Freelancing can be a great way for developers to earn a full-time income or just earn some extra pocket money to supplement their jobs. There are a number of established websites where everyday, people offer opportunities for the right candidate.
My experience as one of those people looking for the right candidate often meets with frustration as bidders fail to impress upon me that they’re the right person for the job.
Here are some of the things that turn me off a potential bid:
- The bidder offers a generic response to the project e.g. “Can do this!” or “We’re ready to start this” or “We are XYZ. We’ve done this, that and the other”. What are you ready to start? Don’t try to over-impress me with your past accomplishments; tell me what you can do for me and my project.
- The bid is at the top-end of the scale without any justification as to why. It’s difficult to choose such a bid especially if it’s made by a freelancer with no previous feedback. I want someone who knows how to get the job done. Engaging someone with a lack of experience just adds to the amout of work I have to do.
- Placing a bid, but then failing to respond to follow-up questions. Why show interest and then ignore me?
- The bidding period isn’t over, but the freelancer will continue to hound me to pick them. I have all I need from you for now. Give me time to make my decision.
Here are some of the things that sway me in the direction of choosing a particular bid:
- The freelancer has a history of good feedback on similar projects. This shows me that they’ve experience in the field that I’m interested in and have demonstrated they can work with project managers.
- The freelancer demonstrates that they’ve taken the time to understand the project requirements and offer some suggestions for improvements or points out things to watch out for. This is going the extra mile to show that you’re really interested in my project.
- A demonstration is provided before the end of the bidding period. If a freelancer can show that they’ve got what I want then it makes it very easy for me to pick them as the winning bidder.
It’s hard to escape from the relationship factor when it comes to business. Establishing a good working, business relationship can be very similar to any other relationship.
Frankly, if freelancers treated the bidding process more as a date then they’d probably be a lot more successful at winning the projects they wanted.
Technorati Tags: Freelance, Scriptlance, Elance, Rentacoder
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It’s so hard to find someone who is trustworthy and are going to be able to provide that service long term.
You make some very good points. When working with or hiring people halfway around the world, good, clear effective communication is key and freelancers definitely need to play their part if they want to get bids. One site companies (or people needing programming work) should check out is oDesk (http://www.odesk.com). Ratings are important, but what’s neat about oDesk is that providers/freelancers have also been tested, so when they advertise that they have certain skills, there are tests to back them up. This shows an extra level of commitment.
Thanks for the pointers — hopefully freelancers will take a tip or two from you!
~Michelle, oDesk
http://www.odesk.com
Sergey/kamen - I’ve removed your comments because this is no place to continue such a dispute.
Allan - It’s hard enough to find someone who can provide professional service in the short term!
Michelle - I’ve not heard of oDesk before. Thanks for pointing it out.
I’ve given up looking for a PHP freelancer who can help me out when I need to ease my workload. I’ve been let down too many times with people I trusted, let alone look at strangers.
On the flipside what puts me off when a prospective new client emails or posts a spec to me and starts with ‘we’ve asked you plus X other companies to provide a quote for us on the following work’. My comment to that is that I’m overworked as it is, I’m hardly going to compete for work
Sarah, I just dunno what it is with some people. It’s one thing not to do the work, but don’t agree to do it first!
I know what you mean about being asked to tender a bid especially when they’re expecting a full blown proposal document. Most of the time, I quite happily let those projects pass. Easy come, easy go!
Sergey/kamen - Whatever you’ve got going on between you is not relevant here. Please find some other battleground to meet at.