I've been using RentaCoder.com for several years now and it has been good. I took about a year off and went back to it a few months bad and it's horrible. There are so much more crap I have to entered and so many options. I'm accustom to that now. But my biggest concerns are the bidders. I barely get any decent bidders on my bid requests now. I even tried increasing the bid amount I usually set and still nothing. There's several experience where the coder just didn't do the work. What happened? Is it because of the new interface that drew all the coders away? I had very good experiences before.
To be honest most freelance sites have been under attack by many companies who usually hire foreign freelancers that work for very low fee's and then proceed to massively spam all of the projects with messages like "We can do this for you!" What ends up happening is either they could not get a coder that could do the project, the coder they choose simply did not want to do it and they gave it to him anyway, or the coder does not understand the task and cannot communicate very well from something like bad English. A great example is GetAFreelancer. It's so bad that some projects will say "Any bids that having anything with 'We can do this for you' will be ignored." I win bids there simply because I can use proper grammar and work personally with the project owner. But my point is I believe this random attack has driven a lot of coders away. GetAFreelancer didn't look like this not too long ago either, just recently this stuff has started.
I use scriptlance... and yes I understand what you're saying. I'm currently working with this one client that had like 5 other projects canceled due to these "bad apples"... I've been noticing a huge increase on project descriptions saying "Coders from US Only" and still an Indian programmer (maybe not) would bid like 20 bucks when the US programmers like myself are bidding 500+... Yes both freelance sites are getting suckier. I'm thinking about developing my own... however it would be US programmers only!
The question here is not of U.S. coders or Indian Bidders. The problem is the nature of sites that allow free registration and unlimited bidding. I am 100% sure that if they charge some amount like Elance & Guru, there will be limited number of bidders and buyers will get quality proposals. I do agree that there are contract bidders ( like contract killers ) those who are doing nothing but spam everywhere saying "we can do, see the PMB", now I doubt if the buyer has time to see bids and then compare their PMB and award the project. Another solution that is introduced by odesk is Limited bids a week. So all bidders are limited to 40 bids a week that limits the proposals received by Buyers. While others are improving and learning lessons from RAC, i think its high time for RAC to look back and do some drastic changes.
Sounds like the scheme real estate agents were using in australia a few years back. Using unscrupulous tactics such as dummy bidders to drive prices of properties at auction sky high. When the bubble burst there were a lot of heads rolling and that got the government involved to make the practice illegal Maybe this issue should be brought up with the site administrators, so they can plan a way around this degrading their site...
Rent a coder user interface sucks big time , look at getafreelnacer, scriptlance ,etc they are far better .
I don't like any of them because of very cheap prices and don't be very happy to buy there because college guys doing jobs there and does not have any prof experience. I prefer elance.com because it has large entry fee and so good company only go for it.
I think the solution is what shabbirbhimani said how the larger entry fee. But why does the "employee" or us Freelancers have to pay a higher fee? I think the best solution is a maximum amount of daily or weekly bids!!! I think I should implement this system.
Just to make sure you have serious and profs. The same difference that I see betwen sitepoint and digitalpoint marketplace. I prefer buying here and selling at sitepoint marketplace.
for RentaCoder, there's no more bits anymore. I remember I used to have an auction for something and even if I had a offer price lots of bidder would go for it, even the very experience ones. As for the spam i don't think that's an issue, as the contractor I only accept the bidders with high ranking and many ratings. But now no one is even bidding on my auctions... Maybe I have to try another site.
No... you just need to face the facts, there are more coders and less coding to be done. Making a site thats just geo specific is pointless. If i needed coding done, why pay $100, when i can pay $10? Its basic markets -_- but thats what united states government cant seem to a grip of, i seen friends who get replaced by 3rd world works which will accept 50%+ less payment. its just life, the best way to overcome this is by showing that you are: More experienced Have more talent Provide good service
Excellent reply, however I do stress the fact that programming takes time to write the syntax and debug. Also it ticks me off when I start seeing the buyer's projects in their profile stating "project canceled, project canceled, project canceled" and that is due to people just trying to make money with their $10 dollar script they had purchased and sometimes illegally purchased to make extra money. So, the question is "are they really web developers / php programmers" like their profile says? Sure everyone knows everything when it's written on their profiles. But for people like myself that have had HTML experience since age of 13 and PHP since PHP3, and certified in some languages, we get screwed out of actually making decent money for our hard work. I notice a lot of these "coders" have every single language and program as their "expertise"... but after winning the bid, the buyer asks for what they want and the coder tends to disappear. Example of one of my PMB's Buyer #36 Posted 7/2/2008 at 17:10 EST Hi, This e-mail is regarding a different project. I also have another classified project for for real estate ads. Can you also please quote how much you would charge to make a compelete classified website for a real estate company. The only requirement is the same as before except it must have Google maps or other map software included because the domain is www.roofmaps.com and I would like a map feature in it as the name suggests. I am very interested in chosing you for my current project, I'm just deciding whether it is worth for me to get a WYSIWYG or a normal website. As soon as I decide I will instruct you to start the project. It would be great if you could explain the difference between a normal and WYSIWYG website. Thank you. My Reply Programmer #37 Posted 7/2/2008 at 20:38 EST Hello, The new project, I would be able to do as well. It would be almost the same as the script for the current project, and yes, I would be able to integrate the google maps with the project. For the current project, the editor is worth it in many ways for allowing or empowering the classifieds submitter the option in being able to "spice" up or edit their posting before they add their listing. I develop sites with the user in mind, and I like to empower users so they have the feeling of "power" and it will make their experience 100x better than other classifieds sites. With web development nowadays you need to go big or go home. Theirs so much competition, how will you differ your site from the rest??? If I take this project, I would be able to use the same code from it to integrate with the real estate ads site, so it wouldn't take as long. It would just take a little time to integrate the google apps within the program. If you get the WYSIWYG editor, I will also integrate it to the real estate. The real estate classifieds ads site, I would charge you $200 USD if chosen to for this original project. I would have to integrate the website / wherever the location of the house / apt and have it show up on the google map. I would say, it would take another 15-30 days for this project. When starting project, you will have access to the administrative panel and be able to watch as I develop. Then you can tell me what you want. I'm very flexible and willing to hear your ideas. Please note, these are estimated times. I might be able to get the projects done sooner. Thanks and Regards, Jesse I believe my bid was more than reasonable... and guess what He never replied and asked me to start project. and also, he had another programmer start his project a couple of days after, and then the project becomes "canceled"!!!!!! I believe theres way too much spam on these freelance coder sites. I provide quality scripts - I'm obsessive compulsive...
Lol, that's exactly what I did! But, I disagree with the "Not as hard as it seems." That just sounds like you're spamming a reply or just ignorant to the topic and replies. Coding is harder than what you think it is. Especially OOP. I have not yet met a professional that knows every single language by heart...
my reply may sound off-topic but its been every where. Even if you take DP, there are offers which starts from $ - $$$ or even $$$$ Its the buyers responsibility to check for reference and other stuff before giving a project to the chosen one. Because of so many noobs trying to earn money with limited knowledge makes it hard. I agree with mahendras, It depends on individual skill sets rather than anything to do with a country. The problem should be addressed on how to eleminate noobs and spammers. cheers
All this discussion about freelance programmers is great but I still not have found the answer to my question. Why are less programmers bidding on my projects? A year ago I typically got about 30-40 but now I only get 5. And my non-bid acceptance on projects is 0% with perfect 10 rating.