[ssharp]

If I post a job to one of these sites, it's pretty much guaranteed to get 20+ responses from devs in India. Most are pre-written responses that don't really show that the project was read in any sort of detail.

I'd actually be curious to find out how these operations actually work. Are they solo devs just casting a massive net ? Solo devs actually outsourcing responding to gigs? Agencies applying for as many jobs as possible and subcontracting them out or having employees on staff to do the work?

[damoncali]

I think they're just cheap and aggressive companies. I had one calling me daily trying to "partner". I had to yell at him to get him to stop.

What I don't get is why some of these guys don't approach business like their US counterparts and charge US rates. They could live like kings in some areas of the world. Maybe that's easier said than done. But even the good ones seem to compete on price.

[wilfra]

Ya I don't get that either. It's a race to the bottom. I mean I love finding diamonds in the rough that don't know what they're worth. I have a guy who does Rails jobs for me, used to work for Microsoft, went to a top Indian technical college, speaks perfect english and is really, really good - and he charges me $25 an hour. He could easily be charging $100+/hr if he just marketed himself to different clients (i.e. not on elance).

I guess it's the opposite of what's going on in San Francisco where anybody with a CS degree or equivalent experience expects six figures. There they all expect very little and are happy to get a bit more than the guys hustling hard for $10/hour.

[cpursley]

Yeah, I posted a job for some rails help. I specifically said Russian developers only. I must have 40 Indian applicants and several who called me. Not a clue how they got my number. It's not publicly listed anywhere.