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RentACoder Losing Street Cred?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the lowest-bidder dept.

Itninja writes, "Having used RAC several times in the past (as a buyer), I was shocked by a recent experience. I did a bit of looking around to see if I was the only one having problems with Rent-A-Coder. Apparently, I'm not." From the article: "This unfairness of RAC fees motivates the majority of coders to negotiate payment outside the scope of RAC which amounts to you and coder getting a better deal. For example, I have several coders that I fully trust willing to work on projects on a monthly basis because it is easier for him to deal with established clients than to have to bid for projects all the time. It saves me time and trouble because I can work with a person that I trust and he knows what is expected." A comment to this posting links a discussion of RAC at Google Groups, and there the service has its defenders. What has your experience of RAC been, either as a buyer or as a coder?

5 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. RAC rates are too low for US coders by eln · · Score: 5, Informative

    First off, both of those links have basically been overtaken by the same two guys throwing feces at each other.

    Also, I did try RAC for work during a time when I was unemployed about 4 years ago. Things might have changed since then, but at the time RAC was basically a site where small shops (a lot of spam sites and such) would post projects and get ridiculously low bids from foreign workers. As someone trying to survive in the US at the time, I could not really see myself working on a 10 hour project for $50 or $100, which is indicative of the sorts of bids that were being offered.

  2. What they don't tell you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is after several years of payments you actually own the coder outright. You will have to feed them and find a place for them to sleep in the basement. And when you add everything up, you will find that you overpaid massively.

  3. ifreelance by trwww · · Score: 5, Informative

    So use ifreelance.com.

    Its free and you and the programmer decide on your own payment method

  4. Re:Which begs the question by TigerNut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From the coders' perspective they would be better served if they could submit sealed bids (or at least, if the bids or statistics were only visible to the organization that posted the job). In that way you wouldn't get people going "$500? I can do that for $400" and progressively undercutting each other right out of existence.

    --

    Less is more.

  5. Google Groups?? by grcumb · · Score: 5, Funny
    A comment to this posting links a discussion of RAC at Google Groups

    We prefer the term 'The Service Formerly Known as Usenet.'

    --
    Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.