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Author Topic: Finding Freelance Programming Work
Alcon
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Member # 6645

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So I've been sorta job hunting around and one of my friends suggested that I look into doing freelance programming work. I've always just sorta programmed for myself, I've taken the occasional job that required me to do some programming, but for the most part I haven't really looked at doing freelance programming. So I'm sorta shooting in the dark here, I have no idea where to start looking for freelance work, what sites can be trusted, what to expect, etc...

Have any of you other hatrack coders done freelance work? How'd you find the job? Any hints or tips for someone just starting out?

Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
striplingrz
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I've done some, nothing serious, and it was strictly word of mouth. My coding "mentor" sent me a few jobs, then I did some locally for people I knew.

I'm sure there is someone on here who probably goes all out and is in business for themselves who'll have better advice than me.

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Nighthawk
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I've done it quite often, but times have changed.

The sites I use to frequent:

Rent-a-coder ( http://www.rentacoder.com/ ): Free to join and bid, and they keep 15%. Recently they added a guarantee system where you put your own money as a sort of deposit.

Guru ( http://www.guru.com/ ): Costs to join, but they usually keep less of a percentage (10%-15).

eLance ( http://www.elance.com/ ): Ludicrously expensive to join, but the jobs are usually worth it. If you can get one.

There are numerous problems with these sites:

1) Your personal worth is probably much more than others posting. For example, someone posts a request for "make me a site like Yahoo". I say it costs, oh, $10K and six months to complete (I'm throwing example numbers; humor me).

Then someone from Middleofnowhereitstan says "Hey! I can do that for $300 and get it to you in a week!" In India, programmers make $5 an hour and live like kings with it. It's made it impossible to compete anymore.

Granted, the quality is significantly inferior, but most people that just need a "quick fix" program, or don't deal with the source directly, don't really have a point of reference or don't really care how bad it truly is except that it can actually RUN. So, to them, there's no denying the massive cost savings they get; they get what they pay for, but don't care the quality of what they pay for.

2) Once your bid is accepted, you're bound to that price and cannot negotiate further easily. After all, you *promised* you'd do a Yahoo clone for $300 in week. Couldn't do it? Wanted to back out because it wasn't worth it? Tough.

And if you back out or lose "arbitration" on a dispute, not only do you lose all the money, but you have to pay a certain percentage of what the project's worth. I lost $150 on a project I couldn't do for the reasons I describe.

And, in these cases, the buyer is pretty much always right.

3) You cannot directly communicate with the buyer until your bid is accepted. Want more information? He doesn't have to give it to you. Want to contact him personally to go over details, timelines, etc...? Can't do that. Only when your bid is accepted can all that happen, and once they do accept it you're bound by the above terms. If, after further discussion, you realize the project will take longer and more money, tough; you already provided a bid that was accepted. Deal with it.

4) Most of the sites do not give you any money IN ADVANCE. All the money goes in to an escrow account so that you're sure you get paid *eventually*. Have a project that's worth $10K and will take three months? Great! But you won't see a dime until it's done, you turn over all the "final deliverables", and the buyer approves it.

If the buyer doesn't approve it, he can basically have the site withhold your money until he is satisfied. Which could be a long time on certain projects.

Theoretically, you might be able to convince them to release some money now and then, but (1) they are not required to do so, (2) you cannot provide a payment plan as part of the proposal and must accept everything at the end, and (3) all communication has to be done through the site, so it's monitored and you are not allowed to discuss financials easily.


I no longer do it for the above reasons: it's no longer worth it. My time costs far more doing private contracting with a select few customers than it would there. I've taken on $500 projects which have consumed almost three months of work for me, and to me that's a major loss. Nowadays I've gotten programming jobs where I can charge anywhere between $30 and $100 an hour.

If you do it, don't *depend* on it as a source of income. Be careful how you price yourself, don't sell yourself short, and best of luck.

Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

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