Does anyone use www.freelancer.com?

[pete_wilde]

Hii Guys,

I was Googling for some AutoIT help the other day.

One of the results led me to a programming site called www.freelancer.com

The poster was looking for an app to be developed in VB, PHP, Python or any suitable language, and people were putting in bids to carry out the work.

Got me thinking that there must be quite a few people on this forum who could carry out such work using AutoIT although, sad to say, I am not one of them (Still a newbie).

Thought that I would mention it just in case somebody is interested.

Cheers,

Pete

Edited September 30, 2019 by pete_wilde
Spelling error

[JLogan3o13]

It is a site that has been suggested in the past, but usually only if the forum member wants someone to write their scripts for them. For anyone looking for assistance in writing/improving their own scripts, and willing to put in the effort, this forum is filled with volunteers willing to help.

We often discourage using sites like this, just for the fact that in the end the user is paying someone to provide a piece of work they won't necessarily understand. I have personally seen this become a nightmare down the road when the person paying the freelancer wants to update the code, or it simply stops working. Better to take some time to learn the language, and then understand for yourself what the code is doing.

[TheDcoder]

I have used freelance.com in the past, but from the time I spent there, it is a lot more competitive and freelance.com takes fees for almost anything (for placing a sponsored bid, taking a skill test, to withdraw money etc.)

I have had much greater success through Upwork, in my opinion it is better than freelancer, there is a fixed fee that you pay Upwork for money earned by a single client, you have payment protection as long as you follow the rules, so that means even if a client plays it dirty, you are still guaranteed to earn the original amount that you have agreed upon (read the about fixed price protection carefully). The fee is not too bad and is simple to follow:

1. 20% for first $500
2. 10% after >$500
3. 5% after >$10,000

The fee is calculated by lifetime earnings from a single client, so if you have a long-term client who has paid more than $10,000 for your services, then you only cut 5% of the following earnings to Upwork.

 

13 hours ago, JLogan3o13 said:

We often discourage using sites like this, just for the fact that in the end the user is paying someone to provide a piece of work they won't necessarily understand. I have personally seen this become a nightmare down the road when the person paying the freelancer wants to update the code, or it simply stops working. Better to take some time to learn the language, and then understand for yourself what the code is doing. 

It depends on what your client is looking for, and if they are a programmer and are wanting to deal with the script. If you are having a hard time with a task, then I do recommend planning out what you need and make sure that your requirements are clear before approaching a freelancer. Upwork also offers client payment protection, so as long as the requirements are clear, you should be on the safe side, even if the freelancer does not have a good will.

From my personal experience, I am working with a client who has very good understanding of all programming concepts and has worked on many complex software projects, but they instead chose to focus on their business instead of the intricacies in programming (which can often get overwhelming, especially when you are running a business alongside). So at the moment I am taking care of all the code while my client takes care of testing and the higher level design of the code

 

14 hours ago, pete_wilde said:

Got me thinking that there must be quite a few people on this forum who could carry out such work using AutoIT although, sad to say, I am not one of them (Still a newbie). 

I do not think many do actually, most of them do it as a hobby or as part of their already existing traditional job. There are a few I know who do take up freelance work now and then, I am one of them myself (if you haven't figured out that by now ). From on top of my head, both @Xandy and @Danyfirex are open to freelance work, not sure I remember any other members who are know to work freelance.

It is actually not that hard to become one, as long as you have the right skill and knowledge, you can utilize it to work on related jobs. Always be persistent when looking for jobs, especially in the beginning. It might not pay your bills until a few months, as your reputation on the site grows (ratings, client feedback, ranking/status), you will start getting a lot more jobs, enough to make a living if you plan it out just right. It might be worth trying this if you are not living independently and have someone who can take care of your expenses until you get on your feet.

[Danyfirex]

Hello. @TheDcoder You're right about freelancer takes fees for almost anything. it's one of the issue you face in that site. Other one is that here are a bunch of reseller of services. But It You have a good reputation you can get good jobs there. There are many oportunities even  If you're a newbie because sometimes there are people looking for simple things like merge Files and simple automation tasks.

@JLogan3o13 I think It depends of many things. There are people that are not programmers and are no interested in learning due that they are focused in another branch, or some times they don't have enough time to deal with something so the get an extra hand to work on some project.

 

Saludos

[JLogan3o13]

4 hours ago, Danyfirex said:

I think It depends of many things. There are people that are not programmers and are no interested in learning due that they are focused in another branch, or some times they don't have enough time to deal with something so the get an extra hand to work on some project.

Which is pretty much what I said. If they just want someone to write it for them, because they are not a programmer or other extenuating circumstance, that site has been suggested in the past. However, down the road when they have to pay again because they don't know anything about the care and feeding of the program, it becomes more of a headache. That is why this forum encourages people to take the time to learn the language, so they can support themselves.

[dopeness]

Yep, I've written a few programs for clients using strictly autoit (usualy data scraping programs)

[Skitty]

That site is awful. I've used it before, mostly just to bid on interesting projects that I'd like to play with. I once saw a guy talking about maintaining some autoit script scrapping program so I bid on it to see what it was all about, turned out to be interesting and fun to work with but ended up just rewriting everything in another language instead. I've made various weird specific tools for people on there who for some reason decide to hire me instead with almost no reputation on the site, I guess people tired of getting buggy software from certain flags? idunno. weird place it is. I would dread to think of that site as being a source of income. the competition is fiercely centered on who can do the most work for the least amount of money in the longest stretch of time.