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16 Comments

Oh, what I wish some of you hardcore coders would do!

Do any of you remember years ago when Upwork was oDesk? Do you remember how much better that service was? oDesk helped me build out my first portfolio when I was starting out.

This seems painfully obvious, but there needs to be an Upwork replacement. I know there is competition out there, but oDesk was pretty top-notch back then. The workflow was good, the vetting of clients/freelancers was good and so the projects were (generally) good.

I do think there is a need for this.

Thoughts?

  1. 3

    I think the service is the same but the market changed.

    The more people came to it, the lower the prices. Of course with that comes the "one-night stand" dev who accept a gig for peanuts.

    So the good devs and clients leave the place and it's over.

    1. 4

      Absolutely. That coupled with the platform squeezing both sides for everything they can get and you wind up with a zero-sum game. It is definitely a race to the bottom.

  2. 3

    I feel the same about Elance (great clients and projects), and Upwork (mostly sucks).

    The problem in building a competitor is not technical skills, but marketing and growth. There are already many better alternatives out there, but none come close to Upwork in terms of volume.

    1. 1

      Thanks! Understandable.

      I'm not 100% sure about the alternatives being any better. Although some things might have changed, I was looking into this around a year ago, created accounts with and studied the workflows as much as possible for:

      LocalSolo, WeGrowth, 99designs, Toptal, Guru, DesignCrowd, Freelancer.com, Outsource, PeoplePerHour, Virtual Vocations and Truelancer.

      While some were more redeemable than others, I found none of them to be super consistent with a quality user experience and legitimate project offerings.

      1. 1

        Got it. Yeah none of the other options worked for me either. Their UI and the way they work looks better, but I'm always returning to Upwork, since most of the jobs and clients are there.

        Upwork has been working ok for me until 2017 or so. But then I saw a big drop in quality projects and clients. It almost seems to me that remote freelancing can no longer work as a full-time job, only for side gigs. Most jobs on Upwork is for ridiculous rates (1000$/month). It has always been the case, but now that's all I see. Which makes me wonder whether there are still any high-quality projects that hire remote (on another platform?), or perhaps such clients have stopped hiring remote altogether.

        1. 1

          My experience, early on with oDesk/Upwork was in 2014. I made 6 figures that year with 75% of my clients coming from that platform. Since 2016, I haven’t seriously looked at Upwork. They implemented some ridiculously overpriced sliding scales for both sides and the quality of projects started to suffer. I’ve heard that it has only gotten worse since then.

          1. 1

            BTW a couple of others I've tried recently: http://gun.io/ and https://www.scalablepath.com/

            1. 1

              Thank you! I'll check 'em out.

  3. 3

    oDesk! I still reference that service and people look at me funny. I mean... I'm not that old... 👴🏻

  4. 3

    Hey there, does Moonlight fit your needs, or not really? https://www.moonlightwork.com/

    I do remember using oDesk... but to be honest not that well, and haven't been following Upwork. What got lost along the way?

    1. 2

      Thanks for the link! I've never heard of Moonlight, but will check it out.

      I think a lot of things got lost along the way. Shareholders to satisfy, etc. From what I can tell, having been on the periphery, they started squeezing the developers and the clients for less service. I think it's platform suicide and greed. I don't know exactly what their market share is, but they are definitely the biggest freelancing website.

  5. 1

    Hello,

    I can do this for you. Connect with me if you are interested.

    1. 1

      I'm pretty chock full of projects right now, but I do think it would be a good avenue to pursue. 🙃

      1. 1

        Sure. let me know if you want to do some cool projects in collaboration or need any help with development of any project.
        My Company is : https://www.webliska.com/

  6. 2

    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

    1. 1

      Kinda sad, isn't it? I came into the oDesk ecosystem maybe 6 months before the Upwork merger/buyout. I do remember it fondly and it really did help me get a portfolio established with some great work.

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