
Ask HN: How do you feel about companies outsourcing without clients knowing? - rusty__
I work for a small company doing creative work. At times, when a low budget project comes in for example, we send the whole thing away to be done by a cheaper outsource vendor without telling the client, pass the work off as our own and cream off the thin profit that remains. Management would say we&#x27;re still manageing the whole thing and involved in the process.<p>I&#x27;m not sure ethically I can really support this any longer, but then again I understand it&#x27;s a tough world out there and we&#x27;re just a small company trying to stay alive out here.<p>How do you feel about outsourcing whether it&#x27;s just some bits of work or entire projects.
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oblib
Honestly, this is something you shouldn't even spend time thinking about. As
icedchai already pointed out, it's "completely normal" and I'll add it's also
ethical.

Instead of fretting about the ethics of who gets credit you might consider how
you could work this to your advantage, because it could be you can.

I've subcontracted work most all my life and still do. It's allowed me to work
from home wherever I wanted home to be, and work whatever hours I want.

And here's a few things to consider... I don't care if I get "credit". I only
care if I get paid or not. If I make my clients look good they keep sending me
work. I don't care how much they charge.

Because I'm pretty good at what I do I can bill what I want. A job that might
take other's over a month I might be able to do in a week and bill for the
month. I can do this because I have a lot of boilerplate code and know what
tools to use for the job.

If I have neither of those I can factor in the time needed to find and learn
how to use the tools I need and bid a fair rate for that. In that case I get
paid to learn.

The tricks to making that work are being good at what you do, being honest
about what you do not know, and having a solid understanding of what it takes
to learn what you don't know.

One last thing... ultimately the company you subcontract from is on the hook
to deliver the product. That is their main responsibility. If you blow it they
still have to deliver it.

That's why they get paid the "big bucks" and get all the credit.

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throwaway888abc
Some points to raise with your management and sorry for you.

>I'm not sure ethically

Better be sure legally.

1\. Is the risk worth company reputation ?

2\. The client is buying 'company' if nothing else there, client will be
'frustrated' for cheating them. How hard is to build new relations ? Does it
cost more than the profit from the project ?

3\. The 'company' is at mercy of vendor for not showcasing the work done.

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rusty__
Legally there are tax credits in the mix here, I purposefully stay the hell
away from that side of things for reasons like this.

1\. To management, I would say almost certainly. The first question that is
asked these days when new work comes in is not "how do we make this awesome"
it's "how much of this can be outsourced".

2\. I'm not sure our clients would care to be honest. They probably are happy
the project is just being managed and completed on time - who cares who
actually does the work :(

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icedchai
This seems completely normal. Every small agency I know does this.

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rusty__
I think you're probably right.

