3 ms·

As someone who has used eLance (and is currently) I've found that the price is only a small factor in the quality you'll receive and -surprise surprise- you can

As someone who has used eLance (and is currently) I've found that the price is only a small factor in the quality you'll receive and -surprise surprise- you can weed out most candidates with up front communications before awarding the project. Once we've awarded a project to a developer (or a shop) we aggressively review code and their communication style. We've had good luck with devs at as little as $20/hr and failures with devs and shops (mostly shops) at as high as $75. The real failure is that non-technical people haven't a clue as to how to evaluate the work their receiving and think that they can go from having no relationship to a finished project in a couple of weeks. If I was completely non-technical and didn't have someone in my corner to evaluate my options for me, I would be scared to death- but then again I probably wouldn't know the pitfalls before me either so... Our big thing is to fail fast. If you're new to us and giving us the heeby jeebies in the first week we'll cut our losses and find someone else. If you're awarding a project purely to the lowest bidder then I feel you kind of get what you deserve.

adidash 12y ago
Seems like a productized service opportunity - post, manage, & review technical projects on elance/odesk for non-technical folks.
- tomjen3 12y ago
  It would probably be useful, but I don't see how you can make that a product. Wouldn't it have to be very individualized?
- manyxcxi 12y ago
  I was thinking about that while responding but then you run into the same issue: how do you know the reviewer is any good? It's kind of like on the home improvement shows when the new home buyers buy a house and realize it's a money pit and they all say, "but we paid for an inspection!" At some point there needs to be a trusted party and I personally don't trust any vendor until they've proven their worth to me- then I go back to them without hesitation. eLance/ODesk try and address this with reputation and customer feedback, which is probably as useful and valuable as some third party of unknown reputation.

adidash 12y ago

Seems like a productized service opportunity - post, manage, & review technical projects on elance/odesk for non-technical folks.

tomjen3 12y ago
It would probably be useful, but I don't see how you can make that a product. Wouldn't it have to be very individualized?
manyxcxi 12y ago
I was thinking about that while responding but then you run into the same issue: how do you know the reviewer is any good? It's kind of like on the home improvement shows when the new home buyers buy a house and realize it's a money pit and they all say, "but we paid for an inspection!" At some point there needs to be a trusted party and I personally don't trust any vendor until they've proven their worth to me- then I go back to them without hesitation. eLance/ODesk try and address this with reputation and customer feedback, which is probably as useful and valuable as some third party of unknown reputation.