8 replies to this topic

[Kalai Selvan]

Hi Group!!!

Was wondering after seeing many freelancing site; where cheapest of the cheap resources are available bidding for a high skill project and jobs, do you think only the cheapest price with the best talent to the higher end jobs in the freelancing sites will succeed, Or is it Viceversa that the clients or looking for cheap price and quality skills to get their work done.

I think the quality skill doesn't do work for cheap price (Not sure if that's my perception)
Any thing done in GIS for just cost to cost is not worth doing any thing that's my option.
Please let me know your thought.

Thanks
GISGURU

[rudy]

Not quite sure what you are asking here . . . . I have very little experience with freelancing sites so I can't comment on how freelancers get picked (the most inexpensive I would think, in many cases). I do know that any freelance jobs I've picked up have generally been by recommendations and referrals. I can't speak for the other freelancers on the site but I would assume that for many this would be the case.

[Hans van der Maarel]

When I'm looking for outsourcing partners, I value quality over price.

[GISRox]

My experience with freelance sites and overseas partners has been a disaster. I have moved to working with partners who are either local or in one of the major cities where I have clients. The cost is generally more, but I find my satisfaction and more important the satisfaction of my clients to be the most important component. Bottom line, quality and availability(meet in person) is the two most important factors.

[Jimbo]

GIS/Cartography is a closed field, so sorry to give you the bad news but if you expect to find a lot of GIS work on bidding sites you might as well pull out your hair. And even with the few projects on a bidding site there is no specific category for you to bid in. For GIS technical people this is bad news because some freelance sites like to make you pay per category & if you don't have the cash to pay for it, sorry but you can only bid in one category therefore you are severely limited. And to break down price ranges for bids:

On the cartographer level: less then $500.00, occasionally higher, expect to compete with pure graphic designers, quality is less important then the clients pocket book

GIS Specialist: 0-$2000 range: cartographer with a special skill but not quite at the analyst level, could compete with web designers, knowledge of Google Maps, Bing, & very good knowledge of open-source GIS packages, better chance of winning projects but still underpaid, & quality is more of a priority but still not as valuable as the price

GIS Analyst; any price range, programmer, engineering, good chance of winning projects, compete with anyone, but still is underpaid, quality is as important as the price, but expect under balling.

[Kalai Selvan]

Hasdrubal's experience spoke very well..i liked those comments..

GIS/Cartography is a closed field, so sorry to give you the bad news but if you expect to find a lot of GIS work on bidding sites you might as well pull out your hair. And even with the few projects on a bidding site there is no specific category for you to bid in. For GIS technical people this is bad news because some freelance sites like to make you pay per category & if you don't have the cash to pay for it, sorry but you can only bid in one category therefore you are severely limited. And to break down price ranges for bids:

On the cartographer level: less then $500.00, occasionally higher, expect to compete with pure graphic designers, quality is less important then the clients pocket book

GIS Specialist: 0-$2000 range: cartographer with a special skill but not quite at the analyst level, could compete with web designers, knowledge of Google Maps, Bing, & very good knowledge of open-source GIS packages, better chance of winning projects but still underpaid, & quality is more of a priority but still not as valuable as the price

GIS Analyst; any price range, programmer, engineering, good chance of winning projects, compete with anyone, but still is underpaid, quality is as important as the price, but expect under balling.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Decided to move the topic since it fits better here. GISGURU, there's more similar topics in this section, I'm sure you'll find some useful information in those too.

In short, if you can prove yourself to a small number of clients who outsource work to you, you'll quickly get a reasonably stable flow of projects, and money, going. The quality of your work will then be your primary advertisement, rather than subscription fees to freelancing sites.

[David Medeiros]

My impression of offering your services on freelancing sites is that if you value the quality of your work and price your time accordingly, you will never be able to compete. On a freelance site you generally have no prior relationship with your potential customers and no meaningful chain of reference, so they have a very limited means of evaluating you and your work on their merits alone and will often fall back on price as the major hiring factor. Consider also that if a potential client is looking on these sites in the first place it is usually because cost is already thier only major concern. If you do win a bid there your likely to make little money and/on it or turn in work that you or the client will be unhappy with.

I have had a small number of work contacts over the past few years and even fewer that actually became clients but most of them found me either from my work with groups they knew or from my involvement in places like CartoTalk. I'd certainly like more jobs but would rather have a fewer number of these types of contacts than run around like a chicken with its head off trying to squeek by on the razor thin margins freelance bidding gives you.

[ELeFevre]

... if a potential client is looking on these sites in the first place it is usually because cost is already thier only major concern. If you do win a bid there your likely to make little money and/on it or turn in work that you or the client will be unhappy with.

I think this about sums it up.