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> Surely you could think of a better adjective

There’s nothing wrong with Bottom of the barrel. It’s describing the work done, not the nationality of the workers.

> the bottom of the barrel The cheapest, worst, or lowest quality. Used to describe an item in a range of comparable products. [0]

If all software companies were in a barrel West highest cost at the top and lowest cost at the bottom, even the worst quality local companies would be somewhere in the middle. They just can’t compete with the labour cost of overseas developers. If you’re looking for something to be produced at minimum cost, you’re literally looking for bottom-of-the-barrel.

It has nothing to do with racism. If India’s economy exploded overnight and the cost of labour went up 10,000%, North American businesses would look elsewhere. If American developers could be paid $3/hour tomorrow, we would hire those developers but still call any American writing code at that price “bottom of the barrel”.

[0]: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bottom+of+the+barrel



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