I recently wrote an article based on my experience within the field. I’m not sure if it’s too much information, or even if I get off the topic too much. I hope it’s helpful for people that are in the field or those thinking of getting into it. And I also sincerely hope it doesn’t come off as “too egotistical.” I wrote it over the course of 3 nights and no one else has taken a look or given me feedback.
One of my main motivations to writing this article was to drive some people back to my website. The other motivation was to actually help others.
But if you have a second, please take a look and make comments, rate it, etc. I’d really appreciate your feedback before I start “publicizing” this article:
Good article…i wouldn’t change much…i liked all the first hand accounts. i think its helpful for people considering outsourcing to see that it isn’t all that its cracked up to be.
Thanks guys. Don’t get me wrong - it’s hard to write something like that and not come off as “racist” - although I myself am part Chinese and Italian lol. I’m not racist at all - just trying to protect our own industry.
I wish everyone success - including competitors even within the US. After this recession is over, there should be plenty of work for all of us to go around. After all, competition is healthy. But seeing that legal protection is almost non-existent overseas, our local architects and developers are really putting us all at risk and possibly driving us to find new lines of work.
I have no problems with a professional company overseas as long as they are truly “professional.” But the problem is, for every one company that is legitimate in what they can produce, I find that there’s literally 20 which are just set up to scam people and degrade our own wages and quality we set in place.
I still think software companies should have some kind of electronic signature saying that an image was created with legal software. I was watching TV this weekend (rare) and they were talking about a technology that can trace the location that a photo (child porn) was uploaded from. I don’t know if it was mac address or what, but it is right to the persons front door. I think it was Americas Most Wanted. Now I am not saying that all their software is pirated, but how can you create a rendering for $99 and stay in business?
indeed it is the case. I was put in same position once, a company I worked for tried to stay as legit as possible by not using pirated copies of anything, a new company came along which used hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and shortly after we lost all the work to them. Soon our company went out of business, while this other one is thriving.
Yeah - just the math - $400 doesn’t work out. And those countries don’t care if a UK, US, or Bulgarian company suffers the consequences. All they care about is their bottom line and getting rich.
If you guys can, feel free to link to that article as my main motivation (more than anything) is to drive architects and developers to it in the efforts to get a healthy discussion going and to make them think more about their own actions and consequences.
Also feel free to rate it as I really think those people need to see.
As for my own business, I really don’t care that much (although I did plug myself lol.) All I ask for is a roof over my head and food on the table. The rest doesn’t matter that much to me.
I think the article is very well balanced and informative. I work for a decent sized architecture company, and I am regularly approached about my work and what it involves. I feel comfortable enough with your article that I won’t hesitate pointing them to it to get an accurate and realistic understanding.
There’s even a few good tidbits in there I can use for the topics of hardware and software that come up from time to time.
Juju…i wouldn’t worry about coming off sounding racist…what you are talking about is simply an issue of fairness…has nothing to do with race. Competition, which is good, implies that any competitor has equal chance to win or succeed. This just isn’t the case with outsourcing because there are so many factors that are vastly different in each market…i don’t care what anyone says. The playing field is not level…and that is..in my opinion…the cornerstone of competition. Free trade doesn’t always equal fair trade…and taking advantage of people in any capacity is wrong…especially if establishing a global economy means enslaving nations of people!
interesting article - man, your outsourcing stories - that’s terrible - who the hell did they think they were ?
I’m outsourcing some work right now but so far all going ok, though I did have a bad experience not long ago - luckily I was able to pull the plug early on
I think that’s the thing - you have to be able to get plenty of ‘work in progress’ updates and if its bad, cancel the job - you may lose money but you wont kill your reputation - if you have time that is .. though when do any of us ever have time to catch up on client deadlines?
-- you have quite a few spelling typos - if you’re submitting that for professional review I’d get it read over by someone else!
great to read and thanks for the effort. It made me feel a little less crazy (alone) for pursuing this profession . I wish all our clients would read this…as I wait to hear back on a bid i just put out that I suspect is too “high”
Its so frustrating I think most firms are very familiar with the prices that overseas firms advertise even if they have never used them for renderings. Every place I have worked at gets weekly mailings showing a rendering with a price tag of $100-$400. So before you even open your mouth there is an assumption that the client has on the ball park price range.
as I wait to hear back on a bid i just put out that I suspect is too “high” I just recently talked with one pretty good illustrator who does more traditional types of work. He mentioned that $150-$200/hour is not unheard of - and he has had a busy year… My jaw dropped.
I think we as a group really need to reassess our prices if possible.
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. I wish all our clients would read this…as I wait to hear back on a bid i just put out that I suspect is too “high” 