rent a coder...

hey everyone...

I came across this website today called RentaCoder ... it's grest for everyone who needs some coding work!! Basically, people will post a requirement, for example, if they need some forum software writing then will post it on this site..... us coders then go along, see the post, and bid for the job.

so if I bid say, $300 to do the job, the person who wants the software writing can read me resume and decide if I should get the job.... but someone else might bid $250 and have a better resume, in which case the person posting the job would get to decide who to pick!

it's hard to describe, so go to the website and have a look!!

www.rentacoder.com

thats a good concept, im gonna check it out

it's actually really good!! I just posted a project for someone to finish a CMS I have made, and within about an hour, I had 4 people who made bids for it!
I have now selected someone, and he's starting after Christmas on it!!

Hmm... that sounds new to me! But I like it! Might get me some jobs when Im down!

Ive been visiting this site for a while, and from what ive seen as a developer perspective the general case is this: you find a project, place a bid. So do 70 or so other programmers, many of these from less developed countries & young people with no experience, so you will have projects worth £1000-£1500 being completed for £150. Which is great for the buyer, but bad for most bidders.

However, ive also come across another, elance.com they seem to be a bit of a larger company, and apply filtering so bidders cant bid exceptionally low on projects. So it keeps the big projects being big projects, ive seen many projects on there at £10-£20k, and also smaller ones that an individual could complete at anything between £200-£5000. But of course, you pay for the privilages.

Just my experience anyway..

hey morefire...

I have to agree with you about the coding bids... you cant get anywhere unless you have some good ratings... I have a contact who is ranked number 9 out of the 34,000 or so registered members... and he gets work all the time...

I have a Zero rating, as I have not done any work... it's a no win situation until you get a few jobs!

I checked out that elance.com website, it looks really good.. like you say, more professional. I noticed you had to pay... so if you are really serious about getting projects, it's worth doing. Luckily I am still getting work from other sources, so I am not relying on RentACoder....

Cheers for the advice though!

hey fakker,

I agree, its just a battle getting started on there. Once you've landed a first project you would probably be ok, because you would have their rating, the top ten coders certainly seem to be doing very well.

> But of course, you pay for the privilages

Please, let me post my point of view.
Yes, no any projects for 4$ at eLance.
But you need to buy subscription:
"80 free bids per month (a $40 value)"

I am really dislike to pay just for getting a possibility to get a job.
I am very happy with Rent-A-Coder : I have 100+ completed projects in last year.
Here my brief history

--
Sergey.

I believe this sounds like a good idea gone bad...

I hope too many companies choose not to rely on something like this... its only going to hurt our industrty... companies will expect to pay next-to-nothing prices and they'll receive (in my opinion) half-assed jobs... excuse my biased opinion, but (as someone else pointed out), its a lot of young/new developers with little/no experience...

The companies themselves are likely (i assume) to be small companies who just don't know any better.... they likely don't realize that paying the extra buck and getting a proper consulting company will work out better in the long run...

After browsing the site, I noticed a lot of jobs that are paying under $100, and have 60 or so applicants.... as a developer, its not worth my hassel...

as a point of humour, three of the jobs on the page i'm looking at have articles/tutorials on Devarticles explaining exactly how to do what they've requested... perhaps someone should submit our site link =)

[just kidding, i don't advocate spam]

I agree, MadCowDzz, but I signed up anyway. I've got my filter set to look at only the larger jobs. People who want a whole SMS ad portal for a couple of hundred bucks don't merit a second glance, but somebody who knows at least that they're in the multiple thousands might be worth talking to (and educating further).

Thing is, you just can't bid low or you add to the devaluation of the industry. I can't help thinking that if companies see some higher bids up there, though, maybe they'll consider that old maxim that you get what you pay for and turn out to be educable.

i'm interested to hear anyone who's finished a deal with a company via rent-a-coder... again, i think the concept is interesting and unique... guess i'm just skeptical...

how does the company pay you? i take it there's no one-on-one meetings, no scratch notes on bar napkins, and no face-to-face handshake/payment...

I guess all communication is through email?

> how does the company pay you?

Company (i.e. software buyer) don’t pay me directly. Via “Rent A Coder” only. RAC take his profit, but in exchange I am 100% protected against bad guys who just post projects but never pay.
This system named «Safe Project Escrow».
If buyer just post bid request - he can do this for free.
But if buyer select the bid fitted most - he must escrow all payment before coder start coding.
But coder can’t touch this money before buyer accepts coder’s work.
Coder can get his own money via check(snail mail) or Western Union.
For today I receive 169 payments to my RAC account. I accumulate these payments and receive cash in my bank 3 times only.
You may say: "Hey, you payments so little!". This time - not big. But my rating grow and my appetite grow too :-)

> I guess all communication is through email?

Yes, via e-mail. Also – via MSN Messanger, Yahoo Messnger.
I prefer ICQ – very easy to save dialog for future reference.

But sometimes I prefer communicate via RentACoder.
If I have problem with buyer – I can ask about Arbitration.
If buyer has problem with me - he can ask about Arbitration too.
And Arbiter can read our correspondence(if we communicate via RAC). Read - and make right decision.
Rent A Coder is mediator. He never leave me one-to-one with my buyer. More about arbitration process

I'm glad you brought up the ruin-the-industry point MadCow... I was about to, then read your post. You nailed it. Imagine the unstable, insecure, inefficient crap that untrained, 15 year old coders must be producing for those rock-bottom prices. My thoughts are, that there'll be so much dodgey code produced that people will wake up and realise, as usual, you get what you pay for.

PS - Here's a little rant I read on the subject last year

> you get what you pay for.

As usual - if you pay much money - it's not guarantee better result.
These links on the subject too:
1. RentACoder: eBay for contractors?
2. «Wall Street Journal» - Hearing 'I Work Cheap' From Across the Globe

Hi MadCowDzz:



I just like to comment on this thread. I recently finished my last (and first) bid on Rent-A-Coder. After having finished, I am somewhat dissapointed. First of all, I though I was bidding for a fair amount ($1000 if you ask), but RAC keeps 15% off. Western Union also keeps a good amount (around $60 in my case) for the money transfer. And last but not least, the currency change ratio between dollar / euro is by far the worst of the last years... So I ended up with only about 500 €. (Euro).

I comment on this, because I couldn't agree most with the comments already posted. Rent-A-Coder is a GREAT idea for us all, but there are many unexperienced programmers out there which could win bids for the only reason of price.

In my job, 500 Euro (around $600) is a little price to pay. I usually earn this many euros in a few days (the RAC project took 3 months). However, I want to point out that there are excellent programmers out there which could do this job and agree to receive less payment. I am referring of course to programmers in those countries with a high dollar change ratio. We all are used to communicate via internet worldwide but we are usually unaware of the social situation for every individual. What I mean is that $1000 is not enough for me in Spain but this could be a great amount to pay to an individual living in Argentina, for example.

I my case, the comunication with the buyer was strictly via email. We didn't had even a phone conversation. However, I was very surprised with him. He was a very nice person to talk to.

Last, I already saw the comment on URL and I will appreciate further comments on companies like these.

Jose Miguel.
"Freelance with attitude"...

There's also a similar service in www.codelance.com

Not saying it's better than rent-a-coder, but it is another option for coders and buyers.

;-)