Business Week had a great article last December entitled “U.S. Programmers at Overseas Salaries“.
It’s the story of a guy who owned a small startup in Bostion, needed some extra coders, and was lured by the prospect of saving $200,000/yr on the crew he needed by having it outsourced overseas. He really didn’t want to contribute to America’s financial problems, but that’s a lot of money for a small startup.
Someone suggested he offer the jobs to local folk at the same rate he was being offered overseas. He put out an ad, actually offering 10% more than the overseas rate, and got a huge response.
He got some really qualified people for about $45K/yr. I know quite a few people with (large) families living on much less. I know I don’t make the $80K/yr that he expected to have to pay, but then I work for a non-profit.
Maybe the reason so many jobs are going overseas is that people are asking to be paid too much?
