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Tech Wednesday, January 16th 2013 at 1:40 pm

Developer Outsources Own Job to China to Goof Off Online All Day, is Our Hero

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American companies outsource jobs to places like China because they can hire people to do the same jobs their employees do for less money. One developer’s job was outsourced last year, but it wasn’t by his company. He did it himself. Someone hired a company in China to do his job for him, and paid them a fraction of his salary. While his bosses thought he was working, he was just screwing around online. Is there a way to type out a slow clap? Because that’s what I’m giving this guy. Bravo, sir. Bravo.

The developer, identified only as “Bob” in a report, worked for a company that had a basic VPN system that used two-factor authentication to give employees the ability to work from home. Along with standard login information, employees had to enter a number produced by an RSA SecureID key fob to sign on and do their work. Bob simply mailed his fob to the company in China so they could log in as him to do his work for him.

In the time his bosses thought he was working, Bob spent time on Reddit watching cat videos, checked out eBay listings, and updated his Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. You know, things people normally do at work when they’re not working, but this was Bob’s whole day. He found a way to browse Reddit professionally. Bob is brilliant.

His bosses realized something was strange when they noticed all the logins coming from China. They came up with a very elaborate theory about what was happening involving malware initiating the VPN connection through a proxy that routed the traffic to China and back to the company. They didn’t consider that the simplest explanation — that someone was logging in as Bob from China — was the correct one.

The company asked Verizon, who handled their telecommunications services, to investigate, and they uncovered Bob’s brilliant scheme. They also found that not only was he outsourcing his job with the firm to China, but he even took additional developing jobs and outsourced them as well. He was earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and only paying out about $50,000. All the while he was acing his performance reviews and was considered the best programmer in the building.

It doesn’t look like Bob’s employers share my admiration of his actions. He’s no longer employed by the company.

(via The Register, image via slworking2)

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  • http://www.globalgeeknews.com pcnerd37

    That is brilliant! If I didn’t have a job that required me to physically be at work, I would probably try this.

  • rglenn

    Sounds like an entrepreneur to me!

  • http://twitter.com/NishiHundan1 Nishi Hundan

    You’re basically saying, why the hell should a company hire American programmers when you can get the “best programmer in the building” for 1/5 the cost by going to China. Don’t cry and whine when you lose your job, then.

  • SpaceDust

    Hmm. So, this now-former employee doesn’t understand that he has violated his company’s security by allowing unauthorized access to their code base by someone not authorized or under contract to the company? While I do somewhat admire the scheme from a “I wish I could do this” perspective, my sense of responsibility and common sense tells me this isn’t someone I would hire for any job that might impact security – and that includes cleaning and janitorial services, since they have keys. More like an anti-hero to me.

  • http://geekosystem.com/ Glen Tickle

    I don’t agree with 100% percent of what this guy did, but the spirit of the thing is what I admire.

  • http://geekosystem.com/ Glen Tickle

    I’m not basically saying that. I’m specifically saying I think it’s amazing that this guy outsourced his own job rather than having it outsourced for him.

  • French Tickle

    I like how you call him brilliant. If he was truly brilliant he would have taken those “additional” contracts he was working while at this employer and simply started his own company as a contractor. Then he could have done exactly the same thing except from the comfort of his office (home) and not been found out or fired. Funny how you congratulate a guy on going half the distance. Personally I’ll admire people that are passionate about what they do (yes, there are coders out there that have pride in workmanship and actual work ethics) and try half ass schemes to have others do it for them. Those people are just middle management waiting to be promoted.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=4800003 Yujean Yee

    i freaking love these headlines

  • Jack Bond

    Typical lazy American wants someone else to do his job for him so he can reap the benefit. This example proves how sustainable that is.

    Also this exact situation was the plot to a recent episode of Regular Show. Those Chinese people are going to try to become Bob.

  • LCBdesigner

    That takes some strategic planning, and knowing the right people to contact. Most people wouldn’t even know how to go about that, I feel like there might be a more applicable job out there for him such as coordinating outsourced services (not that I encourage that).

  • http://www.facebook.com/troyldailey Troy Dailey

    Not only that, but it was an RSA encryption key. He might be under some federal nat’l security issues now.

  • Anonymous

    This was a Doonesbury cartoon, you know. One of Bernie’s employees did it, and was considering taking a second job.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jason.wheeler.988926 Jason Wheeler

    Brilliant you say? Mildly clever, but only for a very brief time. His slacker ways did catch up with him eventually and he lost his job. Now if he had become a millionaire and earned enough to retire before he was fired, then perhaps the term brilliant would be an appropriate term to describe him. There are many folks who do similar things in the workplace, but for the most part, they are discovered and removed. Unless of course they are in a union. Then there is a protracted lawsuit and the slacker is reassigned and given his/her pay, until the case is resolved.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jason.wheeler.988926 Jason Wheeler

    Slacker is a more correct term. You will find them in most any place you work.

  • analpig

    Should do office space 2 have him play the lead.

  • thisbedan1

    Bill Gates Says: I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job… because, he will find an easy way to do it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Blair-Houghton/1314334140 Blair Houghton

    a slacker wouldn’t ensure anything gets done. this guy’s a manager. he just did it better than his managers.

  • http://twitter.com/Alexfeo1971 Alexi R. Acevedo

    pay back is a bits

  • Nick at Nite

    To pull a line from Office Space, “This guy has upper management written all over him.” Too bad his primary caught him. Hell with the money he made he should just set up shop at the house…That’s what I would have done.