Skills - Bills != Enough

October 1, 2008 7:38 PM

What's the best freelance job site?

I have a solid background in interactive development and I'd like to break out past craigslist for looking for work online. However, the field is quite daunting as there's plenty of places that want my money, www.guru.com, www.getafreelancer.com, etc.

Where have you had a good experience? I'm most interested in development and design projects. Video / Audio especially.

Thanks!

posted by emptyinside to work & money (6 comments total)

Look up creative talent agencies in your city, like Aquent
posted by axltea at 10:00 PM on October 1, 2008

An online variation would be elance. I haven't used it to get work much, and it seems like there is a lot of competition from offshore companies, but I"m sure it's worth a look.
posted by wile e at 11:51 PM on October 1, 2008

I've had very good luck hiring design work off of elance.com.

But by that definition it's bad for people looking for work and good for people providing it.
posted by Ookseer at 11:55 PM on October 1, 2008

I'd suggest forgetting the usual freelancing sites (which are full of people willing to work for peanuts) in favour of directly contacting companies (local initially) who do the kind of thing you're into and may need to outsource some work.
(A lot of web development firms have very little experience with video/audio, so if you're good with Flash you might find you're in demand)
posted by malevolent at 12:05 AM on October 2, 2008

Yes, your best bet is finding local small- to mid-sized companies into whose projects your specialty fits. They will be more established, with a good customer base, and likely actively looking to subcontract out parts of projects.

If you can establish a solid working relationship with one or two relatively busy firms, you have a good chance of having as much work as you want for as long as you want. A big bonus is not having to go through the client courtship process for every new project, too.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:25 AM on October 2, 2008

I would network in industry groups and events related to the interactive, advertising or tech industry. Freelance sites like elance and guru are filled with overseas people who work for peanuts.
posted by lsemel at 10:21 PM on October 2, 2008