This is correct. In my experience, the 10-20$/hr guys are usually programmers who have just started and are good only for some sideline stuff. The moment you engage with them with a sizable work, either the rate goes up or they back off.
Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
21–30 of 52 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#22Absolutely. Just make a point of never competing with the $10/hr crowd. Take a minute and read a few of those cheap bids. Do they inspire confidence? If you were an employer, would you honestly believe that the person who wrote that bid is capable of building the thing you're trying to build? Of course not. They all sound like a bunch of desperate children trying to get away with something. If you want to take work f…
The project proposals are often incomplete, so my strategy is to make a bid, and in the comments ask intelligent questions about the project and design to show I'm serious and experienced. So far no takers on that. It could be that the project posters aren't serious, or that they're not impressed by my credentials/portfolio, or maybe my higher price. Does anyone in the HN community regularly bid on freelance projects…
That sounds like a good strategy. I'm not sure which site you're looking at, but elance and several other sites offer tests that you can take to prove your skills. I'd say a day or two spent on those is time well spent, and generally inspires confidence in the buyers.
There are a number of other free or inexpensive things you can do to make yourself look better: use a sharp looking picture of yourself, have a halfways decent website (a one page site is OK - leaps and bounds better than nothing), email @yourdomain.com, toll free numbers are fairly inexpensive, sign up for a BBB membership, etc.
Also, I can't stress enough that you need to have good clear writing that touts whatever skills you have. (On your profile and your personal site.) Don't lie, but do brag a little. If you're not the best at copy-writing, have a friend look over it.
Also, make sure to mention which city you're in / near, as many buyers prefer to work with someone local.
It's OK to specify on your personal site that you only accept work through [XYZ freelance site].
A blog on your site is a bit more work, but can pay off in the long run. You won't get a lot of business directly through the blog, but it will help boost your google rankings which _will_ bring in business. Keep it strictly limited to informative articles on topics you're interested in working on, and try to post regularly - at least once a week to get started.
Lastly, you want some referrals from me, leave your info here: http://nfriedly.com/techblog/2010/12/calling-all-avaiable-we...
Oh, and what everybody else has said: raise your rates. Start at $45/hr and raise it by $5 every few months.
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#23Originally from third-world country, I went from $8/hr to $50/hr in less then a year on oDesk. I quit it since I work on h-1b visa now in USA, but once I get greencard, plan to get back to freelancing, if no other projects will popup in my head.
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#24On mark! Past performance is a key indicator for future behavior ie product and service.
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#25It's not the hourly rate, it's the total cost and quality delivered. Try bidding on fixed priced projects - while you'll still likely to submit higher bids, the difference is not as big as the hourly rate - since an experienced programmer can do more in less time.
Represent yourself with class and show a portfolio of quality work. Not everyone goes for the lowest bidder, and you definitely want the clients that are looking for quality. Do you really want to work for someone who expects you to work for 12$ / hour?
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#26I 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…
You know, you could probably just get your noprocrast setting reset if you sent an email to the right person... cough
Why would you go on a 70-day hiatus from HN, though?
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#27when i hire freelancers i consider 10/hour quotes only for very easy jobs if not i simply delete them and pay attention to higher bids. of course a higher bid is on of the variables i look for, but a so cheap quote make me think that im payin or for a bad coder or a good one that will make my proyect with out really paying attention to it and without me spending a lot of time explaining everything once and again and again he will do a bad work, i don't need any of those situations so i simply delete those quotes
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#28Absolutely. Just make a point of never competing with the $10/hr crowd. Take a minute and read a few of those cheap bids. Do they inspire confidence? If you were an employer, would you honestly believe that the person who wrote that bid is capable of building the thing you're trying to build? Of course not. They all sound like a bunch of desperate children trying to get away with something. If you want to take work f…
I agree. However, you will be passed over by most project posters for one of two reasons: 1) They aren't serious, and are posting the project to get a sense of how much it may cost them to develop an idea. or 2) They don't care or are ignorant of quality issues when choosing a $10/hr bid. As developers, we scoff at badly written code - it offends us. But as a business person, especially the cheap ones, as long as it…
This is so true. Taking the second point first ... I keep thinking that -eventually- the market will find it's equilibrium with regards to price/quality for serious projects. Budding entrepreneurs get on these sites, post something, and get screwed by one of these $5/hr people (often and likely, not every time I admit). You would think that they learn by their mistake and come back the second time with different expectations in price and quality. However, there must be an endless supply of budding "entrepreneurs" as I have not seen any leveling off yet.
I use oDesk and Elance. I have looked at, yes many, other sites but the signal to noise ration is just so low and there are only so many hours in the day. I have had much more success finding serious projects on oDesk more so than Elance. I'm curious what others have experienced. And jwwest, you are absolutely right. There are many projects posted that clearly are not intended to proceed. You can't always tell from the post alone. But after some experience, you can certainly tell from the pattern of how a post ages (in conjunction with how it is written).
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#29I 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…
I would like to know about your story! Does not have to be a book, but maybe a blog post?
Re: Ask HN: Do Americans stand a chance on freelance sites?
#30I have given up on oDesk it seems to be impossible now to find anything that pays above $50.
I have shifted my attention to Elance. Quality work,good pay, and more employees wanting Americans. Just insanely competitive.
I got my first bid accepted after shelling out an extra $10 after using my first 10 connects. I made the money back but even with a good rating it is still difficult.