You're probably better off using a group that is already successful using overseas talent. My company has been working with Ukrainians, Russians and Lithuanians for 6 years now, and we have been burned a few times (though not terminally!). I find that their English is usually better than that of the average HS grad here (US), and their coding skills are usually quite good. As a matter of fact, one of my two primaries is far better than I am, and could probably crack Fort Knox (were there anything to steal there any more!). He's just 26 years old. The major difference is that over there, guys are HUNGRY, and that's both good and bad. I talked to Alex for six months on freebsd lists before we even started talking about me hiring him and his brother. They've become some of my best friends, even though I've never met them in person, and we're sponsoring them both to come here -- the first arrives in ten days from today -- and they've earned everything we can give them, including a piece of the company.

All that said, there are lots of people here who are hungry, too, and I know a few telecommuters from New Hampshire who are TOP rate {PHP|Perl} coders looking for work. I'm sure you can find some, too. I'd recommend you use this kind of talent to manage overseas coders, unless it's a small enough operation that you can do it yourself (as I did).

The key is to be careful, in either case. Either option has perils and strong points. I have been very satisfied with my overseas coders, in the main, but it's been because I was careful in who I put to work on what code, and who I gave access to the keys to the gates. The good ones have done me far more good than the bad (or nasty) ones have harmed me. Once, I had to do a whole db-automation site project on a weekend, and another script kiddie targetted me with his SPAM-blaster, but those have been rare blots in a very pretty picture.

In reply to Re: Hiring Perl Talent, Hiring Perl Monks by samizdat
in thread Hiring Perl Talent, Hiring Perl Monks by hacker

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