[dotBen]

Sure that happens, it may even happen a lot... but that's not true across the board.

One of my companies works with an Eastern European dev shop on ELance. The company works for ~$18/hr for custom development work, which is done from scratch. Even at that rate it certainly equate to more than $300 for a site, however. :)

For the type of development we're doing it makes sense to out-source to Eastern Europe: For them this hourly rate is high and they perform quality work, for us we get to turn the tap on/off on quality development when we need it, with work turned around very quickly.

I think it is foolish to write off all Eastern European developers (and those from South America, Asia, etc) as code bodgers who slap skins onto Drupel.

[gexla]

It's a market like any other. From my limited experience I find that the most qualified generally gets the job and rates aren't as important. In some cases I have found jobs in which people from low wage labor countries are charging more than I would have charged for the same thing because they are clearly trying to estimate something that they know nothing about and playing it safe in their quote. In these cases I'm basing off my hourly rate for something I know exactly what needs to be done but I actually jack up my rate based on these other quotes because I don't want to look like the cheap guy. ;)

So, there are good jobs on Elance and Odesk. There are also some real gems. Niche areas are good because there is less competition and the competition you do have may not be strong in that area. Developers posting jobs can typically see past the B.S. and are willing to pay. They know that hourly rates aren't necessarily important and support / flexibility / communication is worth more in project rates. Just because someone charges low, doesn't mean you will save time or money.

[kls]

I think it is foolish to write off all Eastern European developers (and those from South America, Asia, etc) as code bodgers who slap skins onto Drupel.

Sorry, I must have not articulated my point well, my post was not meant as a critique of Eastern European or Asian developers.

It was more a critique of the quality of projects on those sites as well as the expectations on those sites. It makes the economies of scale only viable to slap together projects and even at a slap together pace, you have to be bidding from a cost of living standard below most of the west. Sure there are some gems on those sites but you have to weed through a lot of crap to find them, most freelancers find it easier to get gigs through their network as opposed to weeding through these sites.

That being said, two of my best developers are from Romania and earn the same as US freelancers, a good developer is worth their weight in gold no matter where they are from.