Hey this is a great thread and so much of useful information regarding Odesk, and after hearing so much I'll definitely going to try out once.
odesk is a great source of earning online money by bidding on project . but Skills are needed to do so.
I've tried Odesk before and all I can say is that it's not worth it. You compete for the job, and if you don't look at the fine print you might screw yourself over ex: if your from the states and you see a job offering with $1000, you'll get all puffed up about the wage but if you look at the fine print the $1000 offer will be from a country like China (no racial), thus making it a complete waste of time.
You can make a looooot of money with freelancer sites if you have necessary skills and a loooooot of time
ya...few people i know are getting work from odesk. I tried this once, but couldn't get time to login again. already bzy at other freelance sites. odesk works and its reliable.