[paulhauggis]

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.

[notastartup]

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?