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Ask Slashdot: Is There a 'Gig Economy' Site For Tech Skills?

Posted by EditorDavid on from the Uber-for-coders dept.

"Where I can meet up with people who just need solutions implemented?" asks Slashdot reader datavirtue: Somewhere people can go when they have a solution designed in-house with documented requirements and are in need of a competent engineer(s) to assist with implementation. Where timelines and price estimates and rates are well defined and enforced. If they like me, and agree to the terms, we can proceed with the project -- expecting solid deliveries at each milestone....

I have been on some gig projects where the relationship was well structured by a third party and it was a lot of fun. I know a lot of engineers who would use a system like this if it streamlines entering the freelance tech market for them. People who would rarely take gigs otherwise. I have looked around but the services feel dead. I have been approached by startups in the past wanting to sign me up their service...but they didn't really go anywhere.
The original submission complains that many projects end up going to consulting firms that just scrounge up candidates from job boards. But what's the alternative? "Am I missing some great online community or website that has already solved this?"

Leave your own thoughts in the comments. Is there a 'gig economy' site for tech skills?

13 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. There have been many by DogDude · · Score: 4, Informative

    There have been many. What happens is they get flooded with people from 3rd world countries, willing to do the work for pennies an hour. If you want to work as a "gigger" for tech stuff, then you'll be competing against people from Vietnam willing to do the same fork for $1/hour.

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    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:There have been many by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 5, Informative

      I use Upwork (formerly oDesk). I've hired domestic and foreign contract engineering labor. For a server I needed setup and configured, I hired a guy in Vietnam and for $18/hour (and 5 hours) he had it doing everything I needed. Hired a guy in India to do some custom CSS work for me, for $80. Hired a Ph.D. applied math/physics professor in Russia for some advanced 3D FEA modeling software - he was $35 an hour, but great quality C code from him. Hired several electrical/RF engineers here in the US to do some spot PCB/schematic/RF design work when my team was overloaded. All were between $50-$80/hour.

      All turned out really well, did what I needed and when I needed it, and at a price that was reasonable. Having a US IT guy quote $2500 to set up a Windows server with SVN, Wiki, and a few other features was crazy, but I didn't have the time to do it myself. Having a guy in Vietnam do it for $100 was exactly what I needed. And finding a Ph.D. professor with a background in applied math and physics was essentially a needle in a haystack - I got lucky, the fact he was $35/hour was insane (I would have gladly paid 3X that amount). Currently using an MSEE to solve a hairy GSM noise issue on a PCB, and he's worth it at $80/hour.

      Moral of the story: if you're doing basic, simple work - you're not going to be able to compete with overseas where there are millions of people who can do basic, simple work for a lot cheaper than you. If you're doing more complex, advanced things, you can most likely charge a lot more and still get work...

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      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    2. Re:There have been many by Bruinwar · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Wow. They got people on there (this fucking upwork place) claiming to be able to do what I do for $10 an hour. Right in the U.S. WTF happened to 4% unemployment!? The future's so dark, I gotta wear a headlamp. Retirement can't come soon enough, hope I can make it. Good luck to the younger folks, the lowest common denominator, as in wages, is what seems to be coming.

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      SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
    3. Re:There have been many by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Informative

      A lot of those are going to be new users who are bidding low for promotional reasons because without reviews it is hard to win bids.

  2. Upwork by Maddog+Batty · · Score: 4, Informative

    I earn $2k - $3k a month working on jobs brokered via Upwork. This goes nicely with my main work I get locally. I've in the UK but work on projects in the US and India currently. I recommend it though you do have to be selective on who you work for. There are a lot kids looking for their homework to be done and others that are completely unrealistic on what budget is required for the job. Upwork charge 10% + $50 per customer which is reasonable I think especially as they guarantee payment.

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    wot no sig
    1. Re:Upwork by Cornwallis · · Score: 3, Informative

      Upwork sucks. They fucked me out of thousands of dollars when a 3rd-world programmer lied through his teeth about what he provided me in response to a contract I had with him. I provided proof - screen shots, mail threads and the god damn code itself and they still ruled agains me.

      I've hired programmers for decades - both personally and through agencies - and have never had such bad experiences as I had with Upwork,

  3. Legwork and knowing the right people... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Informative

    The best gigs are found the old-fashioned way, word of mouth...

    (1) Do I.T. for small/middle sized businesses on a freelance basis. This gets you connections to do more interesting jobs -- custom app development, databases, etc.

    (2) Stay connected to a local university, either by taking classes or teaching as an adjunct. Lots of grad students who want to be the next best startup.

  4. Rent-a-Coder by iTrawl · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm not sure what you're asking, but do you mean places like Freelancer (which ate up vWork, which used to be called Rent a Coder)?

    If that's what you mean, I don't know many sites like that anymore, and the projects they post are just crap for some reason unknown to me. And you have to compete with 3rd world developers in cost (rather than quality) on those crappy projects too.

    Best thing as far as I can tell is getting your recruiter to find you term-limited contracts that suit you.

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    "Everybody's naked underneath" -- The Doctor
  5. Re: There have been many - why did they die? by triffid_98 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Um...because the more competent devs emigrated to countries where they could get better pay? These sorts of sites are a confluence of cheapskates, pretenders, and unrealistic expectations. That tends to go just about as well as you'd expect. If you go with the lowest bidder you deserve what you get.

  6. Requirements frequently *are* the gig by Nkwe · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...when they have a solution designed in-house with documented requirements... ...Where timelines and price estimates and rates are well defined and enforced.

    An issue is that for smaller gigs that would make use of such a service, the requirements are not known or at least not formally known enough to the point where an enforceable timeline could exist. In software development, the hard part is always figuring out what to do, the actual coding is usually easy. It is common to not really know what you need to do until you start doing it (figure it out as you go along). In fact the whole Agile methodology is based on merging requirements gathering with development in an iterative cycle, with an unknown number of cycles necessary to get to what is a "finished" product.

    Because of this most companies that (competently) do solutions in house will have both the designers and the developers on staff, those that don't will hire consulting firms to manage the design and deliveyr processes. I doubt either would would want to grab random folks off a job board for temporary work.

    Smaller businesses that don't have dedicated IT or consulting firms are unlikely to have the skills to write formal requirements.

  7. Signal-to-noise ratio, transaction costs by Kjella · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Lots of unrealistic projects with terrible specifications meets barely literate lowest-bid outsourcing, what could possibly go right? I just looked through a few projects, it's not worth my time even trying to find a reasonable project proposal. And if there was one, would they find me in the pile of junk responses they get? No. And if you get ripped off one way or the other, you'll be stuck in a dispute resolution process on your own dime. Basically if you find someone qualified it's a huge advantage to just use them again. That's not a gig economy, that's a market for temp workers. The initial work should basically just be risk money to test them out before you offer a real contract. And in most cases I'd switch from a fixed price to hourly rate for any decent developer, unless the scope is very specific.

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    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  8. Oh you sweet summer child... by AmazingRuss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... what you ask for doesn't even exist in established companies.

    People are dumb, don't know what they want, don't appreciate it when you build it for them, and don't want to pay. This is almost universal.

  9. Set up your company with its own website by mikael · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Set up your own company, create a website listing your past projects (presumably successful) and blog. Write magazine articles.

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