Live data from Hacker News

LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

aimgroup.com

231–240 of 341 posts

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#231
It is only a matter of time that members of such services will be declared as employees and will have to be paid minimum wage and get other perks (and also have the correct tax collected at source). Otherwise how this case is different from Uber? Just because someone is not sitting in the car for hours it doesn't mean the suffering is any different.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#232
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some want a freelancer account that is registered in US or Western Europe. I guess it’s easier to get a high-paying client if you have a local face behind your proposal.

I get hit with these constantly because I'm a US based Toptal freelancer. "Hey, if you take the meetings and let us use your account, we'll do all the work and give you 20%!".

So basically some folks just told you how you can be the CEO of InfoClone? How big are these deals, how skilled are the folks and how many people do they have?

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#233

For IT dev work, how on earth are people in UK/US/Europe/OZ/NZ going to compete with low-cost devs based in India and Africa ? I see this problem in quote offers on Fiverr, and I have no idea how people in the 'western world' can compete.

I’ve worked with many offshore devs over the last decade and really do have a great deal of respect for these folks. That said, in my experience you get maybe 1/10th of the useful output from cheap offshore devs as compared to mid-level U.S. and Canada based devs.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#234

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…

It makes me wonder why authorities have not caught up with those sites that essentially operate like Uber, except that you don't drive a car but do software development. I think it is worth raising awareness so that people get paid minimum wage and get all benefits associated with being an employee and pay correct taxes.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#235

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…

Do you know why those companies like Fiverr didn't get the same treatment as Uber? In the end it is a pretty much the same business model.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#236
post #67

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…

> For example developers, who are writing clean code and refactor their stuff before they deliver If you want that you probably shouldn't be outsourcing to freelancers in general. People aren't going to make clean code if they know they are never going to see it again and arent being paid for how clean it is.

Fast - cheap - quality, pick two. That rule always apply.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#237
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, when you first start out, it's not like you always have that many choices. I started working with clients on Upwork because I couldn't get any full time programming jobs at a company, but I could get contracts on Upwork. And the way they've set it up is if you use the Dekstop app you get paid even if there is a dispute, but if you don't, you might not get paid. So again, it's not like I wanted it this way, but…

This is interesting. I usually advise beginners NOT to start freelancing before they get some experience with a full time job at a company (preferably a non-remote/on-site position). If the market starts to push people into the other direction, that will, I think, further decrease the chances of any client getting their project finished. And I definitely don't mean this as a critique towards you. (If I want to be hon…

A FT job is a great jump start into freelancing and consulting. You get so much context for free, and frankly anyone at a FT job that has a consultant mindset will have way more opportunities.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#239

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…

I’ve used and have found great engineers on UpWork. None have used that tracking tool. It’s all been manually reported time. I’ve also interviewed and have encouraged questions before moving on.
Post reply on HN