I love freelancers. I love the idea that someone can say, “I’m not gonna be a corporate douchebag. I’m going to do the work I love on my terms." I love freelancers. I love the people that want to create, invent, propel, and are fearlessly going against the grain. I love freelancers. I love it that there are more and more of them each day. That more people are getting setup to fuel dreams, and pursue their muse. Sure, there are still corporate jobs to be had out there, but why? The big thing about 2.0 is that it’s an object lesson in how easy things are.
But freelancers have enemies. It’s uncomfortable for middle managers to have to deal with preternaturally competent generation Yers that have figured out how to make a name for themselves. The same efficiencies that cloudware uses to set us all free is now also being used to throttle, harness and crush the spirit of freelancers.
Of course, I’m talking about Odesk.
To ruthlessly commodities freelancers seems to those with little imagination that it’s a mitigating risk. By having controls (random iterated screenshots, strict hourly pricing, a one way-street ratings system), first glance seems to make it appear that you are going to ensure quality.
But it’s not the case. As Issac Kelly said, "God, it’s like dealing with people you got away from work to begin with." A level of corporate control, another attempt at making us docile and obedient lambs.
Do you really, for a second, think that ANYONE is going to do their best work when subjected to per minute billing & strict hourly controls? No. You’re basically ensuring some sort of mediocrity with this system. And I guess mediocrity is normal& it seems safe.
My big question is this: Why would an employer want to hire someone that is willing to subject themselves to this sort of thing for anything but "oil change" level work? Where is the humanity and connection between people? Where is the comradery & charm of engaging as equals? You’re not getting the best or the brightest, and then neophytes are going to think that that’s what the world of freelancing is, a race to the bottom.
I want Odesk to fail. AND to make them fail, I’m going to offer something better really, really soon.
Premium freelancers, premium prices & short projects. The fact that 2.0 allows us to be radically decentralized and to create an organization out of nothing works in my favor. The fact that Odesk has taken the "just like employees," position works in my favor.
I’m going to make a big damn bourse for freelancers, and I’m going to make it the best thing that has ever been.
Because as a nation of independent, hardscrabble farmers, America kicked ass. As a nation of employees, we’re getting our clocks cleaned. Let’s clam for ourselves the freedom & independence to work as equals, to work with honor and not some code.
Odesk is a nightmare for Freelancers, and an affront to the entire movement. No self respecting freelancer should touch them with a ten foot pole. Let that place be the province of hacks and amateurs.
I’ll find the work for all of you, I’ll get you paid what you’re worth, and I’ll make all of us rich in the process. I’ll be blogging about this as it takes shape, but it’s surprisingly concrete and specific in my head what I need to do, and how I’m going to do it. I am glad someone showed me what Odesk is because it’s everything that I’m not.
Tags: dreams
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As a quick aside, it’s my personal belief that places like oDesk will always attract certain people.
When you are hiring a freelancer for talent, you don’t do this kind of crap, and freelancers who have talent don’t put up with it.
There will always be jobs to be done by people with skills and no talent. Those people are not craftsmen in their trade, and usually need more strict guidelines. Certain people will always hire this type of worker. (Assembly lines and Amazon Mechanical Turk are examples). Certain companies will want to hire these people, drawn to them by their low prices. It will happen.
That is the real problem to me. Programming (and often Design, and less often Writing) is treated as something that can be tossed to the masses (well hey, a million monkeys banging on a million keyboards will eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare, right?). I hate working on code from these sources.
The more someone can see the effects of the craftsmanship, the more important it is to them. This is why writing is hardly outsourced to people who don’t speak English, because it’s a BIG deal. Programming is a BIG deal as well. It’s easily on equal footing with the design and wording of your site.
Hire talent.
Sounds GREAT — let me know when I can jump in! :-)
Hi,
I feel it's unfair to say that no one will do their best under hourly systems. oDesk shows a remarkable degree of faith in freelancers by guaranteeing them payment, and trusting them not to abuse the system.
Also, I've never met any buyer who cribs about a screenshot or two taken at the wrong time. If I'm a buyer, I will crib only if ALL the screenshots show that the freelancer was clearly doing something else at the time. I'm a buyer on oDesk as well as a freelancer, and only once have I had to demand an explanation from a provider because his screenshots were ALL irrelevant.
I don't think that oDesk takes me back to my work days in the office because I can still set my own hours and my own pace. I work on eLance too, and they have recently instituted a tracker that is much the same as oDesk which can be sent with the invoice. It's not obligatory though.
In short (maybe too late for that!), oDesk is another business model which works out very well for some people. The fact that there are providers on oDesk charging over $30 an hour and doing very well is proof that oDesk buyers don't hire only cheapos.
I use oDesk and eLance for multiple sources of income, and I've never had reason to regret either
$30 an hour is hardly a wage I'd brag about, and isn't my market.
Odesk has a big lack of support regarding dispute resolutions because on fixed project if you complete it and the buyer decides he does not want to pay you, Odesk will not help you. You lose time and money and it was due to this I stopped working on Odesk, because they don’t protect coders interests. Now I work on GetACoder.com and they really have a dispute resolution center if you have any kind of problem in a project. They investigate and decide who has the reason. This is much fair than the ODesk policies.
I joined oDesk in early March this year, 2009, and I’m so glad I did. I’ve taken many tests that they offer that I use to prove my competency skills, and took time with perfecting my profile on oDesk before starting to apply for work projects. My work on oDesk is bringing in a very useful extra income.
However, I do agree that many on oDesk don’t have the correct skills or talents required for projects that they apply for, and are also bidding too low for jobs that should receive much higher pay for. But buyers should always properly check profiles of people they are considering hiring, and should also place great importance on the quality of application letters during the interview process. I’ve read many buyers comments on other profiles that weren’t positive about the work provided, then have gone on to look through the person’s profile, portfolio (or lack of it), and test results, and come to the conclusion that the buyer obviously didn’t do that thoroughly, or wouldn’t have hired the provider in the first place.
Thus said, if a job requirement is small, I see many buyers give newcomers to oDesk a chance to prove themselves, and this is greatly admired, as there are many talented people out there, struggling for an income, and doing their best to find work, and do it well and honestly.
I avoid the hourly work on oDesk, and apply for fixed work only, even while knowing these jobs don’t guarantee payment, but have had absolutely no problems so far.
But go ahead and create another freelance site as there are far too few really excellent ones out there.