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Solve the halting problem, $300-$1000

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Re: Solve the halting problem, $300-$1000

#21

Post by kirse »

tdavis wrote: post #10
swombat wrote: post #4

This is a good demonstration of why you should only outsource things that you could do yourself but don't have the time to do. Never outsource something you don't know how to do (at least not if it's a core competitive requirement).

One time I outsourced the creation of a simple Wordpress template which I didn't have time to do. I paid $300. Despite being given a pre-cut Photoshop file, the people could not figure out simple CSS bugs or even create the CSS necessary for the tabs. I spent more time managing them (aka teaching ) than it would have taken me to do it, in the end I had to do half of it anyway and this entire sick ordeal took nearly t…

I wholeheartedly agree. After getting several shoddy outsourced projects I've come to adopt the mantra that "if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself".

The individual who created a template for me did a decent job on design, but the CSS was absolutely pitiful and full of many unnecessary and confusing layers...

I think this is why large corporations that have detailed processes involving requirements definition etc. do a far better job with getting what they want from outsourced work (as compared to startups). With a 1-2 person company, most of us don't have the time or money to throw together a 50-page whitepaper detailing exactly what is needed.

Re: Solve the halting problem, $300-$1000

#22

Post by jm4 »

alecco wrote: post #17
swombat wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point... I wouldn't consider it wise to try and outsource any complicated technology development to India/Pakistan/etc. However, I would consider doing so to an onshore firm that demonstrates to me that they have a clue. For instance, I know plenty of people who take on consulting work and could deal with your CSS without any problems. Depending on how much work was involved, they might even have been a…

Outsourcing to a far away place to a random contractor is looking for trouble. But your generalization is offensive.

What is offensive about that post? Maybe I'm missing something or others are reading too much into it. He says he would not recommend outsourcing to India, Pakistan, etc., but would consider outsourcing to a qualified firm closer to home.

This doesn't necessarily imply that he thinks developers in India and Pakistan are a bunch of dopes. In fact, it doesn't imply anything at all except that he prefers not to outsource overseas. We can really only speculate since he doesn't provide any reasons for his opinion, but maybe we should give him a little more credit here before we jump to conclusions and call the post offensive.

His opinions could be explained with a variety of reasons like time difference, difficulty in communicating (either long distance phone calls or having to do everything over email) or even possible language barriers. Sometimes when you need a very specific result you need to be careful how you explain this to someone whose native language is different from your own. Even common figures of speech can be taken literally and result in confusion over what is expected. All of these possible hurdles can be alleviated by working with a group closer to home.

Re: Solve the halting problem, $300-$1000

#23

Post by alecco »

Darmani wrote: post #7
dhoe wrote: post #2

An expert team of 70 Webdesigners can get this done in no time. Edit: this is actually an interesting demonstration of what happens if the sales people are disconnected from engineering. I've yet to see a big company that doesn't do the equivalent of this. Slightly more professional, but still the same thing.

I feel that most of these responses were made by bots.

I'm not sure, the amounts vary. The top one at least looks like someone incompetent just guessed a number.

Re: Solve the halting problem, $300-$1000

#25

Post by Dilpil »

Funny, after reading jeff atwood's article on codinghorror (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001190.html), I left a comment suggesting someone do this. I see someone took me up on the offer.

PS, mega points to whoever claimed to know BNF, and also to whoever made the George Cantor post. Also mega points to the creator for using the handle "AlanT".

Re: Solve the halting problem, $300-$1000

#27

Post by alex_c »

alecco wrote: post #17
swombat wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point... I wouldn't consider it wise to try and outsource any complicated technology development to India/Pakistan/etc. However, I would consider doing so to an onshore firm that demonstrates to me that they have a clue. For instance, I know plenty of people who take on consulting work and could deal with your CSS without any problems. Depending on how much work was involved, they might even have been a…

Outsourcing to a far away place to a random contractor is looking for trouble. But your generalization is offensive.

I understand your point, but overuse of the word "offensive" offends me.

Re: Solve the halting problem, $300-$1000

#28

Post by jgrahamc »

Dilpil wrote: post #25

Funny, after reading jeff atwood's article on codinghorror ( http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001190.html ), I left a comment suggesting someone do this. I see someone took me up on the offer. PS, mega points to whoever claimed to know BNF, and also to whoever made the George Cantor post. Also mega points to the creator for using the handle "AlanT".

I am 'GeorgCantor'... I couldn't resist because Gödel's reply seemed lame. He just assumed the undecidability and used it to bang on about his own ideas.

Re: Solve the halting problem, $300-$1000

#30

Post by statictype »

swombat wrote: post #12
tdavis wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One time I outsourced the creation of a simple Wordpress template which I didn't have time to do. I paid $300. Despite being given a pre-cut Photoshop file, the people could not figure out simple CSS bugs or even create the CSS necessary for the tabs. I spent more time managing them (aka teaching ) than it would have taken me to do it, in the end I had to do half of it anyway and this entire sick ordeal took nearly t…

That's a good point... I wouldn't consider it wise to try and outsource any complicated technology development to India/Pakistan/etc. However, I would consider doing so to an onshore firm that demonstrates to me that they have a clue. For instance, I know plenty of people who take on consulting work and could deal with your CSS without any problems. Depending on how much work was involved, they might even have been a…

True, but I don't believe this has anything to do with the company being from any particular region. There are very competent development shops in India and very poor ones as well.
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