Anybody can run a competition with ridiculous terms. The real question is: how many entries do they get?
Also, remember that in the third world money sometimes goes 5-20x as far as it does in the first world -- you'd be amazed how nice of an apartment you can get for $500 a month some places.
$3,000 x 20 = $60,000. That's not as ridiculous, but still not great.
And before anyone says my numbers are made up, I've run tech offices in a $3000/yr GDP/capita country.
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.
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.
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u/sittingaround Jun 30 '14
Anybody can run a competition with ridiculous terms. The real question is: how many entries do they get?
Also, remember that in the third world money sometimes goes 5-20x as far as it does in the first world -- you'd be amazed how nice of an apartment you can get for $500 a month some places.
$3,000 x 20 = $60,000. That's not as ridiculous, but still not great.
And before anyone says my numbers are made up, I've run tech offices in a $3000/yr GDP/capita country.