oDesk announced a new feature called “oConomy” today, and I’ve had some fun checking it out.
What’s the oConomy? It’s a collection of statistics (nicely presented in graphs and maps) that give details on how people are doing business on oDesk.
Many of the graphs are fun to look at, but I encourage you to dig deeper and figure out what the numbers might imply for your oDesk success. For instance, one pair of graphs that interested me are shown below (see the original graphs on oConomy):
The first graph shows the rates of all providers (I cut both graphs off at $45/hour, as that’s where the most interesting info was). The second graph shows the rates agreed upon for jobs. (In other words, the first graph is what providers hope for, and the second is reality).
As you can see, they generally follow the same trends (which makes sense, since jobs are going to be performed by the providers listed in the first graph). But I find it very interesting that providers at both $5/hour and $15/hour seem to be a little over-available, with a somewhat disproportionate number of assignments going for $10/hour.
Of course, like all statistics, the hard numbers are open to soft interpretation. Does this imply that many providers could up their rates from $5/hour to $10/hour? Or does it mean that the “average” provider at $5/hour don’t present himself as well as the “average” provider at $10/hour?
Obviously, I don’t know the answer to those questions. But if you’re a provider, it might be a sign that it’s time for you to do an informal survey of your competition and see if there’s anything you could add to your profile to justify a little rate hike. If you’re on the higher end already, what are you doing to prove your value?
And that’s just from the rate charts. Be sure to check out the other data, too! You never know what insights you might gain.
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Great insights Sarah. And certainly, as you point out, these charts are open to interpretation. One way that we can help at oDesk - is to provide additional data. In building this oConomy feature, we built a new infrastructure that allows us to publicly share much of our internal information. So, if you like, add comments to any of the charts that you see in the oConomy and we’ll likely be able to add new charts or sections based on the data you request (if others request it as well).
fyi - my interpretations of these 2 charts:
-First, when reading these charts, the $5 bar includes assignments from $5-$10, and so on.
-Quite a few providers underbid, especially after they’ve established a reputation. While it’s important to set reasonable expectations when getting started, for many serious buyers, I think a very low rate can be a turnoff. If a buyer is looking for a highly skilled web developer with 10 years of experience, they’re expecting to pay more than $5 or $10.
-Before providers have established a reputation, a very low rate may still be a turnoff to buyers that are looking for high quality work. If you are looking for your first job and want to bid low, explain in your cover letter that you’re bidding low because this is your first job. Alternatively, build a reputation on Fixed Price jobs.
-The Providers rate distribution chart includes the “listed rate” on provider profiles, and does not reflect the actual bid rates. So, I know that some providers set their public profile to say $25, and bid at $10-$20 to get the jobs. This may cause some of the discrepancy that you see in the charts as well.
-Josh Breinlinger
oDesk
Thanks Josh for the detailed explanation …