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

["Connie Giordano" <connie -at- therightwordz -dot- com>]

I have had much better luck with guru.com and elance.com.  The rates are sometimes low, sometimes not, but they both have more protections in place for both the freelancer and the client.  To get access to better jobs, paying for a profile is definitely worth it  (and I write it off as an advertising expense for my consulting business.

YMMV
Connie Giordano


 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+connie=therightwordz -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+connie=therightwordz -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Keith Hood
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 9:04 AM
To: Milan DavidoviÄ; Roberta Hennessey
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: oDesk work (was: Can this career be saved?)

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
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with 
> Doc-To-Help.
> Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try 
> Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
> http://www.doctohelp.com
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as rahennessey -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/rahennessey%40gmail
> .com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>


--
Roberta Hennessey
Technical Writer
(978) 835-4282
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
http://www.doctohelp.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat