[waps]

Yeah, so income on oDesk for hard workers is brutally disappointing.

euro 20k/8 = 2.5k /month 1200/8 = 150 hours /month ~= 40 hours/week

That's actually not that bad for being a programmer in, say, Eastern Europe, but it's rapidly becoming a rather bad wage even there.

[shubhamjain]

I wonder wht people use it and others at all.

* The clients expect insane amount of work at a very cheap rate.

* People in developing countries are always ready to charge a lesser amount.

* The Signal : Noise ratio is low on both sides.

* The commissions taken by site and payment services also offer a blow to the amount earned.

IMO, its tough to imagine a situation where a sane client who expects quality would be willing to shuffle through 100s of bids submitted on each project.

[alexdowad]

I think oDesk is a great work platform, if you don't bother competing with the crowd on price and just go for the best jobs (after getting some good feedback and building up a good profile). I bill $40-50/hr and have no problem getting as much work as I need on oDesk. It allows me to travel around the world and work as much as I need to still pay the bills.

[shubhamjain]

What was your initial rate when you got started? How much time and effort it took to build your reputation?

[waps]

Are you a dev ? What's your profile ?

[e12e]

Actually, 150 hours/month is more like 37.5 hours a week (7.5 hours, mon-fri). IMNHO there's actually quite a difference between that and a full 40 hour week. This all assumes no work outside the 1200 hours, obviously.

[chad_oliver]

Surely half an hour a day doesn't make a lot of difference? Many people spend more on their commute.

[pessimizer]

Many people's commutes make a lot of difference.

[waps]

True, on the other hand 37.5 hours is a week's worth of toilet breaks plus maybe one lunch out of 5 ?

[e12e]

Or you could view it through the lens of working extra for a period, then taking some time off. Guessing you could remain productive at 9 hours of work each day, you'd save up a full 7.5 day off every five days (every week) -- and a full week off in 5 weeks of "crunch". If you work an additional 1.5 hours the numbers aren't that different for 8 hour work days, but that assumes you can maintain efficiency working 9.5 hour days for a week, and also doesn't translate to a full 8 hour day off for a week of "crunch".

YMMV etc.