[axisK]

When managed properly outsourcing doesn't have to be a problem. Bad hires do tend to take a bit longer to show themselves and could end up leaving a bad taste to everything outsourcing related.

A few years ago I did some work via oDesk and ended up with a permanent contract for a US/Mexico based company that allowed me much more freedom than I would have had working at any South African company in my area.

Overall I enjoyed working with most of the other employees from across the world and some of the brightest people I've worked with was part of the team. I do think however that it probably put a lot more pressure on our manager than most conventional environments would.

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[axisK]

Oh, as a side note. The company I ended up working for also used a timed "mini-project" to filter out some candidates, it wasn't much more than 2 days worth of work. After that I also went through a telephonic which was more of a introduction to what the company was doing as well as a bit of a culture check to see if I would fit in.