I sincerely hope this doesn't affect the thousands of families making a living working off of oDesk. This change will have real effects on REAL people, let's hope they are all positive. :)
oDesk to merge with Elance
21–30 of 144 posts
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I couldn't agree more. My experiences with oDesk have been overall phenomenal, while Elance has consistently been a pain. I wonder what's fully fueling the merger, as oDesk seems to be doing pretty well as of late on its own.
I imagine oDesk is fine as long as you don't have any problems. They don't see blackmail as breaking their rules though, e.g. a contractor blackmailing you for a good rating. That contractor gets to stay on the platform. I have had this experience.
out of curiosity, how exactly does the blackmailing on oDesk work?
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#23The only problem with odesk is the ridiculous fees for a contract to hire scenario . Their rules is something like 10% of their salary for 2yrs iirc. Head hunter industry standard is something like 10% for 6mos ?
Most traditional recruiters charge around 20-30% of the first year salary. 10% of the first 2 years is actually a bit cheaper.
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#24That's surprising. I feel bad for talented freelancers =/.
Talented freelancers do themselves a disservice by using either of these "services". The only reason for a talented freelancer to use them is out of a desperate need for even abysmal compensation. This merger will likely make things worse for them (freelancers), not better.
Yes, I know there are some freelancers working on these sites who earn a "decent" living. They're anomalies. The vast majority of workers earn really horrible wages. The well paid oDesk or Elance freelancer is as common as a rags-to-riches startup billionaire in the software industry as a whole.
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#25I have mixed emotions about this because I have made a solid income at times with oDesk's time tracker, but I don't want it to become the standard way of doing things. That's because majority of the work I do now is on a subconscious level, so I'm basically thinking about a problem all day and it may only take an hour to code up the solution. I guess a workaround is to double or triple hourly rates, but I don't see t…
What do you consider a solid income? It seems like the majority of the jobs posted on oDesk are asking for a lot and only willing to pay very little. I wonder how even someone willing to work for 2 bucks an hour could possibly make reasonable money on there.
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#26As long as oDesk does not change at all, I'm happy. The only reason I hire on oDesk is because it is NOT elance - have had horrible experience with elance both with providers and the company itself and how it conducts business (or what it calls business). Although this is called a merger, it is only that in name. It seems elance's CEO will call the shots. https://www.odesk.com/blog/2013/12/mergerfaq/ "Who will lead t…
Would you mind elaborating on your experiences with elance? I had a family member who does freelance marketing/writing called me a few years ago and mentioned he was planning to sign up there and asking what I knew about it.
I could only tell him about a comment I'd browsed on HN that referred to it as a "ghetto" of poor paying assignments. He went ahead with it and now seems to be doing quite well as one of the top 5 providers of marketing and writing services.
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#27"Elance buys oDesk" seems like a more accurate headline.
Seems more like, oDesk cant get a price they want selling, and their CEO just wants out...
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#28That's surprising. I feel bad for talented freelancers =/.
Talented freelancers do themselves a disservice by using either of these "services". The only reason for a talented freelancer to use them is out of a desperate need for even abysmal compensation. This merger will likely make things worse for them (freelancers), not better. Yes, I know there are some freelancers working on these sites who earn a "decent" living. They're anomalies. The vast majority of workers earn re…
While I agree with you for US and Western Europe-based freelancers, it's not true for other places. When you live in a third-world country, Odesk/Elance are some of the only ways for you to make money as a freelancer.
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#29I have mixed emotions about this because I have made a solid income at times with oDesk's time tracker, but I don't want it to become the standard way of doing things. That's because majority of the work I do now is on a subconscious level, so I'm basically thinking about a problem all day and it may only take an hour to code up the solution. I guess a workaround is to double or triple hourly rates, but I don't see t…
What do you consider a solid income? It seems like the majority of the jobs posted on oDesk are asking for a lot and only willing to pay very little. I wonder how even someone willing to work for 2 bucks an hour could possibly make reasonable money on there.
$2/hr is a lot of money to some people in some places, particularly certain "developing nations".
Of course, you get what you pay for. Most people looking to hire on these sites aren't interested in quality; they want quantity at a discount. It works well for both them and the people doing the work at least in the short term. After all, some money (food) is better than nothing. I consider it a pretty base form of exploitation, though.
Re: oDesk to merge with Elance
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I imagine oDesk is fine as long as you don't have any problems. They don't see blackmail as breaking their rules though, e.g. a contractor blackmailing you for a good rating. That contractor gets to stay on the platform. I have had this experience.
out of curiosity, how exactly does the blackmailing on oDesk work?
Something as simple as the contractor wont provide you with the full code until you leave a 5 star rating.