S.P.O.

Many organizations of today are looking at Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) to streamline their organizations' processes (and to cut cost) in order to compete better in the market. While this part of the industry is growing, there is another industry that has silently crept into the market. Enter SPO - Students Projects Outsourcing.

While organizations outsource their IT departments to other companies - mostly in India, our local students are happily outsourcing their college/university projects and assignments to working professionals who are having stressed incomes. In my opinion, this is mainly due to the low salaries that most of our IT professionals are earning and the competitive environment in the industry.

I have managed to talk to a professional who is considering SPO. We will refer him as "SPOC" in this context.

Me: "What do you think about Students Projects Outsourcing?"
SPOC: "I'm helping people."

Me: "But don't you think that it is unethical?"
SPOC: "I need money to survive."

Me: "I mean those students were supposed to learn from the projects."
SPOC: "That's their problem. Besides, most of them won't be able to graduate."

Me: "But it is their work and you are doing it for them."
SPOC: "Look here, they still have to sit for exams to pass. This is just part of their degree. No big deal. OK?"

Me: "Don't you think your actions are harming the IT industry?"
SPOC: "Most of them will not be in the IT industry and even if they do, they cannot survive. They dislike programming and most likely they will go into management or business."

Me: "Have you thought about it that these students may graduate and get a better paying job than you did?"
SPOC: "It happened once but I'm cool with it."

Me: "Do you think this is a business?"
SPOC: "Hey, I didn't source for them. They sourced for me, so I ain't doing anything bad. Besides, they offered to pay me and I need money."

Me: "How much can you fetch per project?"
SPOC: "Anything from RM200 and up. Simple jobs like debugging are cheaper."

Me: "Have you considered increasing the charges for your services?"
SPOC: "Hey! I'm not the only one in the business. If you charge too high, they'll go to other competitors."

Me: "How long does each project takes to complete?"
SPOC: "It depends. Can be days, weeks or months."

Me: "What happens after you hand over the work?"
SPOC: "It is up to them. They have to present it to their lecturers. If they screw up, it is their problem."

Me: "Where do you get your leads?"
SPOC: "From juniors, friends and sometimes, the course coordinators from the colleges."

Me: "What segment of students are your customers?"
SPOC: "Usually girls. They are an easy catch because they can't program properly."

So that's what I got in a brief discussion with the professional. To me, SPO is unethical. If I want to help students and I want to make more money, I would rather sign up with a college or a corporate training centre to teach the students. Hence, "Teaching them how to fish rather than giving them the fish."

To me, it is all about cause and effect. If we continue to spoil the students, we will continue to damage our already weakened IT industry. With colleges churning out more incompetent graduates, there is no wonder that organizations are looking at India for resources. Also, there is no wonder that people like "SPOC" above who will keep complaining that their managers are incompetent.

But in a discussion with a friend, he says it is very difficult to justify whether SPO is ethical or unethical. The example he gave was if he was doing a Masters or PHD, he could have developed a complex algorithm with a simple application but would have required someone to beautify the application for him. In this case, he sees there is nothing wrong because he is ultimately graded on his algorithm and not the application.

So, what do you think? If you are a student will you consider out-sourcing your projects? If you are a professional, will you consider SPO? Feel free to share your thoughts as to why you want to do it.