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Longtime ...Exchange lurker. First Question.

I have a few projects in need of freelance developer(s). First and foremost is an experienced web dev for an ASP.NET MVC project. I am not a recruiter.

I checked prior questions/answers... There are a lot of helpful responses regarding assistance for Freelancers, but nothing I could find regarding where the best place to FIND [serious, professional] freelancers would be.

As a freelancing community, where do you look for the most dependable freelance project work? I would prefer to stay away from sites such as CraigsList, and do not wish to go through an "IT Service" company that just recruits other devs and turns paperwork.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Dan
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  • This really isn't a good question in my opinion. It's (probably unintentionally) asking for spam and self-promo answers. Just not what Stack sites are about. – Scott Sep 12 '16 at 19:46
  • I definitely agree that it might invite some self-promoting answers, but I should expect those would be downvoted over time so as not to be considered relevant. While most StackExchange sites excel at blocking questions that lead to or support bias, I get the feeling that FreelancingExchange has to bend a little, since many answers are experience-based and there aren't really any answers that fit in every scenario. It certainly is not my intention to invite self-promo though. – Dan Sep 12 '16 at 20:23

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Everyone will have a different opinion depending on their skill set, preferences and location. Why not post your jobs here on stack overflow?

https://stackoverflow.com/jobs

Other than that, your search engine is your friend, just search and research which site offers you the value and response rate you are happy with. You are always going to have to judge applicants yourself anyway, so I would suggest you support stackoverflow and use their service.

Community
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PaulD
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    Paul, My Google-Fu can always use improvement, but I do typically try to exhaust my search engine queries before posting to a forum for answers. Hence why this is my very first question.

    That being said, Many of the results I found in StackExchange were from the freelancer side, questioning the best way to find clients, or to ensure contracts are negotiated properly.

    One of the results I found was from a dev in a similar situation as myself, and he was lamenting that there were so many scammers out there and it was hard to tell - even with reviews and recommendations - the true devs.

     – Dan Sep 12 '16 at 20:24
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    My question (though clear as mud), was really more about where you freelancers go, that you can feel comfortable about the projects and the people you are working for. In my experience, a professional in any trade or craft will not look for work in a known-shady forum or site. I myself have no experience to call on for which places may be shady and which ones are proven.

    Regarding '\Jobs' - I actually went looking for that exact entry using the drop-down menu in the site header, and couldn't find it. Your link is precisely what I was looking for. Thank you.

     – Dan Sep 12 '16 at 20:32
  • It is tough online for sure, for us freelancers there are scammers too that will take the work you do, create a fictitious reason for not paying, and keep the work and get a refund from the site. For me this site is pretty good, as well as Outsource.com however everyone will have their own favorite. Good luck with finding a decent dev. for your jobs. – PaulD Sep 12 '16 at 20:46
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Quite honestly...

The best place to find freelance workers is by asking the people you know.... Word of mouth is generally the optimal method to finding quality workers/vendors in any field.

I never look online or in the yellow pages for contractors to work on my home.. I ask homeowners I know who they use. The same is true for any profession.

The primary issue for both clients and workers on freelance sites is that everyone is a username and 8bit ASCii text does not convey tone or inflection. So read all the reviews you want, you'll be hard pressed to tell if someone is being sarcastic at times. Or even if the review is legitimate in some cases. I find, online it's much easier for unscrupulous people to appear legitimate.

If no one I knew had any recommendations, I'd be first shopping locally for workers that I could meet in person. Face to face will tell you a lot more about someone than anything online ever will. Heck, even a phone call is better at conveying dedication, interest, and experience.

Also be aware, that many successful freelancers never bother with online middleman sites and forfeiting commissions; Such sites aren't really necessary if you've built a stable of reliable, return, clients. So you'll never see these types of workers at online sites.

In the end.... everything is just a roll of the dice regardless of what you use to find people. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. And that's true for any business relationship. Your guess is as good as anyone else's. You'll find freelancers that state www.example.com is the best thing since sliced bread... and you'll find others that think only rip-off clients use www.example.com.

Scott
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