This has not been my experience with trying to do freelance programming on elance. I’ve applied for about 20 projects on there over the past few months, all of which I was very qualified for and gave evidence that I was qualified for (by linking to past projects of mine). I interviewed for one, which went well, but they went for a much cheaper programmer from India (I don’t blame them; he looks like he does a good job). Most just don’t respond.
I may be charging a bit too much, especially since I have no elance reputation), but on a lot of the projects I didn’t even cite a price, and instead asked reasonable questions about the project and stated I needed those answers before I could offer a cost estimate. Almost nobody even replied. So I don’t think cost is the only issue.
Maybe odesk is different, but I doubt it.
My impression from what other freelancers have said is that you need to do lots of networking to find good clients, and that most good freelance software development projects are never posted to job boards or elance or anything like that, they’re handled by referrals. (I haven’t actually successfully done this approach yet either though, so I can’t personally vouch for it)
I had a similar experience with elance. I applied to a bunch of jobs and only got a reply back from one. That job ended up being not worth the time I ended up spending.
However, Uvocorp (uvocorp.com) is another freelancing site I use, and my experience there has been much better. You have to pass a pretty easy writing test to be able to work at all. Once you pass, though, you can browse all the job offers, and you are assigned the job as soon as you hit ‘apply’.
I’m very selective about what jobs I choose, in order to make them worth my time and to make sure I that can do a good job. Just read the job description carefully, so you know what you’re signing up for. By being very selective, I’ve managed to keep the pay above $20 to $30 per hour.
I’m competing somewhat with writers from India or elsewhere that are willing to work for less than me, but I get a premium by being a native speaker of American English and having good ratings. I’ve been able to negotiate the price at times because I’ve been specifically requested by repeat customers.
There have been a couple of disputes, and the administrators have been reasonable.
Disclaimers:
The payment / time varies quite a bit from job to job, so be careful what you sign up for
It involves doing homework for college kids, in case you have moral issues with that
During the busy college season they will assign you jobs without asking you. You can still decline them without penalty.
http://web.archive.org/web/20100929202932/http://lesswrong.com/lw/2qp/virtual_employment_open_thread/2o49?
This has not been my experience with trying to do freelance programming on elance. I’ve applied for about 20 projects on there over the past few months, all of which I was very qualified for and gave evidence that I was qualified for (by linking to past projects of mine). I interviewed for one, which went well, but they went for a much cheaper programmer from India (I don’t blame them; he looks like he does a good job). Most just don’t respond.
I may be charging a bit too much, especially since I have no elance reputation), but on a lot of the projects I didn’t even cite a price, and instead asked reasonable questions about the project and stated I needed those answers before I could offer a cost estimate. Almost nobody even replied. So I don’t think cost is the only issue.
Maybe odesk is different, but I doubt it.
My impression from what other freelancers have said is that you need to do lots of networking to find good clients, and that most good freelance software development projects are never posted to job boards or elance or anything like that, they’re handled by referrals. (I haven’t actually successfully done this approach yet either though, so I can’t personally vouch for it)
I had a similar experience with elance. I applied to a bunch of jobs and only got a reply back from one. That job ended up being not worth the time I ended up spending.
However, Uvocorp (uvocorp.com) is another freelancing site I use, and my experience there has been much better. You have to pass a pretty easy writing test to be able to work at all. Once you pass, though, you can browse all the job offers, and you are assigned the job as soon as you hit ‘apply’.
I’m very selective about what jobs I choose, in order to make them worth my time and to make sure I that can do a good job. Just read the job description carefully, so you know what you’re signing up for. By being very selective, I’ve managed to keep the pay above $20 to $30 per hour.
I’m competing somewhat with writers from India or elsewhere that are willing to work for less than me, but I get a premium by being a native speaker of American English and having good ratings. I’ve been able to negotiate the price at times because I’ve been specifically requested by repeat customers.
There have been a couple of disputes, and the administrators have been reasonable.
Disclaimers:
The payment / time varies quite a bit from job to job, so be careful what you sign up for
It involves doing homework for college kids, in case you have moral issues with that
During the busy college season they will assign you jobs without asking you. You can still decline them without penalty.
Thanks for the warning!