing over control of your IT to a third party, is the company equivalence of having an over-enthusiastic lobotomy...

[Moscow Mule]

I don’t want to specify everything down to the level of every function and variable; may as well code it myself if I do that.

#1 reason clientco got shot of HCL (who are a bunch on money grabbing muppets - allegedly).

[Jeebo72]

...would you hire a permie at great expense and hassle in the UK, hire a contractor at great expense or sub it out overseas for plenty cheapness?

And even ignoring cost, think of the red tape hiring in the UK versus having the work done overseas.

No brainer really.

I've employed UK permie, USA permie, and off shored to India.

I will never again employ USA permie or off shore to India. I have no problem hiring UK permie. If you get the right person, with the right mindset it's fine. And getting rid of people in the UK is pretty easy.

If the business is going well in UK, it is a no brainer. Permie every time. If the outlook for long term viability isn't ... then contractor.