Rent-A-Coder vs. Elance

[michaaal]

Is ELance much better than Rent-A-Coder? I am hesitant to give ELance a try
because you have to pay for it - and Rent-A-Coder is not "overly
profitable". Is ELance worth the money?

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\) [MVP]]

I have yet to find ANY of these services that are profitable. Guru.com has
been the best for me, thus far, as I get regular updates on projects. Most
of these sites get people looking for people to build them highly profitable
sites for very low dollars. When I see a "build me a CRM" for $1000 or less,
I know that I am not interested. Just my two cents.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

*************** *************** *************** ***
Think Outside the Box!
*************** *************** *************** ***
"michaaal" <re******@veriz on.net> wrote in message
news:ux******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl...

Is ELance much better than Rent-A-Coder? I am hesitant to give ELance a try because you have to pay for it - and Rent-A-Coder is not "overly
profitable". Is ELance worth the money?

[Jeff Cochran]

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 09:14:02 -0500, "michaaal" <re******@veriz on.net>
wrote:

Is ELance much better than Rent-A-Coder? I am hesitant to give ELance a try
because you have to pay for it - and Rent-A-Coder is not "overly
profitable". Is ELance worth the money?

I'm not sure either is valuable to most programmers, since they do a
poor job of weeding out the requests like:

"I want to develop an online store with the capabilities of
Amazon.com, where I'll lease space to vendors. I envision about 3,000
vendors, each with up to 20,000 products. I have a budget of about
$300 for the code work and graphics, and need it to run on Microsoft
Access 97."

If they provided qualified, or at least realistic, leads maybe they'd
be worth paying for.

There are others out there as well, though I'm not sure they're much
better, a decent set of samples on your own web site might gte you
about as far.

Jeff

[J. Alan Rueckgauer]

You should google alt.computer.co nsultants.moder ated for this, and/or post
your inquiry to that ng. The topic comes up now and again.

I wrote a rather scathing assessment of these services for Contract
Professional about 8 years ago when they started appearing, and it seems
that they have only gotten worse in light of what has gone on in the
industry since then. My opinion of all of those services is they're just
shy of being MLM or Ponzi schemes.

The ones that want you to buy-in invariably refuse to give you any hard
evidence of satisfaction of other members (i.e., names and phone numbers of
people you can verify in the phonebook or on the web and contact as a
reference), which in and of itself sends up a big ole red flag. If they're
successful at getting gigs for their members, they should be crowing about
it, not hiding behind "confidentialit y" to get you to ante-up the initiation
fees to find out anything about how they really operate. The "free" ones
are about as useful as having a luddite build a car for you. All of them
have just about zero ability to screen reqs: Sure, you may get "tons of
reqs" but for absolutely off-the-wall stuff like Jeff Cochran related. They
may appeal to absolute beginners and offshore drones who think $2 a day is a
king's ransom cream like it's their first time, but they are way off in some
alternate reality when it comes to dealing with experienced US talent.

If you have the fortitude and resources to do your own
networking/marketing/promotion, do so and steer clear of all middlemen. If
you aren't ready to, or can't, do it yourself, then you may have marginally
better luck using a bodyshop (if you don't mind being treated like cannon
fodder).

Alan

"michaaal" <re******@veriz on.net> wrote in message
news:ux******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl...

Is ELance much better than Rent-A-Coder? I am hesitant to give ELance a try because you have to pay for it - and Rent-A-Coder is not "overly
profitable". Is ELance worth the money?

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\) [MVP]]

Yeah. I will pay you $300 to make myself millions. I find that is pretty
much the norm there.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

*************** *************** *************** ***
Think Outside the Box!
*************** *************** *************** ***
"Jeff Cochran" <je*********@zi na.com> wrote in message
news:41******** ********@msnews .microsoft.com. ..

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 09:14:02 -0500, "michaaal" <re******@veriz on.net>
wrote:

Is ELance much better than Rent-A-Coder? I am hesitant to give ELance a trybecause you have to pay for it - and Rent-A-Coder is not "overly
profitable". Is ELance worth the money?

I'm not sure either is valuable to most programmers, since they do a
poor job of weeding out the requests like:

"I want to develop an online store with the capabilities of
Amazon.com, where I'll lease space to vendors. I envision about 3,000
vendors, each with up to 20,000 products. I have a budget of about
$300 for the code work and graphics, and need it to run on Microsoft
Access 97."

If they provided qualified, or at least realistic, leads maybe they'd
be worth paying for.

There are others out there as well, though I'm not sure they're much
better, a decent set of samples on your own web site might gte you
about as far.

Jeff

[wmfwlr]

What you guys says is true for a lot of projects on RAC. There is th
possibilty of making some small money on the side though, you just hav
to know which projects that are offering a fair amount and know whic
projects you can do quickly. That being said, I wouldn't pay
recurring fee to be a part of any such site, as you're not guarantee
anything. There will be one or two fair projects a day that fit int
your area of expertise. At least RAC is safe for both the coder a
buyer, which a lot of other sites that have started popping up ar
surely not.

It's as much about having common sense as it is being able to code -
know what you limits are and stay within them.

Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\) [MVP] wrote:

*Yeah. I will pay you $300 to make myself millions. I find that i
pretty
much the norm there.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

*************** *************** *************** ***
Think Outside the Box!
*************** *************** *************** ***
"Jeff Cochran" <je*********@zi na.com> wrote in message
news:41******** ********@msnews .microsoft.com. ..

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 09:14:02 -0500, "michaaal

<re******@veriz on.net>

wrote:

try

I'm not sure either is valuable to most programmers, since they d

a

poor job of weeding out the requests like:

"I want to develop an online store with the capabilities of
Amazon.com, where I'll lease space to vendors. I envision abou

3,000

vendors, each with up to 20,000 products. I have a budget o

about

$300 for the code work and graphics, and need it to run o

Microsoft

Access 97."

If they provided qualified, or at least realistic, leads mayb

they'd

be worth paying for.

There are others out there as well, though I'm not sure they'r

much

better, a decent set of samples on your own web site might gte you
about as far.

Jeff

-
wmfwl
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted via http://www.codecomments.co
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[wmfwlr]

What you guys says is true for a lot of projects on RAC. There is th
possibilty of making some small money on the side though, you just hav
to know which projects that are offering a fair amount and know whic
projects you can do quickly. That being said, I wouldn't pay
recurring fee to be a part of any such site, as you're not guarantee
anything. There will be one or two fair projects a day that fit int
your area of expertise. At least RAC is safe for both the coder a
buyer, which a lot of other sites that have started popping up ar
surely not.

It's as much about having common sense as it is being able to code -
know what you limits are and stay within them.

Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\) [MVP] wrote:

*Yeah. I will pay you $300 to make myself millions. I find that i
pretty
much the norm there.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

*************** *************** *************** ***
Think Outside the Box!
*************** *************** *************** ***
"Jeff Cochran" <je*********@zi na.com> wrote in message
news:41******** ********@msnews .microsoft.com. ..

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 09:14:02 -0500, "michaaal

<re******@veriz on.net>

wrote:

try

I'm not sure either is valuable to most programmers, since they d

a

poor job of weeding out the requests like:

"I want to develop an online store with the capabilities of
Amazon.com, where I'll lease space to vendors. I envision abou

3,000

vendors, each with up to 20,000 products. I have a budget o

about

$300 for the code work and graphics, and need it to run o

Microsoft

Access 97."

If they provided qualified, or at least realistic, leads mayb

they'd

be worth paying for.

There are others out there as well, though I'm not sure they'r

much

better, a decent set of samples on your own web site might gte you
about as far.

Jeff

-
wmfwl
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted via http://www.codecomments.co
-----------------------------------------------------------------------