About 10–15 years ago, there was a massive push to outsource software development overseas in search of lower costs. The logic was simple: “Why pay $150/hr for a developer in the U.S. when you can get someone for a fraction of that elsewhere?”
It was an attractive idea — until it wasn’t.
The Outsourcing Boom… and Bust #
For a few years, many companies handed over their entire codebases to offshore dev shops. Some got lucky. Most didn’t.
What followed was a predictable pattern:
- Incomplete or poorly structured code
- Communication gaps due to time zones and language barriers
- Lack of context for business logic
- Projects delivered that “worked” but weren’t maintainable
Eventually, many teams had to bring development back in-house or to U.S.-based developers, only now with added costs. Why?
Because they had to:
- Audit what was done
- Untangle technical debt
- Rebuild critical features
- Fix bugs that cost them customers and credibility
The total cost? Often double (or more) than if it had been built correctly the first time.
Fast Forward to Today: Enter AI & Vibe Coding #
Now we’re in the age of AI coding assistants and vibe coding — the idea of staying in flow with tools like GitHub Copilot, Devin, or ChatGPT writing large portions of code for us.
This is incredibly exciting and powerful.
But the same warning applies: fast doesn’t mean right.
AI can generate syntactically valid code, but:
- It doesn’t understand your product vision
- It can’t anticipate complex edge cases
- It often skips testing, security, and maintainability
- It can hallucinate APIs or make outdated assumptions
We’re already seeing teams depend heavily on AI-generated code without proper review — and later pay the price in debugging, performance issues, and rewrites.
The Lesson: Cheap ≠ Efficient #
The lesson from the outsourcing era isn’t “never outsource” — it’s that development is more than typing code.
It’s about:
- Understanding context
- Solving business problems
- Writing code that evolves with your product
AI tools can help — just like offshore teams can. But they need oversight, structure, and experience guiding the process.
Otherwise, you may find yourself — once again — spending double to fix what you thought you were saving on.
My Take #
I’ve worked with companies cleaning up after rushed outsourcing decisions — and I’m now helping teams review and debug AI-generated code before it creates tech debt.
Use AI. Move fast. But build smart.
If your team is experimenting with vibe coding or integrating AI into your workflow, I’d love to help you build a solid review, QA, and architecture strategy — so you don’t have to do the work twice.
