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LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

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Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#221

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211064098-Log-T... > It’s easy to bill your time using the Upwork desktop app. ... > When you have logging turned on, the app takes random screen captures six times per hour—once per 10-minute billing segment. Anything visible on your screen will display in your Work Diary, but you have the option, in Settings, to choose whether the screen captures your entire desktop or o…

We need to put a stop to all electronic surveillance. Cheap tech/software is making it appear everywhere. It’s just going to get more pervasive in the future. I already feel like the wealthy are watching us everywhere. I would like to see most electronic monitoring made illegal. I think we need to set up laws over employer monitoring, even having cameras at work for any reason, even for loss prevention. If they decid…

> "I would like to see most electronic monitoring made illegal."

What does this even mean? Does it mean no logging of anything you do online?

If you go to a website, it creates an HTTP log. The administrators of those sites usually review HTTP logs for valid, not-scary, security related issues.

If I have see a spike in error codes, then there might be an availability issue on my website. I can also look for indicators of SQL injection attacks and other malfeasance. These are all valid reasons to review logs you, the person visiting my website, generate.

What about CCTV cameras? Can I not put one in my business? You're entering my business.

> "All public, police electronic, license plate scanners, including ankle brackets, and alcohol monitors should be illegal."

This is silly. If we ban things like radar guns, police are just going to fall back to the less-accurate eyeball test. Ankle bracelets and alcohol monitors are ways to keep people out of jail. You're not typically forced to wear one unless it's a condition of your probation or parole. Don't like them? Stay in jail.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a client like this for new freelancers/employees that are working full time or larger jobs. It is intrusive but 100% is needed for some people or they take the piss. I'm too busy to follow their workload and sit there estimating times of jobs match hours. I check it one a week for ~10min to see hours logged per day and quick random to check its not loads of time wasting. It feels intrusive but there is little d…

This is one more example of terrible management. Mistrust, too much control and micromanagement are totalitarian ways of push management that do not work with thinking and creative working force. Unless what you do is already known pattern coding and repetitive work, which does not include the left or right side of the brain, the above approach may work. Maybe in movies, you can put a gun to a hacker's head and say y…

> So, you give a difficult problem to your employee, he gets stressed it is difficult, but now he needs to pretend to be busy to satisfy boss, he is even more stressed as he does not have time to think about solving the problem, but he needs to think about being busy... I can see people spiralling into mental health problems.

You're making up some horrible scenario that holds not basis of reality to support your view. I cant see that ever happening in the enviroment we are in. Maybe elsewhere but this tool is going to have both sides.

No doubt some people would be real arsehole managers with these type of tools. I also dont doubt these same managers would be like that in a physical office where they try to overwatch and micro mange there.

In our scenario the 2 main things its given us is 1) a massive time saving to management and 2) ability to leave freelancers/jr employees alone to do their thing.

Experience may differ with users :)

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#224
If this follows the lead of their acquihire and is a marketplace for upscale freelancers it could be a neat one to watch. The referenced competition has a very different price curve and tends to be a race to the bottom, while linkedin (despite their best efforts) is (at least for now) a network of real people, like facebook 10+ years ago. Their profile is the resume from which you would qualify and hire, and it's already one of the best ways to find a permanent candidate so it makes sense to push into different work arrangements.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they record your thinking time, do they take a brain snapshot?! As writing new code represents 30% of all time...

Not on these platforms; keystrokes and screenshots. It's a horrible thing, but on the flip side, of course many people who hire get screwed by people doing nothing but charging a lot for it. I cannot work on upwork as I ponder problems before I solve them; I can have quite large amounts of time without keystrokes or my laptop might be asleep. I would refuse it anyway if it was required though.

That's the point I was asked in late 1999 to sort out a show stopper problem at one of the exbibits at the millennium dome.

Took me about 2/3 of a day but only about an hour of programming the rest was spent thinking and sketching out the problem and test cases on paper.

Program ran first time and ran with 100% uptime for the duration

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#226

It will be interesting to see a third public company building a work marketplace. Upwork and Fiverr are already a godsend when you build a startup. But they still leave a lot to be desired. From a buyers perspective, Upwork feels more solid than Fiverr. In terms of freelancers and system functionality. One thing that is annoying on both platforms is that they send you an invoice after every gig. The first one that wi…

I agree this could be a space to watch. With global trends there is definitely demand for quality freelancers that are cheaper than my local network. Linkedin is very well positioned to serve both sides of this market.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#227
post #68
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $100/hour, so it’s definitely not just for low-end stuff. Maybe not low-end, but that's still probably the lower end of mid-end.

On a global marketplace? $100/hour is a ridiculously good rate for a large % of workers. Maybe not in SF or Tech Hubs but for a graphics designer in India, or Eastern Europe?

You get what you pay for.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#228

LinkedIn has a clear advantage here over the other freelancer marketplaces (Fiverr, and Upwork) especially in the unsaturated specialized knowledge sub-fields of technology. Although this feature will be gamified, in the first year at least, the freelancers (assuming they are existing LinkedIn Users) available on the platform will have: 1. Somewhat reliable employment history 2. Similarly reliable educational credent…

LinkedIn's network is a massive advantage for the sort of gigs the other sites don't offer. Want to find an mid level executive with expertise in X in the field of Y to spend a few hours solving a problem? They're almost certainly not on Fiverr or Upwork, but almost certainly have a LinkedIn profile, and some of them will have them time and the inclination to do a bit of consulting work if LinkedIn presents the opportunity to them.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#229

It will be interesting to see a third public company building a work marketplace. Upwork and Fiverr are already a godsend when you build a startup. But they still leave a lot to be desired. From a buyers perspective, Upwork feels more solid than Fiverr. In terms of freelancers and system functionality. One thing that is annoying on both platforms is that they send you an invoice after every gig. The first one that wi…

None of the platforms will ever send you a single invoice for a group of contractors for legal reasons. Each contractor needs to invoice you directly due to US employment law. Other arrangements are possible if you pay an agency instead of an individual, but upwork isn’t and agency, they are a marketplace.

this doesn't make sense. THe freelancer is not invoicing you directly; the payment contract is explicitly 2-sided. There's no reason they could not send you a single line-item invoice other than they want to extract their cut but not be viewed as the middleman.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#230

If this follows the lead of their acquihire and is a marketplace for upscale freelancers it could be a neat one to watch. The referenced competition has a very different price curve and tends to be a race to the bottom, while linkedin (despite their best efforts) is (at least for now) a network of real people, like facebook 10+ years ago. Their profile is the resume from which you would qualify and hire, and it's alr…

The same person that can make a living on low balling web programming contracts on other sites can make a LinkedIn profile and do it there, too.

What I have found interesting while doing some recent interviews for full time, remote developers is people are basing salary expectations on the top labor markets, not the ones they reside in. If you are operating out of a marginal marketplace and have gone remote because of the pandemic, this can take you by surprise if you think "now I can hire people anywhere".

My second point contradicts my first point, to the extent they overlap.

Really, though, if one believes in marketplaces setting a price and some person is willing and capable of doing my job for 1/3 the cost, who am I to complain? There are many factors that play into being willing to accept the downsides of working with a team in an opposite time zone but to the extent that people are willing to deal with this, I say go for it. That's the world we have built and must now live in.

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