ODesk Review - from an Actual User

I have now gone through the complete oDesk experience as an employer.

I registered.

I browsed through their freelancers.

I posted a project.

I chose a candidate and hired him.

And I completed that project.

So I can confidently tell you... oDesk is exactly what I have been looking for.

Now let me tell you why...

As I mentioned previously, I have spent (wasted) years trying to find a responsible programmer. I used Craigslist. I used referrals. And time and again, I got the runaround... or worse, incompetent, unprofessional people.

In fact, I wasted nearly 6 months trying to finish a project that ended up being completed in ONE week on oDesk.

I'm ecstatic.

The process could not have been any easier for me. There were no hoops to jump through. I just registered an email address and posted a job (absolutely free) with my specific requirements. I also invited a few people to apply who met my requirements. I love that I was able to see ratings and choose someone that others have had a positive experience with.

Within 48 hours, I had instant messaged with my top candidate to discuss the project and get a feel for our compatibility. Based on his reviews and our conversation I felt great about him. So I clicked the "HIRE" button. And off we went...

That was it.

It's less than two weeks later... and the job is done.

Odesk just charges my card for the hours worked (you can do flat fee as well) so payment is automatic.

Now whenever I have additional work, I send him an email through oDesk. We email or IM to clarify anything that's unclear. I ask for an estimate of how long it will take, and before I know it the job is done.

He... and oDesk... exceeded my expectations in every way.

It's hard to believe how efficient the process is given what I've experienced in the past.

My advice? Try it. Unlike other sites, it won't cost you anything to post.

You can try oDesk for free... post a job... see who applies... evaluate their reviews... even interview them... all before you make a decision. If you find someone you feel good about at a rate that works for you, great. If not, no harm, no foul.

This is the most transparent option I've found for hiring freelancers, and I am truly grateful to have found it.

Click here... to post a job for free.

I spent quite a bit of time looking into other freelance websites (Elance, Scriptlance, etc.), and in my opinion, oDesk was an EASY choice.

1. Easy to Use / Lots of Talent

First of all, I found it to be the easiest site to use. It's especially easy to navigate, and searching for workers using different criteria (reviews, hours logged, hourly rate, language proficiency, test results, etc.) was a snap. Before even posting a project I could see that there were a LOT of people who met my requirements.

2. No "Hoops" to Jump Through

Compared to other sites, I found oDesk to be the easiest to get started with. Personally, I had never done this before and was hesitant to put a lot of time into a site that was largely unfamiliar to me. oDesk took minutes. Posting a project is as easy as typing a title, describing the work, and clicking some boxes to narrow down workers by review level, hourly rate, and other metrics.

3. As Close to FREE as Possible

Posting your job is free. If you hire a worker at $11/hour, that's ALL you pay. Period. You won't see any fees on top of that. oDesk makes money by taking 10% of the agreed upon rate. So in other words, if you agree to hire a designer at $11/hour, the worker is getting $10 and oDesk is getting $1. Easy. Brainless. Brilliant.



4. Transparency

How do you know you're paying for real work? oDesk has workers LOG IN when they're working, and during that time screenshots of their computer are recorded. This is a great deterrent against time wasting, and should it happen it's easy to dispute the wasted time.

There are more things I liked, but that's what's coming to mind right now. I can honestly say that every stage - from signing up, to posting, to viewing candidates, to completing my project was easy.

Some of that credit certainly goes to the fact that my freelancer was awesome... but a lot of it goes to oDesk.

Click here to get started with a free account.