Free Labor 5: Contract Work

I often like to outsource work to contractors since outsourcing to foreign countries is often cheaper than hiring domestically or paying a programmer in house. It can be nearly 80% cheaper to outsource a job, especially if you make the programmer do work during a mandatory screening/training period before awarding the contract.

Another thing I do is make sure all contracts are either oral, or if a hard copy is requested, I make it as poorly worded as possible (the outsourced labor probably doesn't speak English that well anyhow, so this strategy works great!). Then while they're working and delivering the code, I keep insisting that they haven't completed the work to my satisfaction or the terms of our agreement. Since they have already put in so much effort, they want to get paid, so they bow into my demands. I can keep this up long enough to squeeze quite a bit of extra work out of the contract. The scheme is truly beautiful.