What's wrong with the Freelancing industry

What's wrong? I'll tell you whats wrong. The big corporations with their profit at all cost mentality is what's wrong! Of course the same is true for so many things wrong today.

A bit over 10 years ago I jumped into the realm of working from home, coding PHP, PERL and BASH, writing articles, doing some LINUX sysadmin stuff etc. It wasn't easy, but there were a few good websites that made it a lot easier to not only find the work, but they also had measures in place to protect coders and clients from trying to scam one another.

In exchange for the service provided to coders and their clients, these "few good freelance sites" took a small cut of the money the coder earned once the project was completed and the client paid for the work. Life was good, work was plentiful and everybody won.

Well, not anymore. Since then the big fish have bought out and buried the little fish so coders like me are left with almost no choice on whom to do business with. However, it's not enough for these big fish to have a monopoly. Nope they want to squeeze every nickel out of the people that earn them money.

Take one predominant player in the realm for example. FreelancerDOTcom (who I'll refer to as FLC from here on) bought two of my favorite freelance websites, ScriptlancerDOTcom & RentACoderDOTcom along with several others, not only getting the business, but the coders and clients involved in those sites as part of the purchase.

Had FLC retained the business model those 2 other sites used, I wouldn't be writing this, but nope, FLC had to go the profit at all costs route and milk the people that earn them money for even more.

First, the old expression it takes money to make money has never been more true. Freelancers like me need to pay just to accept the work. Yes that's right, coders pay up front before being paid by their respective clients and of course FLC skims off of that transaction too. It simply does not make sense to anyone but the corporate big wigs behind it. Freelance coders are being charged for the "privilege" of earning FLC money. It doesn't matter what your track record is, how many years you've been completing projects and creating satisfied return clients etc. YOU PAY FIRST in order to earn.

But wait, there is more to this utterly asinine business model. Freelancers who accept a project have no way out of it. There is no way to cancel and even if you manage to get high enough up the food chain to have a project cancelled on your behalf, the fee you paid is NON-REFUNDABLE. In my entire Freelancing career I have had to cancel 2 projects out of hundreds. It doesn't matter. The 10% FLC immediately charges is theirs permanently, even if the client's "job" turns out to be illegal and in violation of international trade laws. It doesn't matter. They got your money and you won't be getting it back.

I used to mention Freelance sites that I liked here. Well I can't think of any now. So I suppose I'll have to change perspectives.

Freelancers, you would do well to avoid FLC..

Clients looking for freelancers to put to work are also advised to avoid FLC. The coders on FLC pay to be able to accept your work, and the bulk of the "qualification badges" you might see on their profile were purchased too. They mean nothing other than they bribed the outfit correctly and through proper channels. All it takes is a few bucks to get one and they say absolutely nothing about the freelancers "skill".