That being said, cultures on the asian subcontinent seem to have a certain way of avoiding the word "no".
So while they will charge the $20 per hour, they will assure you that their work will be completely up to par with the $200 per hour work of experienced developers.
Usually there will also be a problem with quality/time estimation. I've seen a few "will this be done in two weeks?" questions result in a "Yes, certainly answer" although no engineer I knew would have said this was possible.
At least that was my experience in a few larger projects that had to outsource some of the programming.
I know that agencies in the US/EU tend to market themselves pretty aggressively too, but not QUITE as aggressively :)
Yeah, I've been on the other side of this, working in the trenches. Granted, I wasn't a developer but the situation wasn't any different. The problem is no one asks us how much time it will take.
As an (exaggerated) example, the conversation usually goes like this:
Project Manager: Guys, we just landed a huge project from Acme Inc. Guess what, you guys are gonna be paid a bonus this month!! YAY!
Developer: Great!
PM: There's a tiny caveat though: The bonus was promised only if we had delivered it yesterday.
D: FML.
PM: But don't worry, we still have a week to finish it!
D: WTF? But this will take at least three weeks!
PM: Ah, don't worry. I know you can do it in one week. In fact, I am so sure, I promised them you would! Isn't that great?
D: Well, what if I can't?
PM: Oh well, we won't get paid and it will certainly reflect in your appraisal and you won't get that promotion that you have been due for the last three years. But I'm sure you won't let that happen, amirite?
IMHO, if someone is aware of the quality of $200 per hour work, they would deliver the same quality. After all the prices might be different but the hours are same. In my experience most programmers don't even know how bad they are. And when they do become aware of that the quality improves.
So while they will charge the $20 per hour, they will assure you that their work will be completely up to par with the $200 per hour work of experienced developers. Usually there will also be a problem with quality/time estimation. I've seen a few "will this be done in two weeks?" questions result in a "Yes, certainly answer" although no engineer I knew would have said this was possible. At least that was my experience in a few larger projects that had to outsource some of the programming.
I know that agencies in the US/EU tend to market themselves pretty aggressively too, but not QUITE as aggressively :)