The director hangs up, a little dazed. His offshore dev, based in Manila, hasn't replied for three days. The "Pay" button of his e-commerce site has been returning a 500 error since Monday morning, right in the middle of a newsletter campaign. Revenue is dropping at €4,200/day in lost sales. He's calling me because we crossed paths at the Besançon Chamber of Commerce six months ago.
I take over the project that afternoon. The offshore dev — serious, competent — had just been hospitalized. Nobody knew. No backup, no team, no documentation, source code in his personal Bitbucket that only he could access.
This article isn't an attack on offshore developers. Many are technically excellent, and some are among the best in their specialty. But the "offshore day rate × days = savings" math misses three-quarters of the real cost. Here's what's hiding behind it, and when local is objectively the right call.
The calculation everyone makes, and why it's wrong
The offshore pitch fits on one line: "senior dev at €250/day instead of €600 in France". On a 60-day project, that's €21,000 instead of €36,000. €15,000 net savings. Any healthy director would be stupid to refuse on paper.
