Ask HN: Impressions on elance | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Impressions on elance

8 pointssentinel6 comments

I heard a couple of things about elance as a good website where you can find freelance jobs. I would like to get the opinion of the HN community regarding this before actually making an investment in this website.

Have you worked with it? Does it pay on time? How are the clients? How are the projects? Are there other websites you have worked on that are better than elance? etc. Any information would be great.

Cheers!

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I can't see why anyone in the US does those jobs - they just don't pay enough. You're better off making a good website and firing up the AdWords. Better yet, just hammer away at in person networking events to land some real contracts for real money. It's hard work, but the hourly rate has got to be 10-20x.

If you need a portfolio, just build some stuff. It doesn't have to be commercially successful for you to show it off to clients - it just has to look good and work. You may even make some cash in the process.

Steer clear! They are awash with inexpensive overseas labor, so it's near impossible to compete. AND, They are almost always filled with people that want something for nothing.

In my very limited experience with both, I've found oDesk.com to be a bit easier to use and seems to have better jobs.

However, be prepared to pay your dues working for up to half of what you'd like at first.

One bad thing about oDesk is they have all these dumb tests you can take and some people expect you to have passed them.

Either way on both sites a lot of people want you to work for less than 5 dollars an hour.

odesk.com is another source

Sorry dude, but these places are ghettos. If you have to go to the ghetto, make it your highest priority that you don't stay there. Do the work and try to build your portfolio.

Better yet, create interesting side projects and ship / OSS them. Indirectly, Twistori brought in more consulting work for me than antyhing else I ever did.

yeah, try to network and work for free to build your portfolio. try some local non-profits that need help

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