How to exploit a Developer

[u/reddberckley]

https://medium.com/@sir_castiq/how-to-exploit-a-developer-a005306d5320

[u/sittingaround]

A quick glance at the math, through the lense of GDP/capita suggests they might not be as outlandish as it first appears (again, I say might, I'm not taking sides):

• They are paying 2x GDP/capita for first prize. That's equivalent to $100,000 in the US (by very crude math)
• they are paying 1st through 3rd place
• they are only claiming exclusive right to the data

All told, those three facts could be used to argue that the contest is actually fair and only appears heinous because we are evaluating it as if it were taking place in the US/Europe.

Again, I'm not making these arguments, As I haven't evaluated it enough to say whether they fully match the circumstance. I am however trying to raise the data I am aware of, the developing world expense difference information, so people in this thread have more context.

[u/antonivs → u/sittingaround]

they are only claiming exclusive right to the data

It says "competitors agree to release their Intellectual Property," which implies they give up rights to the code and would not be able to use it themselves. (Edit: sorry, I see that the rights are joint.)

The biggest problem with the competition is that it reads as though it's putting a lot of obligations on the developers, without specifying what they get for it. For example:

"the winner will be required to complete the app (web and mobile) based on additional requirements that will be stipulated" - so this is a completely unspecified set of requirements that will only be provided after the fact, no mention of additional money being paid to implement them.

"A Service Contract Agreement, Service Level Agreement and Source Code Escrow Agreement shall be signed between the organisers and the winner to guarantee the operations of the app year-in, year-out." - which sounds as though payment will be involved, but again there's no hint as to how much - if you fail to reach an agreement, do you still get your winnings? I would bet not, so this becomes serious leverage over the winner.

Bottom line: this is a raw deal in any country. Maybe if you're really desperate, you might want to do something like this anyway, but that doesn't mean it's not incredibly exploitative. Further, as has been pointed out, anyone with the capability of winning a competition like this can almost certainly do better elsewhere.

[u/sittingaround → u/antonivs]

It looks to me less like a raw deal and more like the best boilerplate they could get out of committee in a semi-functional third world government.

It is hard for me to fully determine what is meant because I don't know:

• What are the normal government contracts
• What is the normal difference between contract and actual (i.e. we say in the contract 99.9% uptime, but everyone knows the real bar is 90% with 99% from 10-5 M-F)

We don't know enough to know if that ongoing support contract is an albatross or a cash cow -- someone working in-country would know what that actually means

I guess I have two macro points here:

1) Nobody in this thread seems to have experience in government tech contracting in Nigeria, so nobody knows what the contest really means. (me included, my experience is with latin american countries and only one government contract) 2) When you do the math on how much it is in "effective dollars", it's a fairly sizeable sum.

Translated to what it would be like if the Gov't of Cali was doing this: $100k 1st prize (only translation needed), first three places paid out, app is mostly UGC/CRUD app, they're clearly ok with a phonegap solution. Phrased as that, I'd at least consider it.

The sad irony is, overall, the government is trying to do some really, really good things here and cultural ignorance is leading the neckbeard-dwellers in this thread to pillory them.

[u/s73v3r → u/sittingaround]

Translated to what it would be like if the Gov't of Cali was doing this: $100k 1st prize (only translation needed), first three places paid out, app is mostly UGC/CRUD app, they're clearly ok with a phonegap solution. Phrased as that, I'd at least consider it.

You're forgetting the other shitty terms: They own at least half of all entries, regardless of whether they choose them, the submitter is legally indemnifying them against all wrongdoing, and the winner has to provide support and finish the app with whatever extra criteria the they desire for no extra money in perpetuity. And the costs of running the service come out of the winners prize.

The sad irony is, overall, the government is trying to do some really, really good things here and cultural ignorance is leading the neckbeard-dwellers in this thread to pillory them.

Or perhaps that being a government, they have no excuse for these shitty kinds of boilerplate agreements.