Overseas Drafting$7/hr

A spam email in my inbox announces China-based drafting services. Here's part of their price list:

Architectural construction documentation US$7/hr
Architectural paper to CAD US$6/hr
Architectural 3D rendering US$8/hr
Mechanical part and assembly modeling US$8/hr

The company claims "over 10 years of functioning" and so can offer "a wealth of experience in terms of CAD expertise...". Those $7/hr drafters probably don't have ten years experience.

Comments

That US$8 an hour in China is like $80 an hour buying power over there. It's not unreasonable to think that an experienced CAD operator will work for $80 an hour.

[DL]

That low rate probably means the company or individuals are using illegal or cracked copies of the software as well!!

[Jason]

Cracked copies indeed....not that it doesn't happen some here in the states.

Of course Autodesk announced some time back that to help combat lost sells in India and China, they would sell products like Autocad and Inventor at greatly reduced cost in those countries. Something like 1/5 of the US price. Gee.....just drive another nail in the coffin for US engineering jobs....not only is a company saving money on labor....but the same software is also cheaper if bought and used over there.

[Paul]

The company will not be paying the workers $8/hr. They will more likely be paying them 1/4 or a larger markup than 4x and so $20 per hour sounds less attractive doesn't it?

[Dan Sigler]

"That US$8 an hour in China is like $80 an hour buying power over there. It's not unreasonable to think that an experienced CAD operator will work for $80 an hour."

I agree totally. In my experience cost of living differences are the major hurdle to eliminating outsourcing. Recently a client of mine hired a team of 4 Phd's in southern India for $12,000 - $15,000 each. There qualifications were impeccable (top US schools) but they are willing to work for much less than if they had stayed in the US simply because of the much greater purchasing power they have back in India.

I haven't personally had any experience yet with hiring technical staff in China but I know a few people in the industry that have and the situation is the same in China though I understand its slightly pricier due to graft.