Outsourcing Country Preferences

Writers from the Philippines are very reliable.

There are tons there, and they can be very reliable. They charge lower for sure since earning $4 an hour is always almost already a full day's of work for them there, so they are willing to be paid just $3-$5 per hour. If you want anybody to outsource something to, whether it's article writing or simply virtual assistance, the people in the Philippines is worth hiring.

Of course, you still need to find the right person for the job, so you want to still be careful on who you hire.

It depends on what you are outsourcing, if i were to outsource SEO i won't outsource it to India, Philippines and the likes. They should come from U.S, U.K and likes... Maybe in the future things may change but for now NEVER.

My articles can go to the Philippines and some designs to India and Pakistan.

As for Romania, they can handle the proxy...

To get around the typhoon problem in the Philippines, I suggest you outsource in cities that don't get affected as often. Cities like Cebu and Davao are less susceptible.

I would suggest outsourcing Virtual Assistants and Article Writing to Philippines.

India is good if you need php work done.

For article Phillipins is good but don't undermine India , you can get highly qualified at very reliable....

I have outsourced here in the philippines without issue.

Typhoons are not a daily event here so I wouldn't be putting it into the equation when deciding to take on a philippine assistant.

What I would do however is make sure whoever you are using has an internet connection at home and own pc/laptop.

It is not important which country of the freelancer, but it is very very important how much expert the freelancer is? Before hiring any freelancer, you need to see his feedback & previous work experience. Thats all.

I had good experience with writers from Kenya. They usually have good English and their rates are cheap. Philippines is another good option. For technical work like coding or designing, people from India and Pakistan are good.

For virtual assistants and web/graphic design, the Philippines are the best. World class quality, great language skills and the Filipinos are some of the most trustworthy and polite people I've had the pleasure to work it. For writing, I wouldn't hire anyone outside of the UK, Canada, Australia, US. No matter how good other writers are, they never quite get the style I need and their articles often turn out to be rigid and lifeless.


For programming, I've had a few good experiences with Indians, though I've heard great things about Romanians.

pretty good stuff to read

I usually hire mid level freelancers, paying usually $10-$20.

I've had great experiences with people from Portugal and Spain. I usually try to rehire the same people over and over if they did excellent work. I like building a relationship with them as much as I can. I treat them with just as much respect as I would any other business partners, with regular raises and weekly bonuses. While doing so gets a little more expensive, I feel it's worth it because their work output is increased because I incentivize them so much.

This is a subject I have a bit of interest in. A couple thoughts - they don't call it a language barrier for nuttin'. If I was outsourcing writing to a foreign country, I would go to the Phillipines. I would further refine my selection and look for someone who had been through one of the Catholic Schools there. Why? Because I am a product of them, myself (no, I am not religious and am not bringing that issue up here), and I know the emphasis placed upon English in that system. Your average 5th grader in a Catholic School knows more about grammar than your average Senior in Public High School in the US.

That is not an overstatement.

While language might, art does NOT know boundaries. I don't know why my Indian Brothers and Sisters (been this way my entire time here) lack a little bit of love here, but there are a billion of them. There are more people in India with artistic skill than there are in America. Granted, most don't have a Mac and Adobe Illustrator, but they are there. Artists are everywhere, in every country. And for those that get their hands on a copy, they can learn how to use it by watching videos in Hindi on YouTube.

I have also seen plenty of 'problems' talked about here concerning this type of outsourcing. I laugh at a lot of those posts. This is all pretty simple - you did not really just hire a freeelancer, an independent contractor. You hired a temporary employee. And you went out looking for the CHEAPEST labor you could find. Treat it as such and you'll do less bitchin' about being disappointed. Understand that is a skill, too - Management and Project Management.

There are cultural differences and certain regions will place more emphasis on things like programming in their school systems, to be sure, but people are people, and human nature is human nature. I was a Project Manger in my early 20's, servicing the Aerospace Industry with things like $10,000/day late delivery penalties for projects that had thousands of man hours and took months to complete. I also have extensive personnel management in three separate industries. If you are having no luck with outsourcing (as cheaply as you possibly can), YOU, the Westerner, are the problem.

There is no free lunch. You want to outsource to foreign countries to people who don't have a lot of 'professional' experience PRECISELY because it is cheap? Well, YOU will have to pay that difference in price yourself, through management - both personnel and project.

Stop blaming ethnic groups and other countries for your failures - I've seen plenty of that here. Keep in mind, too, that if YOU are a good Temporary Employer/Client and pay well, whomever you hire will bend over backwards to keep getting work from you.

If you do not make yourself VALUABLE to them, you are a crappy employer. Most seem to think outsourcing is about extracting as much as you can for a few pennies from people in 2nd World Countries. I guess I am okay with that, as most of you will drive away the truly talented folks that are a pleasure to work with, and they'll end up coming my way.

Pay them well. Don't be a cheap a-hole/a-holette, even though you are already in that mode since you think $10 is all one should pay for an article, and understand YOUR ROLE you just signed up for - Personnel and Project Manager. Do your job, and you'll have less issues with others not doing theirs ...

did you guys ever hire a Bangladeshi Web Developer or Programmer? If you haven't yet, then you should do it and let me know your experiences. Bangladesh is one of the reputed countries for IT outsourcing works.