Computerworld - Four years ago, CEO John Cestar took a novel approach to increasing the skill levels at Freeborders, a small outsourcing provider that operates in China. He took a road trip around the U.S., looking for Chinese engineers working in U.S. companies who were interested in returning to China or would soon be compelled to do so because their work visas were about to expire. He recruited a pool of 20 people who spoke both Chinese and English and had U.S.-style management skills.
Today, Freeborders, which was founded in 1999, has more than 500 employees, most of them at a development center in Shenzhen in southern China. The company, which recently received CMMI Level 5 certification, specializes in .Net development and counts Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, J. Crew, Morgan Stanley and Target among its customers.
Cestar says Freeborders has been refining its delivery model and training employees since it was founded, and now it’s getting ready to expand.
“Now, we’re in a fast growth mode,” he says. “We’re growing at 70% to 100% a year. We’ll double the team by early next year.”
Read more about Management and Careers in Computerworld's Management and Careers Topic Center.
Free Insider GuideCopyright © 1994 - 2012 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Computerworld Inc. is prohibited. Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are trademarks of International Data Group Inc.
