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How would a new guy differentiate himself? A new guy can compete on price, get work, get good reviews and then increase his rates.

by sumedh 12y ago

zerr 12y 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 12y 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 12y 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 12y 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 12y ago
I'm new to freelancing and a friend recently referred me to https://boonle.com https://boonle.com. It seems like a new service and the available projects look to be limited right now. However, I did complete two projects. It is different tho as you work for tips instead of setting an up front bid. I was nervous at first, but I received payment both times. I guess they are trying to target newbies? Not sure, but maybe worth a shot.
- stefantalpalaru 12y ago
  Work for tips? What are you, a stripper?
AJ007 12y ago
From an employers standpoint, First evaluate the competition. As an example on oDesk, there are almost unlimited PHP developers, a large percentage who are novices. The reverse is true to some degree when it comes to Python. Identify skills which have less competition and higher rates. Next is focus on finding someone who hires for long term projects. If you are working for three people at once your quality will suffer and your output is going to be slower. If you are doing 3 hour projects a large percentage of your time is going to be spent trying to find work rather than being paid for work. You could look for how much the hirer has spent on total projects, for example. This is a guess, but you probably want someone with $10k+ spent. When it comes to oDesk & Freelancer one of your biggest advantages will be English comprehension fluency. Something to consider for non-native speakers. When I hire, I disregard the developer's profile history. I look at other things such as their English fluency. The first job is short and provides a fairly accurate indicator if they will work out. oDesk is mined for skilled developer talent. There are companies just posting test projects to find these developers and hire/contract them out full time. In that regards the pool of skilled developers is artificially lower than it otherwise would be. In my experience the guys billing higher amounts are either on par or worse developers than the ones charging lower amounts. In that respect, the skill shifts from developing to sales. If a non-tech person is doing hiring they are at high risk of being strung along. I would echo what others have commented in the thread -- it is much better to find a full time or part time dev position than chasing after mini projects. (And better yet, be paid in partially equity especially if your work is contributing to significant revenue growth for the employer.)

How would a new guy differentiate himself? A new guy can compete on price, get work, get good reviews and then increase his rates.

by sumedh 12y 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 12y 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 12y 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 12y 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 12y 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 12y ago

I'm new to freelancing and a friend recently referred me to https://boonle.com https://boonle.com. It seems like a new service and the available projects look to be limited right now. However, I did complete two projects. It is different tho as you work for tips instead of setting an up front bid. I was nervous at first, but I received payment both times. I guess they are trying to target newbies? Not sure, but maybe worth a shot.

stefantalpalaru 12y ago
Work for tips? What are you, a stripper?

AJ007 12y ago

From an employers standpoint, First evaluate the competition. As an example on oDesk, there are almost unlimited PHP developers, a large percentage who are novices. The reverse is true to some degree when it comes to Python. Identify skills which have less competition and higher rates. Next is focus on finding someone who hires for long term projects. If you are working for three people at once your quality will suffer and your output is going to be slower. If you are doing 3 hour projects a large percentage of your time is going to be spent trying to find work rather than being paid for work. You could look for how much the hirer has spent on total projects, for example. This is a guess, but you probably want someone with $10k+ spent. When it comes to oDesk & Freelancer one of your biggest advantages will be English comprehension fluency. Something to consider for non-native speakers. When I hire, I disregard the developer's profile history. I look at other things such as their English fluency. The first job is short and provides a fairly accurate indicator if they will work out. oDesk is mined for skilled developer talent. There are companies just posting test projects to find these developers and hire/contract them out full time. In that regards the pool of skilled developers is artificially lower than it otherwise would be. In my experience the guys billing higher amounts are either on par or worse developers than the ones charging lower amounts. In that respect, the skill shifts from developing to sales. If a non-tech person is doing hiring they are at high risk of being strung along. I would echo what others have commented in the thread -- it is much better to find a full time or part time dev position than chasing after mini projects. (And better yet, be paid in partially equity especially if your work is contributing to significant revenue growth for the employer.)