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I'm moderately successful on oDesk doing continuous delivery/AWS/systems/networking work at $100/hr. There are many lowballers out there in the space, primarily

I'm moderately successful on oDesk doing continuous delivery/AWS/systems/networking work at $100/hr. There are many lowballers out there in the space, primarily from abroad. The trick is to offer value. So far in 2014 I've worked with two US businesses who preferred native english speakers/US contractors. I've billed around 15 hours and have about a 20% hit rate with online interviews over email and actually worked on about 10% of the jobs I've applied for. Some tips: Set up a complete profile. Put as much detail about yourself as you can muster. Clients will keyword search for their positions, you need to come up. Take the oDesk tests. Qualify yourself in your field. Learn to pattern match your ideal clients. For me this is US based and paying with OPM (Other People's Money). Make the case confidently that you are THE person for the job. Some won't have the budget, that's fine, you don't want to waste your time with them anyways. Always give 5 star feedback for all your clients on completion of the job. Ask them to leave feedback for you. Try to get as many 5 star reviews as you can. Clients filter on this. Over-communicate. Share docs on Google Drive. Create diagrams. Email, ask how they want to be contacted. This is your chance to shine. The lowballers can't afford to put this much effort into the job. Make them realize you were the correct choice. For reference, here's my oDesk profile. If anyone is looking for help in the above areas, hit me up. https://www.odesk.com/users/~013cf50a8dcdd17e42 https://www.odesk.com/users/~013cf50a8dcdd17e42

YZF 13y ago
s/heard of the Silicon Vally/heart of Silicon Valley/ in your profile. Sounds like you're doing something right there, good luck.
- dmourati 13y ago
  Yup. Fixed, thanks! Also, should add, the main reason I like doing contracting gigs like this is to stay sharp. At least twice this year something I've learned on a side gig has directly helped my dayjob company. Nice effect that.
Iftheshoefits 13y ago
I've looked at some of the software tests on oDesk (and elance, and other sites'). There are a lot of very poorly worded questions/questions riddled with grammar problems that were obviously written by non-english speakers, questions with ambiguous or outright incorrect answers, and questions with answers that assume certain programming practices that aren't actually imposed by the language's standard (this is especially the case with the C and C++ tests). If I were looking to hire a contractor from oDesk, their test scores would be one of the last things I cared about and, at best, I'd only consider it a negative if they scored really exceptionally low on them.
- dmourati 13y ago
  I found similar problems. The client doesn't necessarily know how broken the tests are though. Taking a few tests in your area shows initiative and backs up your English comprehension. Again,think differentiation.

YZF 13y ago

s/heard of the Silicon Vally/heart of Silicon Valley/ in your profile. Sounds like you're doing something right there, good luck.

dmourati 13y ago
Yup. Fixed, thanks! Also, should add, the main reason I like doing contracting gigs like this is to stay sharp. At least twice this year something I've learned on a side gig has directly helped my dayjob company. Nice effect that.

Iftheshoefits 13y ago

I've looked at some of the software tests on oDesk (and elance, and other sites'). There are a lot of very poorly worded questions/questions riddled with grammar problems that were obviously written by non-english speakers, questions with ambiguous or outright incorrect answers, and questions with answers that assume certain programming practices that aren't actually imposed by the language's standard (this is especially the case with the C and C++ tests). If I were looking to hire a contractor from oDesk, their test scores would be one of the last things I cared about and, at best, I'd only consider it a negative if they scored really exceptionally low on them.

dmourati 13y ago
I found similar problems. The client doesn't necessarily know how broken the tests are though. Taking a few tests in your area shows initiative and backs up your English comprehension. Again,think differentiation.