Re: outsourcing technical communication

[Chris <cud -at- telecable -dot- es>]

I have a few things to add...

First, I work as an outsource source - that's to say I live off the N. 
American continent, but I work on US projects.  For a while I had plenty 
of work because, well, there was plenty of work.  As things tightened up 
I found people were reluctant to work with a long-distance free-lancer 
when there were lines of people waiting to work onsite.  I don't quite 
understand this - I provide my own equipment and probably cost less. 
Yes, I cut my rates to account for the inconvenience my distance might 
engender.  Nonetheless, I found that fewer and fewer people were willing 
to consider a lone tech writer who is off the continent.  (Actually, 
most of my work is programming these days.)

OTOH, I haven't had any horrible communication problems.  But I think 
there's a cultural component in there.  Americans talking to Americans 
is different than Americans talking to Germans, the British, and yes, 
even people from India.  I had one US contract that was effectively run 
by some guys from India, and they also had a team of programmers in 
India.   We had a bit of a time geting started because of cultural 
differences.  A few phone calls and that got straightened out.  I wound 
up getting two awards and a bonus from them.  (OK, so this is starting 
to look like an advertisement.  Sorry about that.  I just want to talk 
about long-distance writing.)

I have to say that I'm not surprised to see this development.  Tech 
writers probably want to think they're pretty safe because you need 
native speakers to produce good English.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but 
isn't English spoken rather natively among at least some people in 
India?  Actually, I expected to see more lone telecommuters like myself 
moving out to other places that cost much less than Silicon Valley, and 
then undercutting the market.  No matter - it's happening one way or the 
other.  The very technology enables it.  The realities of the market, 
while they may not *require* it, certainly apply pressure in that 
direction.  Welcome to the global economy...  The rising tide doesn't 
raise all boats - some boats actually take on water.   US tech writers 
take note.  

A US writer who feels threatened by this should try to understand the 
rates these outsource companies are charging.  My guess is that a 
company like Pivotal is going to look for a tech writing "house" that 
offers full service from doc plan to print, or anything in between. 
They will also offer some type of coverage for schedule slippage, etc. 
so the hiring company can feel less vulnerable.  And they will need to 
show some industry expertise.  So there's some overhead there.  Then 
they have to hire competent people and pay them a decent wage, although 
I have no idea what that is in India - what part of India, for example? 
A tech writer in W. Virginia makes less than one in San Jose, for 
example.  

Once you have a sense of the rates, you need to figure out how you can 
compete.  Work up the cost of time and project management for you vs an 
outsource site.  Try to put a value on the "synergy" of working with 
developers/marketers/others.  Try to put a value on your specific 
industry expertise.  And maybe you do have to figure out how to cut your 
rates.  Can you set up in a less expensive region and still find work? 
The more people do that, the sooner managers will understand the model. 
Face it, if the industry itself was over inflated (supposedly with 
irrational exuberance), then your salary probably was, too. 
Unfortunately, the same goes for your cost of living.  Salaries rise 
and fall - the cost of living in a given region rarely falls.

All this raises a very big question.  Is it time to unionize? 
Programmers and testers, too?  What all this means is that our labors 
are making a transition into the world of commodity.  When your labor 
becomes a commodity, that's when you need to consider collective 
bargaining.  On the other hand, could the tech industry *possibly* 
exist  with a unionized "intellectual" labor force?  Probably not.  If 
you look to your left, you see a hard place.  Look to the right and 
there's a rock.  It seems they're coming together.

Sheesh...  I sure wish this sounded more up-beat.   I need another coffee.

--
Chris Despopoulos, maker of CudSpan Freeware...
Plugins to Enhance FrameMaker & FrameMaker+SGML
http://www.telecable.es/personales/cud/
cud -at- telecable -dot- es



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