11–20 of 50 posts
I know a gentleman who swears by oDesk, mostly as a billing/mediation platform for custom Twilio apps. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, but he charges enough to make it viable.
Why won't you deal with it? Bad experience? On the customer or developer side?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What term would you suggest?
I'd suggest being more specific than "US". Either name a part of the country, or, better yet, just name an income.
I realize a college student/single guy does not need all that much, but for a 29+, with a family, I think that's the minimum (again, with all the self-employment taxes, insurance etc).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd suggest being more specific than "US". Either name a part of the country, or, better yet, just name an income.
Fair enough. I'd say 80K for a 50 hour week (since freelancers are expected to buy their own health insurance, do not get any paid time off, so 80K is a very modest wage for a developer in those circumstances) I realize a college student/single guy does not need all that much, but for a 29+, with a family, I think that's the minimum (again, with all the self-employment taxes, insurance etc).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why won't you deal with it? Bad experience? On the customer or developer side?
Short version: it adds nothing I need, positioning myself against the competition there would be certifiably insane, and the type of clients I most successfully work with would avoid me like the plague if I proposed working through oDesk.
Your strategy though would be to build up a resume with oDesk. You're probably going to hit a limit though - I mean I've worked with $20/hr Eastern European developers that would be $100k developers in the Bay Area/NYC so it will come down to: what is your reputation and how much can you command.
After you build up a portfolio, you're going to have to use it as a spring board to get a fulltime job or fulltime onsite contracting for like $40/hour, etc. at a company.
From there you can basically build a "normal" software career and get the industry contacts, start networking as a programmer and if you decide can go back to remote contracting for a better-than-living-wage.
This isn't the path I took, but I know a lot of developers who have took this path, worked their way up the ladder throughout the 90's/2000's around the US, then 'retired' to a good life with their family in say Kansas/Nebraska (insert midwestern state) doing contracting work and getting to enjoy life the way they want (life Silicon Valley/NYC isn't for everyone).
REMEMBER, software as a career is going to be mostly networking and people skills in the long run - good luck!
Depends where. You probably can't live in Manhattan working as an oDesker, but you could easily make enough to make a good living if you're in the midwest. Your strategy though would be to build up a resume with oDesk. You're probably going to hit a limit though - I mean I've worked with $20/hr Eastern European developers that would be $100k developers in the Bay Area/NYC so it will come down to: what is your reputat…
I put myself through college about 6 years ago contracting. I found most of my clients through similar sites (Rentacoder and scriptlance). I was making about $30k a year working part time during the school year, and mostly full time in the summers. Not a spectacular wage when you compare it to full time Silicon Valley wages, but I'd definitely call it a "living wage" for the US. The key to being successful on these s…
If I'm not being mistaken, you are the one who answered my question two years ago on StackOverFlow ( http://stackoverflow.com/questions/763883/options-for-a-deve... ) It was a long road. I have had lot of non-related issues and difficulties but I almost got there. I made $10K doing it last year and I may make 3 or 4 times that number this year. You are one of the persons who changed my life, although it was a simple…
I'm in Uruguay, we have a decent developer culture here, but I want to go the freelance route as well (I'm sick of my current job - it's safe and pays a reasonable local wage but is Dilbert-esque).
My programming skills are similar to what you had at the beginning. Did you blog about what you went through?
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2619439 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1195524
Short answer: Yes. Just be sure to differentiate on quality rather than price. Your fellow oDeskers are racing to the bottom on price. Let them. Casually walk to the top on quality and you'll find yourself all alone with a nice stack of work from good clients.
This is one of those places where a reasonable amount of extra effort yields a disproportionate amount of benefit. You don't make linearly more money positioning yourself as a real consultancy; you make much more money.