* The clients expect insane amount of work at a very cheap rate.
* People in developing countries are always ready to charge a lesser amount.
* The Signal : Noise ratio is low on both sides.
* The commissions taken by site and payment services also offer a blow to the amount earned.
IMO, its tough to imagine a situation where a sane client who expects quality would be willing to shuffle through 100s of bids submitted on each project.
I think oDesk is a great work platform, if you don't bother competing with the crowd on price and just go for the best jobs (after getting some good feedback and building up a good profile). I bill $40-50/hr and have no problem getting as much work as I need on oDesk. It allows me to travel around the world and work as much as I need to still pay the bills.
* The clients expect insane amount of work at a very cheap rate.
* People in developing countries are always ready to charge a lesser amount.
* The Signal : Noise ratio is low on both sides.
* The commissions taken by site and payment services also offer a blow to the amount earned.
IMO, its tough to imagine a situation where a sane client who expects quality would be willing to shuffle through 100s of bids submitted on each project.