Personally I think it is a matter of close supervision.

Which in a sense defeats the purpose of oDesk. For it to be efficient, you need to stay right on top of your coders at all times.

With Rent-A-Coder (I wish they’d improve their CSS file, what a hideous monstrosity to look at), if the code is no good, the buyer doesn’t have to pay and the seller gets negative marks. So you don’t have to supervise but just answer questions. A rent-a-coder brief is a little bit more up front work but less hassle during the process.

In my case, I decided to set up a proper office and put coders and designers in it. Lots of maintenance in this solution as well though!

The oDesk model is quite unique and does give you access to a lot of talented people around the world. But you do have to be prepared to supervise your projects in a hands-on way.

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Elance = lost money

Odesk = production and control

I am 0 for 2 on elance projects and I was so mad that I blogged about it ( http://tinyurl.com/4awacy ). I wont do business there again.

I’ve been very happy with oDesk and I really like the fact that you can see screenshots from the desk of your contractor. The hourly rate work is perfect for ongoing projects.

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With the second job, was a design one. I closed it when the designer finished the job, because I doubt I’ll need his services again.

I’ve also used Rent-a-coder. Both have pros and cons, but I have been very pleased with oDesk, too.

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Thanks so much for the warm words. We do believe we have a unique model. Think if it as the best business model for remote work.

I saw a few great comments of your readers and would like to pick a couple to respond to.

Screen-shots are typically used both as a collaboration tool and for verifying work (so you are charged only for work done on your behalf). This is why we can guarantee payments for hourly work done, and also one of the reasons for talented providers to be attracted to oDesk; who wants to spend half their time chasing clients to pay them?

Another question was around limiting your “test-drive” to 8 hours only. When you set your weekly limit (say, to 8 hours) your providers know how much time they have left to work and get an indication when they reach the limit. You, the buyer, are not automatically billed for time beyond that weekly limit. If you and your provider agree to it, the provider can add the extra time to their offline work diary. You then have to approve it before it’s added to your bill. If you communicated ahead of time that the provider is expected to spend no more than 8 hours, there is absolutely no obligation to pay for any unauthorized extra time.

Keep on the good work!!!

Orie from oDesk

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Thanks for the idea of having trial competitions and constantly building this administrative position.

Seems like you are building solid operation over in that farm of yours Cow.

Any chance I could get a peek at that list of what you think could be done in 8 hours? And what is a range of prices one could expect?

Good stuff, Cow!

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Matt

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Both for those looking for work and wanting to work. I am definitely going to be signing myself up for this and seeing if I can get any extra work.

Thanks for the post Jason, looking forward to hearing how the actual job went and the results

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