Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?

Do BMW's stand a chance in the US automotive landscape? Will Whole Foods survive the Walmart onslaught? - Price is just one of the dimensions on which to stand out in a market, there are buyers who look beyond the price.

For a developer like you, there is a set of good jobs that you can get with some effort, and a vast set of jobs that you will never get, no matter what you do. Some jobs are either not serious about hiring or don't care about quality and are actively seeking the lowest price. They will be disappointed and their project will probably never be finished the way they want it. You don't want to work with these people, and you don't want to compete down to an unreasonable wage unless you're just starting out.

There is, however, a smaller set of jobs which you are qualified for based on your unique skillset and which will recognize quality and ignore price. If you can convince these employers that you are the best for the job, you can get some decent, well-paying work.

The problem is, with ubiquitous "race to the bottom" low bids on nearly every project (many of them automatically generated and of extremely poor quality) it's really hard to tell the difference between the two. Just apply broadly and don't set your heart on any one project - you can't know what the person behind it is really like, or if you ever really had a shot.

I could write a book on my experience going from $12/hr to $85/hr on odesk. It's been quite an experience.

I get plenty of invitations for projects at a rate slightly above $60/hr. I haven't bid on a project in many months, and I even hid my profile for a while when things got too busy at my day job.

There are a few things you need to do to be successful on odesk. I've never done a project on another site, so I don't know if these tips translate, but some of them should.

1) Get some feedback as soon as possible. Find a small project to get your feet wet and bid a low rate to get the job.

2) Answer requests from the prospective client as soon as possible.

3) Use your best grammar. I find it helps me to speak to the prospective client on the phone. YMMV.

4) When you apply to a project, read the project and ask questions. Don't just make some generic cover letter and spam the clients.

5) When you apply to the project, if you are particularly interested in the project, have past experience with the project, or have some interesting piece of information to share with the client, make that clear. It helps you stand out.

6) Take the English test on odesk and do well on it.

7) Fill out your profile. Put relevant projects (even those you didn't do on odesk) in your portfolio. Provide links to your work.

8) Do good work. Make your clients happy. Get good feedback.

9) Remember that price is a signal. Many US clients will assume that you must be good to charge such a high rate.

I used to post on HN as briancooley, but I added one too many zeros to my noproc setting and put myself on about a 694-day hiatus instead of a 69.4-day hiatus. oops Can't say that I miss posting much, but I thought I would offer some suggestions. At least for mobile development, the market seems crazy to me.

Well, from this point of view, being an American seems to be better than being an European at the moment. I'm from Serbia, which is I believe the country with the lowest avg. income in this part of the Europe (and much lower than EU countries), and (ok, being senior dev) I wouldn't bid under $20, just wouldn't make sense. And I do get enough work to keep me busy. So, what I meant to say, none of us can compete with these $5/h guys prise-wise, but (if you are good) there's more than enough work for everybody, just find your price niche and compete there, don't waste time on low bids.