Those who pursue contract development opportunities usually face three main problems: finding reputable clients; the occasional miscommunicated -- or flat-out unfair -- project requirement; and most seriously, the potential that a client won't want to pay for your work, for whatever reason. Any one of these potential problems can be daunting enough to scare you away from the opportunity to make a little extra money on the side, and possibly even gain experience with a new language or technology. But RentACoder -- one of the latest of several contract facilitation Web sites that have recently cropped up -- offers services that could very well solve those problems for which contract jobs are infamous. So, how does this work?
The site provides an auction and feedback system -- much like what you'd find on auction sites. Payment for a contract is made in advance and held in escrow by RentACoder until the project is completed. On paper, this idea serves to protect both clients and contractors; the former don't risk losing deposits to dead-beat developers, and the latter will have fewer problems with nonpaying customers. To receive work through RentACoder, you must complete a short registration process, during which you'll have a chance to create an online CV of sorts, detailing your skills and experience. You'll then be able to place bids on any of the open jobs posted on the Web site. As of this writing, there are 482 open jobs on RentACoder, ranging from large-scale projects with formalised multimonth timetables to minor projects and even technical questions posed by newbies and students. Each contract job is categorised according to several criteria. You can browse through listings by platform, specific language requirements, size of the project, and the nature of the work (e.g., documentation or QA/testing). Each job listing includes an estimated payment amount, anywhere from $1 to over $5,000 or £0.63 to £3,195 ) and a short description of the project's requirements. The quality of these descriptions is highly variable: The best ones will usually include a project plan document, a diagram, or mockup; the worst will be vague and possibly even incoherent. You'll be able to gauge the quality of a potential client through a ratings system similar to that used on auction Web sites like eBay. After a project's conclusion, each party is given an opportunity to leave feedback about the person on the other side of the exchange, by rating the experience on a scale of one to ten. Since buyers (as clients are called on RentACoder) can also leave feedback on coders (contractors), the feedback system works to both groups' advantage. Find something you like?
When you find a job that sounds interesting, you'll place a bid with the buyer. You'll be able to specify a dollar amount, send the buyer a demo or some sample work, and spell out any special terms while placing your bid via the Web site's bidding interface. Once submitted, your bid will be editable by you and only viewable by you and the buyer. This private bid system prevents coders from undercutting each other while bidding, and protects the buyer from possible price collusion as well -- although the system makes it difficult to judge the going rate for a particular kind of project. Once a buyer accepts a bid, he or she is required to deposit the agreed-upon payment with RentACoder, which keeps the funds in an escrow account so there will be no payment issues when the job is completed. You, on the other hand, are required to file weekly progress reports through the RentACoder Web site. Once you complete work on a project and your buyer signs off on it, RentACoder will issue you a payment after deducting their 15% facilitation fee. Should a payment dispute arise, either party has the option of pursuing mediation via an agency, such as SquareTrade. Is it as easy as it looks?
While RentACoder appears to have answers to most of the problems I've seen with online contract facilitation services in the past, it seems to me that it's still far from perfect. For starters, the rating system makes it difficult for newcomers to get work. With something like 26,000 registered coders, the lack of a rating can be a disadvantage, because many buyers and coders will steer clear of untested counterparts. Aside from that, with consistently less than 500 jobs open for bid, the extremely low job-to-coder ratio makes bid competition pretty fierce. It also serves to lower the average price for a job, as simple free-market economics should tell you. Finding an interesting project can be a trying experience as well. It appears that some buyers are in the habit of routinely listing multiple ads for the same project in different categories. I'm not clear on whether this is a result of ignorance or malicious intent on the part of some buyers, or simply a matter of sloppy categorising by RentACoder. Whatever the reason, seeing listings for the same project in six different categories is a bit annoying. Also, although the escrow system used by RentACoder serves to keep buyers honest, it can't protect coders from unscrupulous buyers who might attempt to change project requirements midstream or groundlessly refuse to approve a coder's final work. In theory, the rating system would serve to prevent such behaviour, but as anyone who's ever bought something on eBay can tell you, some shady characters slip through the cracks, and a negative feedback, no matter how deserved, can sometimes spark off nasty flame wars. The SquareTrade mediation could come in handy in resolving disputes, but the basic, free mediation service consists only of automated email contacts initiated by Web forms. To get a real mediator on your case, you'll need to fork over some cash, which might not be worth it for a smaller contract. That said, a perusal of ratings information for about 20 randomly selected buyers, shows that most of them appear to be on the up-and-up, making payments on time with minimal hassle. Besides, disputes over project scope and payment are part and parcel with the contract developer's business, and RentACoder has come up with some novel ideas of dealing with these problems. As a result, the site appears to have built a healthy community of coders and buyers, and there always appear to be jobs available. On the strength of that fact alone, whether you're a career contractor just looking for some side work or even a manager trying to staff a small project, you should definitely check out RentACoder. Created by developers, for developers, Builder.com brings software developers fresh, real-world perspective on topics from programming to architecture to management. Builder.com will improve the way developers work with the information, tools, and services to help them conquer the challenges they face everyday in real-world development.
For all job and work-related news, or to search for a job and get information on training, go to ZDNet Jobs. If you have something to say about work and employment issues say it here at the Jobs Forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.
Talkback
Hello! RentACoder.com is my choice.
I can say this as RentACoder Top Coder.
Unlike subscription at elance -no needs to pay for this service before project completed.
Unlike scriptlance - bidders can't see other bids,
so - bids(price and time line) much more realistic.
I have 100+ completed projects in last year.
RentACoder has at least two cool features -
protections for software buyer and coder :
1. Arbitration process
2. The "Safe Project Escrow"
You may want to read "Software Buyer Frequently Asked Questions" :
http://www.takereal.com/freelance/article.asp
--
Sergey.
hi
im lookin for a vb.net coder that can complete a project that im doin i have the f.spec and also completed the use case i would prefer if i could be taught the coding of the components if possible if not still get in touch
Hi,
My name is Amir Ali Tayyab and I was operating as "aatayyab" on www.rentacoder.com as a member only for two months with top10 ratings there by my 5 projects within that short span. And then I was struck with a bad surprise by a non-professional buyer, unfair arbitration by a rentacoder.com arbitrator and owner of www.rentacoder.com in my last project where I suffered these losses;
1. they confiscated my rightful money to be paid by the buyer and returned it back to him. The buyer name is Mr.Terence Brown (tbrown223@comcast.net) and he was operating as "safrica2" buyer on www.rentacoder.com . This buyer had 10 arbitrations out of his total 40 which he always won with 10 different coders. Hence a sense of favorism towards buyers is clearly visible and this buyer always used such an unfair favorism to deceive and rip off many coders of their rightful money like myself and run away with completed projects under the protection of "deceptive" existence of fraudulent internet websites like www.rentacoder.com
2. they appointed an arbitrator Mr.Ajay Bathija (AjayBathija@exhedra.com) to resolve my issue with the buyer, but he took sides of the buyer and turned down all of my requests for professional testing/arbitration.
3. they rated me as MINUS THREE on their website in that specific project and;
4. they deducted money from my own account as a penalty
5. they issued me warnings to withhold my own money left in my account if i did not stop pursuing it legally.
I protested all this to owner of www.rentacoder.com, Mr.Ian Ippolito (IanIppolito@exhedra.com), but he too took unfair side of his arbitrator and the buyer. Before signing up with rentacoder.com, I was deceived into believing them due to their display of memberships by www.BBB.org and www.SquareTrade.com . Now, I have started the complaint process not only at these websites but with all legal authorities of their territories and warning general public against using such a deceptive website like www.rentacoder.com or working in any way with Mr.Ian Ippolito, Mr.Ajay Bathija and Mr.Terence Brown.
I am based in Pakistan and I was ripped off my rightful money by these persons and website via internet who are located in USA.
I will keep you all posted about the developments taking place to prosecute such internet fraud. I have met a few of the coders who feel the same way and I plan to gather all such evidence and legally fighting such fraudulent websites or persons. I have all the emails and project data online at http://rentacoderfraud.bravehost.com and attached herewith for your detailed review.
Amir Ali Tayyab
e-Marketer & Writer since 1987
Office: 49-MZ, Central Plaza, Garden Town, Lahore 54600, Pakistan
Home: 212-15-B1, Township, Lahore, Pakistan
Phone: 92-303-6407086, 92-42-5846574 and 5846575
Fax: 1-702-977-9126
E-Mail: aatayyab@yahoo.com
Website: www.softwarepk.com
I have twice had to use the arbitration process at rentacoder and i cannot find fault with it.
The money that the buyer intends to pay the coder is held in escrow to ensure they can't just disappear.
If the arbitration finds that the project was not completed as per the requirements of the project and following the guidlines of the site to keep the buyer informed on progress, then the cost for setting up the escrow account comes from whoever loses the arbitration - in this case you.
As for grading you as -3 ???
I thought the lowest you could get was on the scale 0-10
Sounds like sour grapes to me. You probabl put alot of work into the project, but if it is not meeting the buyers requirements then why should he pay for it?
Rentacoder is the safest site out there for this stuff. Protects coders and buyers, allowing history of past projects to be seen.
I have used RentACoder now for two years and have many projects completed through their service.
Twice I have had to call on them to arbitrate in disputes and I have found them very professional and prompt in dealing with problems.
I would recommend their services to others despite the sour grapes generated by this user who clearly didn't like losing the arbitration process.
Rent-a-Coder; not Rent-a-Miracle or Rent-sum-Discipline
I love being kind and considerate to other professionals. This is the one trait that will get your software project killed before you can breathe life into it if applied to most programmers. By most I mean approximately 92% or so. So in order to respect that value judgment, I have written this review as dispassionately as possible.
NOTE: If you cannot tell or do not know the difference between a fact, a truth and a value judgment, you need to get someone else in charge of your software project. -jmc
My gross qualifications for consideration on this subject matter are that I:
- speak and write English with more than an 8th grade slant, (what is now apparently 2nd year college)
- unwaveringly accept logic and rationale as the cornerstone of successful software development,
- operated as a corporate network computing consultant for more than twenty years,
- held management positions over project managers, software engineers/programmers and hardware engineers/programmers.
Having said that, my experience over the last few years with Rent-a-Coder itself as a buyer has been:
- satisfying,
- fair,
- equitable,
- appropriate by every possible measure,
- highly successful.
Having said that, my experience over the last few years with Rent-a-Coder coding contractors has been:
- joyous,
- gut-wrenching,
- superb,
- revolting,
- smooth,
- wretched,
- highly successful.
Having said that, my experience over the two decades I spent in the business working with programmers of any sort has been:
- joyous,
- gut-wrenching,
- superb,
- revolting,
- smooth,
- wretched,
- highly successful.
Having said that, the perceived delta between my experience with programmers of any sort through Rent-a-Coder vs. the open market has been that:
- the project failure percentage rate in the open market is several times higher than it is using Rent-a-Coder,
- I have had to cut people's salaries by up to 30% and fire others in the past for nonperformance in the open market,
I have only once had to 'fire' an AMERICAN contractor on Rent-a-Coder - that was my fault - I let myself be 'hypnotized' by the coder's charm, and for a fleeting moment judged his performance by like/dislike rather than by performance/nonperformance. He got most of the project money before I came to my senses,
- Rent-a-Coder's benefits are intensely magnified by exercising logic, rationale, and extreme self-discipline in the project layout and description process,
- if you can't bring the above listed concepts to the table, you don't belong in charge of a software project regardless of whom you use to code it,
- if you don't determine in advance to awarding your project to any coder that he or she (a) can READ and WRITE in the English language to at least [what used to be] an 8th grade level, and has actually made at least one other buyer HAPPY, that's on you, not Rent-a-Coder, and not on anyone else.
Like in the open market, if the project's management is weak and ineffective, the project, if it actually makes it to term, will be a reflection of the incompetence that drove it into being. If however a project's management is at least conversant with logic and rationale, and is able to avoid the over-politicization of the project on all fronts, what is likely to result is a superb project result that exceeds most all reasonable expectations.
Using Rent-a-Coder in that latter scenario will improve the speed and completion time of your project over that of the open market.
Using Rent-a-Coder in the former scenario will save your bacon, maybe even your job, over being in the open market.
Buyers or coders that tell you otherwise most likely fall into the 'must-find-new-career' category.
END OF DOCUMENT
Check out http://www.SoftwareProjects.com/projects
Good alternative. They're 100% us-based and you get an instant quote with no bidding games
I have been with Rent a coder a few years and have found them to be very fair in their arbitration process whcih I have had to be in on two occasions. Coders who say they can do something and overdues ETA's, find that they can't do it. A lot of wasted time, but at least I didn't get screwed for money, just time. RAC gave me my escrow back so I could start again.
All in all, I have had a good time with them and will stay with them