I checked several freelance sites. I have to say folks - it sux rocks out there. Not only do these sites want to charge a fee or percentage of the take - but the f***ers often want to charge the worker or designer a yearly fee just to bid on jobs.
Bad enough right? No - not yet.
Upon checking these sites and others like them - several of the postings were from the same companies (on different sites) with link backs to one primary source. Freelancer.com.
Freelancer.com used to be known as GetAFreelancer.com - I used to go there to laugh at the postings. Most of which were beyond compare when it came to pricing or rates and the amount of work wanting to be done as well as impossible deadlines.
Here's the kicker - they haven't changed anything except the backend code and the UI - it's still the same fly by night operations posting jobs that are bid on by people who either work at a digital sweatshop or who live in an impoverished country and have ripped software and take on these penny jobs because WOAH! - $30 to them is like $3000 to us. Does that really make it right? I mean some of the projects cannot be done without years of training and a great amount of skill - are they serious in that those peoples skills aren't worth as much as those in the U.S.?
Here are some screen caps of "some" of the listings under After Effects:
In any case - I suggest that any designer, programmer etc., worth their salt avoid this site at all costs. Total rip off for both the designer or worker and the person posting the job. There are no guarantees and there are certainly issues with the way it's run.
So I wrote a letter to them:
Dear Sirs, Madame’s:
After being away from your site for a number of years I recently had the opportunity to try it out again.
So I logged in hoping for the best. What I found was really quite pathetic and very depressing. I’m not sure what type of screening process you have but I’ve noticed quite a few postings that are merely advertisements for “get rich quick” schemes. Then a majority of the other postings require amazing amounts of skill and professionalism for projects that normally would cost thousands (even at a cut-throat rate) for under $200.
I know what your argument will be – free market will determine what the pricing is etc. While that’s fine and perhaps true - often the people bidding on these jobs for such a low amount are not only people who live in impoverished countries or work for digital sweatshops but they use illegal software etc. Don’t even try to convince me that someone who does a full motion graphics title sequence using After Effects, Trapcode Suite, Red Giant plug-ins etc., for $40 can afford Adobe Creative Master Suite or any of the plug-ins. But that is not my point here – my point is that the quality of your listings and the quality of the bidders are sub-par. I wouldn’t mind doing some pro-bono work or even doing some sub-scale work (below industry average) but most of the listings are just awful and simply not achievable.
To give you some insight – I’ve been a designer for over 13 years and I know and have worked in just about every facet of the arena. I know how long it should take a person to accomplish a task and given the amount of schooling and preparation that most of the individuals go though – the $2 hour thing just isn’t going to cut it. And people out there who think that it’s only fair that countries like India, Ukraine etc. be able to work on these projects too – think about this, their skills and outputs are just as valuable as anyone else’s and I feel that even though they NEED the money – taking advantage of their skills without fully compensating them is reprehensible – if not bigoted. THEY deserve as much as anyone else for the same amount of work. I know some businesses won’t like it – but there should be standards. I’m not looking to rip anyone off – but if the highest amount or limit posted for any one job doesn’t cover fuel costs on a car for a day going to the market and back… There’s something wrong.
In any case – I would like to suggest that you possibly have a “U.S. Only” and an “International” site - at least then the bidding between people would be “fair” or to some extent near what you would expect for market value.
Until I see a change – I cannot recommend this site to any of my fellow designers, right now Criagslist (although seedy) is a damn site better, at least they don’t want you to edit 400 videos for $200 (which is freaking ridiculous).
Sincerely,
etc
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