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Mark Bates Lead Savvy
06-05-2014, 12:53 PM
Hi, was wondering if anyone has had much experience with Odesk for web Developers?

krymson
06-05-2014, 01:41 PM
I've dabbled with it. I dont really like doing freelance work, I would much rather be able to shake my clients hand so I'll take on the occasional freelance job. As far as I'm aware they're pretty detailed and you can keep track of your team, send out assignments, hire developers from a pool and all sorts of stuff. But thats where my knowledge ends because like I said, I dont really do freelance work.

Gabe
06-14-2014, 01:45 PM
I've had bad luck on oDesk in outsourcing minor development work. I'd probably try 99designs first.

KyleSzives
06-22-2014, 08:47 PM
A lot of the time, the developers on oDesk will be very conscious of scope creep and will only deliver on what you exactly tell them to develop. If you have project management experience, I would say that you can definitely make a good product on oDesk; however, if you're just starting out and don't know much about the web, I'd recommend working with someone state side and letting them strategize your brand with you.

Working with talented development agencies will increase the chances of you having a successful launch.

CallBettie
06-23-2014, 01:37 AM
I do know a guy who uses ODesk exclusively and has well over 10 websites that look fantastic. He is able to hire someone so cheaply that this gentlemen provides nearly full time website dev and support.

benfranklinlabs
06-24-2014, 02:38 PM
As a web developer, I would recommend avoiding ODesk. A lot of my projects over my career have been rescue projects where a company hired an "affordable" developer to build something for them, but then had to throw everything or almost everything out because the developer(s) couldn't build the right thing or couldn't build something that actually worked. It's actually less expensive to pay more per hour for an expert-level developer.

Wozcreative
06-24-2014, 04:32 PM
Odesk is for quick and dirty jobs. Sort of like craigslist. You wouldn't hire a professional landscaper off craigslist but you might hire someone who can mow your lawn when it gets bushy.

Harold Mansfield
06-30-2014, 02:05 PM
If this is any measure, I'm a web designer and I wouldn't list my services or bid on a project on O-Desk or any other freelance job website what so ever.
In the beginning I've trolled them looking for a few quick jobs here and there, but at this point if that was the only way that I could get work, I'd get out of the business.

People who use freelance sites to build websites are looking for cheap labor. They know it. And the designers on there know it.
They're a waste of time for me because I'm never going to work as cheap as someone in India or Sri Lanka.

I agree with the above statement. If you have no experience project managing anything on the web, or dealing with people in other countries, you will not have a good experience sending your money half way around the world.

JMO of course.

moneyguy
06-30-2014, 04:58 PM
I think Freelancer is much better than odesk..have tried both of them in the past and felt freelancer was more easier and you can find way lots of work in freelancer compared to odesk..

Brian Altenhofel
07-01-2014, 09:36 PM
People who use freelance sites to build websites are looking for cheap labor. They know it. And the designers on there know it.
They're a waste of time for me because I'm never going to work as cheap as someone in India or Sri Lanka.

I agree with the above statement. If you have no experience project managing anything on the web, or dealing with people in other countries, you will not have a good experience sending your money half way around the world.

Totally agree, especially with the last part.

Early last year, I got very, very swamped and decided to offshore some work because I couldn't find anyone stateside who was both competent enough and within my budget. Because of my lack of experience in international management as well as cultural and communication barriers, it ended up costing more to offshore than it would have to just eat the losses stateside. Live and learn.

billbenson
07-01-2014, 10:44 PM
A friend outsources IC design and development to India and other places. The thing is, he has spent 30 years building up good known contacts. It can be done!

timjahn
10-06-2014, 11:10 PM
Odesk can be great for projects that are more task based and require little creative thinking. The developers found on Odesk often excel at these types of projects. Simply give them a list of exactly what needs to be done and they'll run down the list with no problem.

Odesk begins to fail when your project requires creative direction from your developer. The developers there traditionally aren't very creative and have trouble providing any creative/technical insight into your project. Developers on Odesk are often vendors, not partners. They can get the job done when given a list of instructions but can't really help in terms of guiding you along the way when you have questions.

Adwords Gurus
10-07-2014, 02:33 PM
Odesk is great.

I would also recommend:

People Per Hour
Elance
Guru
Fiverr
Freelancer

singhabhishek251
10-09-2014, 03:50 AM
I have been very successful in outsourcing some works to the odesk contractor for a cheaper price that a company could ask for more. But there are also some contractors without much knowledge and you need to be more careful while hiring. There is also a good facility of interview and if you will follow, then it is a pretty good platform for all, I have used elance as well apart from odesk.