When I read "African engineering group" I felt an instant "ugh" of recognition, based on my experience with software created by external consultants on other continents. My experiences were with groups in Asia and Europe, not Africa, so I think what the poster successfully evoked was the experience of dealing with differences of distance, culture, time zone, and commercial interest (engineers answerable to different management and a different bottom line,) all of which tend to produce inferior software compared to what gets produced for in-house use or sale in the SaaS market.
Exactly--bad work can be from anywhere. However working with contractors at this kind of distance, through a language barrier, with different societal norms (for example, the US project manager was a woman, and the programmers just completely ignored things she said. If myself or another man was present, they completely changed their tone and would immediately act on things we said. Our project manager was pretty much ignored or steam rolled at every turn) is extremely difficult.
When I read "African engineering group" I felt an instant "ugh" of recognition, based on my experience with software created by external consultants on other continents. My experiences were with groups in Asia and Europe, not Africa, so I think what the poster successfully evoked was the experience of dealing with differences of distance, culture, time zone, and commercial interest (engineers answerable to different management and a different bottom line,) all of which tend to produce inferior software compared to what gets produced for in-house use or sale in the SaaS market.
Exactly--bad work can be from anywhere. However working with contractors at this kind of distance, through a language barrier, with different societal norms (for example, the US project manager was a woman, and the programmers just completely ignored things she said. If myself or another man was present, they completely changed their tone and would immediately act on things we said. Our project manager was pretty much ignored or steam rolled at every turn) is extremely difficult.
Yup, we do. Mind you, I'm not an american. But we often say something like "the americans" or other less flattering terms.
Here come the police, ever-vigilant for perceived or potential slights. Bless you, Officer.