Elance

Niall0001

Hi all!

I'm a recent mature IT graduate with substantial customer service experience, have developed web & IT-based solutions for a local business that are since a market leader as a result, have dramatically improved the fortunes of another local business through radical SEO improvements, have been given sole responsibility of an entire database involving financial transactions for 5 Army Barracks for Dept of Defence, am soon to sit my AdWords Certification, etc.

I also tried to set up a business upon leaving college & had 3 website jobs signed & sealed that would help me set it up until a local monopoliser started doing free websites at the height of a local media campaign.

Anyways, back to square one applying for jobs which is proving unsuccessful. Despite 100+ job applications I have only been called to one interview which was a 3 month work placement on €250 a week & 4 hours' round travel per day. Despite very encouraging feedback from my interviewer I was turned down for even this position due to my experiences being too broad (surely a good thing - I also have php & Javascript).

The same local monopoliser that curtailed my startup notions didn't even call me for an interview for a job I was a perfect fit for.

Anyways...

Anyone have any experience with doing work on Elance, as I'm starting to think I'll never find a job in the current climate? Particularly SEO/AdWords/full web design work? Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Giblet

From the above, I don't find what you do too broad, in fact, I'm struggling to find out exactly what you would do? SEO is something I do as part of my job, it's something I read about and try to improve at when I can but that's not my job, hell it wouldn't take much time to come up with a solution and move on.

It's far too narrow a spectrum to base a career on. I would concentrate on developing your PHP skills and front end development, as SEO is just going to be a bullet point on most CVs these days.

Here's a job for an SEO specialist.
http://www.prosperity.ie/jobs/40332180_seo_specialist.html
Note the list of technologies they say you should have. Other avenues have a heavy marketing role.

smash

So you're a web designer, SEO expert, DBA, Programmer, AdWord manager and an IT consultant...

You should pick a single skill and advance it.

cormee

I use elance quite a lot, commissioning work, not looking for it. In my opinion it probably wouldn't be suitable unless you were able to price yourself competitively against other bidders. And a lot of the good programmers on elance work for $10 p/h (anything less and alarm bells start to ring for me.) So if you are happy to work for around $10 p/h it might be an option, yes.

Your biggest hurdle at this stage would be getting someone to take you on without any feedback from other customers, but people may take you a little more seriously if you take the time to read the details of the projects they post. When placing your bid, make direct reference to the requirements they specify (I always delete bids that come with a price and no more than a boilerplate reply.)

Do you have any examples of PHP and database work you've done?

Also what Smash says is quite correct, at the moment you're a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades, you should focus on one area.

Corsica Nazione

Would you be interested in an odd job here and there?

One Flew Over

In my opinion, Elance provides nothing more than a platform for cheap labour. While it may be possible to get some good jobs at a fair rate, it won't justify the time wasted filtering through jobs which inevitably go to the cheapest bidder. The cheap bids come from workers in predominantly "Third World Countries", the jobs advertized - don't.

If you're still curious about Elance and you haven't done so already, why not sign-up, have a look at the jobs advertised, their budget and the bids being accepted. It might help you decide for yourself.

Best of luck

cormee

One Flew Over wrote: »

it won't justify the time wasted filtering through jobs which inevitably go to the cheapest bidder.

I've never given a job to the cheapest bidder, I consider the users feedback, their technical abilities and the response they give to my tender; then their price, and then I decide.

You build up relationships with successful bidders who did a good job, and you then invite them back to closed bids.

One Flew Over

cormee wrote: »

a lot of the good programmers on elance work for $10 p/h (anything less and alarm bells start to ring for me.) So if you are happy to work for around $10 p/h it might be an option, yes.

$10 = approximately €7.50 p/h - that's minimum wage for an "unskilled" worker. It's an option, but not a good one for a good programmer.

My advice is to continue searching for work in the REAL world, no matter how disheartening it may feel at times, you'll get there.

Niall0001

Corsica Nazione wrote: »

Would you be interested in an odd job here and there?

Absolutely! Is that an offer? PM me if you have something in mind.

Also: thanks to all for the advice. Regards focusing on one aspect, presumably that means further education/work placement as opposed to using my time to develop my skills in a chosen field through online tutorials & practice?

cormee

Niall0001 wrote: »

Absolutely! Is that an offer? PM me if you have something in mind.

Also: thanks to all for the advice. Regards focusing on one aspect, presumably that means further education/work placement as opposed to using my time to develop my skills in a chosen field through online tutorials & practice?

Do you have any examples of PHP and database work you've done, and where are you located?