11 ms·

Elance-oDesk Rebrands As Upwork, Debuts Slack-Like Chat Platform

90 points by vdfs 11y ago

laurentsabbah 11y ago
The live chat feature is a game-changer. We need things fast, tired of sending an inquiry and getting an answer a day later when I usually already settled my issue or found someone local ready to do it.
- krakensden 11y ago
  I mean... really? You don't just say "this is my Skype, what's yours?" when you start a contract?
  - laurentsabbah 11y ago
    I do, but it usually takes hours to get a reply back. With the chat feature, when you see someone online, you can get their skype immediately.
k-mcgrady 11y ago
I wish they'd focus on improving the market by weeding out poor contractors and employers. The rating system doesn't work. If you're an employer you post a job and have to wade through dozens of messages from outsourcing companies who usually do a poor job. And if you're a contractor trying to get seen through that pile is a nightmare - the only way to succeed to is to watch for new job posts and immediately bid. If there are already a few bids you don't have a chance.
- melling 11y ago
  I've spent a bit of money (over $10k) on oDesk for my mobile app. I used a lot of translators and some artists (Illustrator), and did the programming myself. Everyone wants you to review them with 5 stars because anything less is bad for business. The quality does greatly vary and so does the pricing. You can get good deals and you can get burned. I once had someone using a keep-active program so they could log more hours. Thankfully I looked close enough at the screenshots to notice. If anyone can recommend a great mobile designer on oDesk, I'd like to redesign my iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/h4-spanish-lite/id388918463?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/h4-spanish-lite/id388918463?... My account on oDesk is h4labs, not sure how to link to it.
  - mbuenon 11y ago
    Hey melling -- if you post your job on upwork and send me the job post, we can try to source some good designers for you. you can email me at mbueno at elance-odesk.com
  - djerry 11y ago
    You can invite me to the design project https://www.upwork.com/o/profiles/users/_~015159f894bb70a226/ https://www.upwork.com/o/profiles/users/_~015159f894bb70a226...
- dagw 11y ago
  the only way to succeed to is to watch for new job posts and immediately bid. If there are already a few bids you don't have a chance. Speaking as someone who occasionally hires people off of odesk, I've learnt to basically ignore any bids that come in the first few hours and give it at least 3-4 days before starting even to seriously evaluate candidates. I don't see how being the first bid vs the seventh bid should affect your chances of getting the job.
  - k-mcgrady 11y ago
    Interesting. I find that a lot of employers look through bids and stop as soon as they think they've found something good. In my experience if you are higher than 5th you won't ever get a message regardless of the quality of those who bid before you.
- freedrull 11y ago
  I've noticed the same thing as a contractor. I only seem to get hired if I am one of the first few bidders. Otherwise there is a slim chance I will get noticed.
- Disruptive_Dave 11y ago
  There are definite ways to succeed as a contractor without being the first to bid. A while back (when Elance was just Elance) I decided to do some digging to see how the buyer side looked and ended up with some key learnings that landed me most jobs I went for. Nothing too fancy or "hacky", but the majority of bidders - at the time, at least - were lazy and had messaging very similar to everyone else. I wrote about it here: https://medium.com/@disruptivedave/how-im-gaming-elance-guru-83a61ca79d27 https://medium.com/@disruptivedave/how-im-gaming-elance-guru...
zerr 11y ago
The main issue Elance/oDesk needs to fix - is to eliminate `the race to the bottom` moment. Maybe set some minimum acceptable rates? (e.g. $50/hr) If this is fixed, it will become attractive workplace for lot of qualified engineers, including those on HN. This will be a radical move, but it will also eliminate "bad" clients.
- sumedh 11y ago
  How would a new guy differentiate himself? A new guy can compete on price, get work, get good reviews and then increase his rates.
  - zerr 11y ago
    The logic works the same way, but starting from e.g. 50 instead of 0. oDesk will benefit if rates will be 50 - 3-figures+.
    - sumedh 11y ago
      Well, if you put it that way then I agree but then cost of living is cheap in developing countries so an equally good developer there would be happy to do it at a lower rate compared to an American dev for the same work. How do you take care of such issues.
    - dragonwriter 11y ago
      Odesk won't benefit in that case if the higher minimum rate result in enough fewer deals to reduce their share of the total.
  - dagw 11y ago
    Just being competent and knowing what you are talking about is a pretty good differentiator. I'm generally positive to odesk and have had mostly good experiences, but the truth is that I only end up hiring for about half the jobs I post there. For the other half I simply don't get applicants I feel comfortable with at any price.
  - jspenke 11y ago
Brushfire 11y ago
The "slack-killer" feature is nice, but I don't think this move does anything to Slack's business. In other words, its just clickbait / PR nonsense. Why do journalists feel the need to artificially position articles like this?
- k-mcgrady 11y ago
  Strangely the title just mentions a slack like feature whereas the article says the CEO desired is as a 'slack killer'. Although that part has no context whatsoever, they just took those words from some longer quote.
- sumedh 11y ago
  Took a quick look at Slack, what does upwork and Slack have in common, it looks to me that they are operating in different markets.
no1publicenemy 11y ago
Elance-oDesk aka UpWork vs Freelancer.com and the race to the bottom and dismal customer service but I think that when it comes to poor customer service Freelancer.com shines through as the heavyweight champion in this regard across the board.
EugeneOZ 11y ago
They didn't even send email about this change, and now I see their "oDesk Team" tool doesn't track time so I can't work. Good news everyone!
- EugeneOZ 11y ago
  fixed now.
jspenke 11y ago
I was wondering when they were going to get rid of the separation of sites. Curious to see if the chat platform really makes any bit of difference.
father_of_two 11y ago
They could just have rebranded themselves as "cheap" or "bottom" because that's what those platforms promote. I appreciate the efforts they've tried to improve the platform(s) but they're dealing with something no one was able to fix yet: solve the lack of scalability of work-people matching.
123qwe123qwe 11y ago
I loved the new interface. There is already a cool review on UpWork here http://www.websiteplanet.com/review/upwork/ http://www.websiteplanet.com/review/upwork/ I agree with most parts, not about price (nver liked odesk payment way)
123qwe123qwe 11y ago
I loved the new interface. There is already a cool review on UpWork here http://www.websiteplanet.com/review/upwork/ http://www.websiteplanet.com/review/upwork/ I agree with most parts, not about price (nver liked odesk payment way)

90 points by vdfs 11y ago

The live chat feature is a game-changer. We need things fast, tired of sending an inquiry and getting an answer a day later when I usually already settled my issue or found someone local ready to do it.

krakensden 11y ago
I mean... really? You don't just say "this is my Skype, what's yours?" when you start a contract?
- laurentsabbah 11y ago
  I do, but it usually takes hours to get a reply back. With the chat feature, when you see someone online, you can get their skype immediately.

k-mcgrady 11y ago

I wish they'd focus on improving the market by weeding out poor contractors and employers. The rating system doesn't work. If you're an employer you post a job and have to wade through dozens of messages from outsourcing companies who usually do a poor job. And if you're a contractor trying to get seen through that pile is a nightmare - the only way to succeed to is to watch for new job posts and immediately bid. If there are already a few bids you don't have a chance.

melling 11y ago
I've spent a bit of money (over $10k) on oDesk for my mobile app. I used a lot of translators and some artists (Illustrator), and did the programming myself. Everyone wants you to review them with 5 stars because anything less is bad for business. The quality does greatly vary and so does the pricing. You can get good deals and you can get burned. I once had someone using a keep-active program so they could log more hours. Thankfully I looked close enough at the screenshots to notice. If anyone can recommend a great mobile designer on oDesk, I'd like to redesign my iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/h4-spanish-lite/id388918463?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/h4-spanish-lite/id388918463?... My account on oDesk is h4labs, not sure how to link to it.
- mbuenon 11y ago
  Hey melling -- if you post your job on upwork and send me the job post, we can try to source some good designers for you. you can email me at mbueno at elance-odesk.com
- djerry 11y ago
  You can invite me to the design project https://www.upwork.com/o/profiles/users/_~015159f894bb70a226/ https://www.upwork.com/o/profiles/users/_~015159f894bb70a226...
dagw 11y ago
the only way to succeed to is to watch for new job posts and immediately bid. If there are already a few bids you don't have a chance. Speaking as someone who occasionally hires people off of odesk, I've learnt to basically ignore any bids that come in the first few hours and give it at least 3-4 days before starting even to seriously evaluate candidates. I don't see how being the first bid vs the seventh bid should affect your chances of getting the job.
- k-mcgrady 11y ago
  Interesting. I find that a lot of employers look through bids and stop as soon as they think they've found something good. In my experience if you are higher than 5th you won't ever get a message regardless of the quality of those who bid before you.
freedrull 11y ago
I've noticed the same thing as a contractor. I only seem to get hired if I am one of the first few bidders. Otherwise there is a slim chance I will get noticed.
Disruptive_Dave 11y ago
There are definite ways to succeed as a contractor without being the first to bid. A while back (when Elance was just Elance) I decided to do some digging to see how the buyer side looked and ended up with some key learnings that landed me most jobs I went for. Nothing too fancy or "hacky", but the majority of bidders - at the time, at least - were lazy and had messaging very similar to everyone else. I wrote about it here: https://medium.com/@disruptivedave/how-im-gaming-elance-guru-83a61ca79d27 https://medium.com/@disruptivedave/how-im-gaming-elance-guru...

zerr 11y ago

The main issue Elance/oDesk needs to fix - is to eliminate `the race to the bottom` moment. Maybe set some minimum acceptable rates? (e.g. $50/hr) If this is fixed, it will become attractive workplace for lot of qualified engineers, including those on HN. This will be a radical move, but it will also eliminate "bad" clients.

sumedh 11y ago
How would a new guy differentiate himself? A new guy can compete on price, get work, get good reviews and then increase his rates.
- zerr 11y ago
  The logic works the same way, but starting from e.g. 50 instead of 0. oDesk will benefit if rates will be 50 - 3-figures+.
  - sumedh 11y ago
    Well, if you put it that way then I agree but then cost of living is cheap in developing countries so an equally good developer there would be happy to do it at a lower rate compared to an American dev for the same work. How do you take care of such issues.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    Odesk won't benefit in that case if the higher minimum rate result in enough fewer deals to reduce their share of the total.
- dagw 11y ago
  Just being competent and knowing what you are talking about is a pretty good differentiator. I'm generally positive to odesk and have had mostly good experiences, but the truth is that I only end up hiring for about half the jobs I post there. For the other half I simply don't get applicants I feel comfortable with at any price.
- jspenke 11y ago

Brushfire 11y ago

The "slack-killer" feature is nice, but I don't think this move does anything to Slack's business. In other words, its just clickbait / PR nonsense. Why do journalists feel the need to artificially position articles like this?

k-mcgrady 11y ago
Strangely the title just mentions a slack like feature whereas the article says the CEO desired is as a 'slack killer'. Although that part has no context whatsoever, they just took those words from some longer quote.
sumedh 11y ago
Took a quick look at Slack, what does upwork and Slack have in common, it looks to me that they are operating in different markets.

no1publicenemy 11y ago

Elance-oDesk aka UpWork vs Freelancer.com and the race to the bottom and dismal customer service but I think that when it comes to poor customer service Freelancer.com shines through as the heavyweight champion in this regard across the board.

EugeneOZ 11y ago

They didn't even send email about this change, and now I see their "oDesk Team" tool doesn't track time so I can't work. Good news everyone!

EugeneOZ 11y ago
fixed now.

jspenke 11y ago

I was wondering when they were going to get rid of the separation of sites. Curious to see if the chat platform really makes any bit of difference.

father_of_two 11y ago

They could just have rebranded themselves as "cheap" or "bottom" because that's what those platforms promote. I appreciate the efforts they've tried to improve the platform(s) but they're dealing with something no one was able to fix yet: solve the lack of scalability of work-people matching.

123qwe123qwe 11y ago

I loved the new interface. There is already a cool review on UpWork here http://www.websiteplanet.com/review/upwork/ http://www.websiteplanet.com/review/upwork/ I agree with most parts, not about price (nver liked odesk payment way)

123qwe123qwe 11y ago