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by girasquid 4533 days ago
You might try signing up on https://www.odesk.com/ - you'll probably want to stick to small projects to build up your reputation at first, but once you have a few under your belt you should be able to raise your rates and start bidding on larger projects as well.

There isn't really a set number for how many or how long they should take as far as I know.
2 comments
paulhauggis 4533 days ago
I tried Odesk a couple of different times. My problem was either: developers from countries like Bangladesh charging $2/hour, employers posting messages like "$100 for this entire project..no negociating!!!"

The problem is that not only do you have to compete against bottom-of-the-barrel pricing, the type of person posting a contract in the first place knows this and doesn't want to spend a reasonable amount of money on a project. I actually got a couple of contracts that I had to end early, because of this.

Stick with Craigslist (I found nearly all of my contracts here) or a site like guru.com.

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notastartup 4533 days ago
Did you simply apply to gigs seeking programmers? I met with someone wanting an Android app, only for them to leave with 2 weeks of work while not paying a dime for it and being unreachable. I guess this is the only risk which is worth taking and a better way to negotiate would suffice.

How does Guru set itself apart from elance?

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notastartup 4533 days ago
I'm trying to avoid that site and elance, largely because I find that it's extremely hard to compete with someone willing to work for less than $4 an hour and work with someone who just doesn't seem to understand that what they expect is not only unfeasible given their tiny fixed budget but that they themselves do not know what they want so they ask for everything for nothing.

An example I found (wasn't hard as it's filled with postings like this) is someone asking for a full fledged screen recording application (he has previously asked for a Java Swing GUI) to be delivered in 4 days for a budget of $25 dollars, he lives in the United Kingdom, and feels that someone residing in an ex-British colony should be able to feast on the earnings for years to come. What is even more ridiculous is the specification document is one sentence long. I doubt that this person would even take the time to write a paragraph of recommendation if someone unfortunately took that job.

https://www.odesk.com/o/jobs/job/_~01f423d25fa7e5a13d/

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