[consulting] oDesk

[Brian Vuyk]

Just touching back on this issue, since I just had a client who wanted a 
job done on an hourly rate, and wanted me to make my desktop available 
by VNC or RDP so he could monitor it...

I understand that as a buyer, you like to be able to see what the people 
you have hired are doing.

At the same time, I think there is a bit of a disconnect between how I 
view my business, and how you view the people you've outsources work to.

Specifically, I view myself as a business performing a contract for you. 
I don't view myself as 'your worker' or 'your employee'. I work for my 
business, which has taken your contract. You are not my boss; you are my 
client.

Would you ask your mechanic to set up a webcam in his garage to monitor 
him working on your car, or your lawyer to set up a webcam in his 
office? If you did ask, what do you think the reaction would be?

All this said, if a service provider is willing to allow the client to 
closely monitor his work, great. I just don't think that there should be 
an expectation of it.

Just to be clear - to me, this is an academic discussion. I quote 95% of 
my work ahead of time to avoid any possible 'use-of-time' issues with my 
clients.

-- 
*Brian Vuyk*
Web Design & Development
T: 613-534-2916
Skype: brianvuyk
brian at brianvuyk.com | http://www.brianvuyk.com


On 04/07/2009 04:01 PM, Matt Chapman wrote:
> Brian Vuyk wrote:
>> You are all right in probably not worth it. I may just try with a 
>> small job and see how it goes. Like I've said, I don't like the 
>> monitoring system, though!
>
> As someone who often hires people to do things I could do myself, but 
> lack the time for, I dare say that many Drupal developers are worse 
> than lawyers when it comes to billing practices. I've seen a 10 hour 
> bill for two lines of code changed to upgrade a module from D5 to D6 
> from a developer who was supposedly experienced in such work. Perhaps 
> he got hung up on researching writing the jQuery he used to check 
> *every* checkbox on the page for the requirement that one checkbox 
> should be checked & disabled default.
>
> And the lower the hourly rate, the more likely they are to pad the 
> bill. I'll gladly pay 4-5 times the minimal rate for someone who works 
> as efficiently as I do. I'm not going to pay that kind of money to 
> have someone learn on the job. $8/hr is about right if you're making 
> it up as you go along, and you live in a country where the housing 
> costs a third of mine.
>
> So, as a buyer, I'm a big fan of being able monitor my workers and 
> make sure they've been truthful about their time and their skills.
>
> I get that research is part of the job; I'm not going to balk at 
> screenshots of api.drupal.org... but if some dev is surfing youtube on 
> the clock, I'm going to exercise my right to withhold payment. As for 
> me, I don't bill my clients for research time unless they want to do 
> something that really never has been done before. I spend about 10 
> hours per week on researching on my own time so I can stay up to date 
> on the latest progress in Drupal & related technologies.
>
> Also, part of what the freelancers get from oDesk is an insurance 
> policy that they will be paid for their time if the end client balks 
> unjustly; as someone who spends way too much time trying to collect 
> from delinquent employers, I know how valuable that is.
>
> Best,
>
> Matt
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