oDesk work (was: Can this career be saved?)

[Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

I did a lot of work through oDesk in 2009 and 2010. As pointed out, the pay rates are pretty low. The highest rate I ever got was $20/hr. On a site like that you are competing against a lot of people from places like India and the Philippines, where they will work for $2 an hour. 

But, it is a way to get survival money if you don't have any other job, or to supplement your income if you do. They pay through PayPal. 

Be VERY wary of taking fixed-price jobs through oDesk. There is a problem with ripoffs - employers who take your work and then refuse to pay. oDesk says they have no way to guarantee payment on fixed price jobs, so you're taking a big risk on them. I know one person who was robbed of $1000 that way. I suggest if you do take a fixed price job on oDesk, encrypt the final delivery to the customer and don't give them the key to decrypt the product until the pay is in hand.


--- On Tue, 6/7/11, Roberta Hennessey <rahennessey -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

From: Roberta Hennessey <rahennessey -at- gmail -dot- com>
Subject: Re: Can this career be saved?
To: "Milan DavidoviÄ" <milan -dot- lists -at- gmail -dot- com>
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 7:15 PM

Sara Needleman of the WSJ writes about career/workplace issues at WSJ.

http://muckrack.com/sarahneedleman

2011/6/7 Milan DavidoviÄ <milan -dot- lists -at- gmail -dot- com>

> On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 6:15 PM, Will Husa Documentation Solutions
> <will -dot- husa -at- 4techwriter -dot- com> wrote:
> > My advice to someone returning to the workforce would be to look at
> oDesk.
> > Although the pay is generally low, there are opportunities to grow and
> build
> > a reputation.
>
> Sounds like there might be a useful story there -- do you know someone
> who has taken that route?
>
> --
> Milan DavidoviÄ
> http://twitter.com/altmilan
> http://altmilan.blogspot.com
> http://ca.linkedin.com/in/milandavidovic
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-- 
Roberta Hennessey
Technical Writer
(978) 835-4282
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