Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

aimgroup.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 341 posts

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#301

Post by adolph »

adamcstephens wrote: post #190
atleta wrote: post #184

They've been developing it for 1.5 years and still no results, no visible MVP? I guess that's how it looks like when a startup matures and loses it's core values. I still remember hearing Reid Hoffman at a conference (well, the online stream) in 2013. It was just a few weeks after my first startup flopped and my ex-co-founder was blaming it on not building a better quality product, for which I was to be held responsi…

They were bought by Microsoft. There is no quick innovation in a large corporation.

Github sees to be staying reasonably nimble (maybe an exception that proves the rule. . . ).

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#302

Post by hertzrat »

DigitalSea wrote: post #96
rdevsrex wrote: post #92

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…

Precisely this. When I first started out, it was freelancer.com which eventually went down the path of molecular type tracking. It's invasive and people don't want to pay you what you're worth, but you do it for the experience and to build up a feedback profile to bolster your credibility. The feedback is what you work for, what you tolerate the poor payment for unrealistic work in return. Without it, you can't grow…

Sounds better, when possible, to just avoid platforms like that

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#303

Post by hertzrat »

godmode2019 wrote: post #71
seanwilson wrote: post #31

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…

What's next, brainwave scanners that only pay you for hours that has atleast 20% gamma wavelength.

I knew somebody working on an employee brain wave startup once, except it was to monitor (and help with) stress. My readings would probably be pretty high just from having to wear the thing

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#304

Post by matz1 »

serverholic wrote: post #262
matz1 wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The use of monitoring doesn't mean they don't trust you. Its a way to verify your trust, otherwise it just blind trust.

Let's not sugarcoat it. If you need to verify trust then it's not trust. "Oh hey honey, mind if I look at your phone? Oh it's not that I don't trust you, I just need to verify my trust." eyeroll

That is called blind trust.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#305

Post by FireBeyond »

godmode2019 wrote: post #71
seanwilson wrote: post #31

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…

What's next, brainwave scanners that only pay you for hours that has atleast 20% gamma wavelength.

https://soquoted.blogspot.com/2006/03/memo-from-fedland.html

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#306

Post by seanwilson »

fecak wrote: post #166
seanwilson wrote: post #31

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 can't speak for all freelancers, but I do think you're missing some things. I've completed 1000+ projects on Upwork with a 95%+ success rate over the past few years (mostly resume writing and executive bios). As a freelancer, you can simply refuse the monitoring feature. I would never accept a project where the client wanted screen shots. I use Google Docs so my activity is tracked there pretty accurately as it is,…

> I have a private resume writing business that I run ... I primarily have used fixed price projects as well, but mainly because time tracking in Upwork is a bit cumbersome.

Why would someone getting an awesome resume care how long it takes you to write though? Wouldn't some actually want to pay you more if you did it faster at the same quality?

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#307

Post by SuoDuanDao »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #217
loceng wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to learn to game the system like the most popular freelancers and agencies seem to learn to do; you're not getting kicked off the platform as a freelancer/agency even if you engage in blackmail/extortion for 5 star ratings - even when there's proof - as I have experienced. It's like you need to start to create some fake accounts, or friends to signup, give you projects - worth a lot or not, or hidden, but wi…

> Personally I'd be too honest to trick people like that, but people who are open to dishonest or bad actions on the platform seem to do well. Yeah...not for me. Personal Honor and Integrity are a big deal for me. It's funny. I'm open and extremely honest. Scammers see that as "gullible," but I've been swimming with some of the world's nastiest sharks for 40 years. It's actually kind of difficult to scam me. I've jus…

>Scammers see that as "gullible," but I've been swimming with some of the world's nastiest sharks for 40 years.

This makes me think of the proverb, "You can't cheat an honest man". It sounds strange on the surface, but I think there's something to the idea that if one is too honest to be tempted into dishonesty by avarice that most scams fall apart.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#308

Post by seanwilson »

fabbari wrote: post #264
nojito wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a question of trust, it's a question of time tracking for hourly employees. I agree that if you are a salaried employee this type of tracking software makes no sense.

In my head when I tell a client that a project/job is X hours it means that that is the market value in hours for that project. There is an old Italian story - I'm sure it's common in other places - about a TV repairman that goes to fix a TV at someone's house. He looks at the TV and tells the owner: "It's going to be 100$ to fix it". The owner agrees. The repairman walks up to the TV, hits it with his fist and the T…

> Option two: you charge 1200$ for an hour of work: none is going to hire you because there are people that are only charging 120$ an hour.

The solution is to find clients that are prepared to pay for quality + reliable results and to avoid discussing work in terms of hourly rates then?

Upwork sounds like it encourages hourly projects for clients that want the cheapest price. As a freelancer, your goal shouldn't be to win over every client.

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#309

Post by atleta »

arcturus17 wrote: post #291
atleta wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I usually advise beginners NOT to start freelancing I switched from product manager to developer through a masters, and started freelancing because while I received interest for FT positions from very good companies in my country, they only offered me junior positions (and naturally I cannot blame them), in a country with low wages. I ended up clearing over 2x the salary of a junior in my first year freelancing (so…

Well, then you had a fair share of what you need as a freelancer, for sure. Out of curiosity: why did you make the switch? Is it worth it, as opposed to working as a solo/freelancer PM?

As an engineer, I feel most of the value I bring is not actually writing code but managing the whole process and consulting the client on what to do and how to do. (So product and project management, sometimes with discussing the business side, agile/lean coaching. I.e. explaining that we don't want to build all features that sound cool, don't want to build every feature to its best version for a start, etc.)

Though I'm not sure if I could make a living trying to sell this on its own (as opposed to doing it as a full stack engineer and tech lead).

Re: LinkedIn is building a gig marketplace

#310

Post by jonfw »

matz1 wrote: post #304
serverholic wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not sugarcoat it. If you need to verify trust then it's not trust. "Oh hey honey, mind if I look at your phone? Oh it's not that I don't trust you, I just need to verify my trust." eyeroll

That is called blind trust.

I think there is a step between actively monitoring and blind trust, where you build trust through a relationship.
Post reply on HN