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I think your general reaction is correct. The successful sites for freelancers are engaged in a race to the bottom since they are open to and often overwhelmed

by dlrush 14y ago

I think your general reaction is correct. The successful sites for freelancers are engaged in a race to the bottom since they are open to and often overwhelmed with offshore developers. There is plenty of opportunity for new sites to solve this problem in various ways. Specialized skill sets, the ability to do onsite work, training+coding, all provide angles that I believe could be effective, potentially each as the basis for standalone services. I've contemplated the idea of a marketing site to promote a very specific service: - 2 Days Onsite: 1 Day Training, 1 Day Hacking with Your Team - 3 Topics to choose from: * High Performance Rails, * Customized ElasticSearch, OR * Ember.JS-enable your App No offshore firm could provide this service, and few freelancers tout their most specialized skills effectively.

mythriel 14y ago
Your idea is really awesome....also I think a site like this would be bring better quality to the web development or for those clients that look for quality. Really the quality on Elance is so low that someone showed me a project made with an offshore freelancer and the website has no security at all...not 1 database query is sanitized.
- IsaacL 14y ago
  There's a few sites focusing on offering a "vetted freelance marketplace" of some description. Toptal, Scoutzie, and one or two others that I can't remember the name of right now. I actually just quit working on a startup that aimed to do exactly that: http://endorse.io http://endorse.io. Turns out that some of the bigger sites, PeoplePerHour and especially oDesk are already working hard on ways to ensure quality of their workers. Although oDesk has lots of cheap third world coders, too, I've known first world contractors get lots of quality jobs through there. But yeah, if you're actually looking for work, try tapping your network and hitting up local tech meetups. I found a tech recruiter through my university alumni network who gave me some useful pointers about the London freelance market, so try that as well.

by dlrush 14y ago

mythriel 14y ago

Your idea is really awesome....also I think a site like this would be bring better quality to the web development or for those clients that look for quality. Really the quality on Elance is so low that someone showed me a project made with an offshore freelancer and the website has no security at all...not 1 database query is sanitized.

IsaacL 14y ago
There's a few sites focusing on offering a "vetted freelance marketplace" of some description. Toptal, Scoutzie, and one or two others that I can't remember the name of right now. I actually just quit working on a startup that aimed to do exactly that: http://endorse.io http://endorse.io. Turns out that some of the bigger sites, PeoplePerHour and especially oDesk are already working hard on ways to ensure quality of their workers. Although oDesk has lots of cheap third world coders, too, I've known first world contractors get lots of quality jobs through there. But yeah, if you're actually looking for work, try tapping your network and hitting up local tech meetups. I found a tech recruiter through my university alumni network who gave me some useful pointers about the London freelance market, so try that as well.