| Small businesses frequently need help with small projects that may not require a full-time employee. Fortunately, a number of websites have sprung up in recent years that can help you get the temporary help you need to move your company forward. ... vWorker is one of the resources out there. ... Be sure to draft a complete, detailed proposal to increase the odds that you’ll attract the right people. Once you’ve found a promising candidate, give them small tasks to make sure they’re a fit before giving them more substantial tasks. And make sure everything is in writing before you start to make sure there are no misunderstandings. |
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| Ian Ippolito, founder and owner of vWorker, created his business with a $2,000 loan from parents. He’s built to 150 categories of remote workers and 2011 gross revenue of $11.1 million. Ippolito has continued to thrive by developing and implementing more than 50 points of difference. His no-strings money-back guarantee if project specifications aren’t met stands out. |
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Need outside help for your next IT project? It's easy to hire tech freelancers online, but how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? Even for organizations with a stellar full-time IT staff, situations often arise where temporary outside help is needed. That's when contractors come in.
vWorker features a host of freelancers specializing in everything from data entry to Web design, with a concentration of programmers and other technology workers. ... Offering both money-back guarantees for employers and payment guarantees for workers, the site wins major points for trust and transparency. Contractors are encouraged to install AccuTimeCard software, which tracks worker hours and gives employers the option to examine screenshots from the worker's desktop during billed hours. There's even the ability to take in the view from the worker's webcam while he's logged into the application. An arbitration system allows workers and employers to settle any disputes over project payment, with vWorker as moderator.
Perhaps even more important, the site addresses a major problem with freelancing websites: misrepresentation of skills, knowledge and commitment to a project. No site can guarantee that workers will accurately represent themselves all of the time, and most employers using these sites will have some hits and misses. But when a hard project deadline is looming and you need to make sure you get it right the first time, vWorker's Expert Guarantee can help. Serious applicants for projects with tight deadlines can put down a percentage of the bid amount as a security deposit. If the project is not completed to the employer's exact specifications 100% on time, the worker loses her deposit and the job. |
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| In her early days of late 2008, Fiona Lewis made her worst outsourcing blunder when she contracted to have a website designed for a key client. Production lagged and eventually she lost $2500 - double the quoted price, for nothing. ... Now she advises people to use vWorker to protect themselves. |
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| Every business is nothing but a series of decisions which can make or break the business. And every bootstrap entrepreneur faces the daunting task of making ALL the business decisions, any one of which could either doom the enterprise or catapult it to stratospheric success. Learn how a company called vWorker created the eBay of remote work... |
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Carey Giudici: What has made it possible for the industry you envisioned in 2001 to grow and prosper like it has?
Ian Ippolito: It’s been very gratifying to see workers enjoying the same extraordinary level of freedom that only a select few could experience just a decade ago. Many factors have contributed to this amazing boom. For example, anyone who operates a virtual office needs a fast infrastructure. In 2001 many of us were still on dial-up. Today broadband reaches everywhere except the most rural areas. Emerging economies around the world have also invested tremendously in [...] |
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Robert, an internet marketing consultant, has been a freelancer for 15 years, making all the money he needs.
"As an internet marketer, I could charge anywhere from $15 up to $150 an hour," says Robert, who owns VirtualKreation.com. He's one of 300,000 virtual freelancers ready for hire on vWorker.com. It's an online job marketplace based in Tampa that currently has more than 150,000 virtual employers with more than 2,500 current open projects ready for bids.
"Obviously, with the recession, a lot of these companies are no longer hiring, they've had to lay off people. And not only that, people like the flexibility of working at home, not having the commute. They might be like a mom that's working at home and she doesn't have 40 hours that she wants to spend, but maybe she wants to spend 15 hours with the spare time she has," says Ian Ippolito, CEO of vWorker.com. |
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| As the economy fights to rebound, many employers are forgoing paying full-time employees, and are instead tapping into the online community of hungry freelancers. Many business tasks -- marketing, public relations, research, design, legal services -- can be handled quickly and affordably through crowdsourcing sites. One of the first to latch onto the opportunity was programmer Ian Ippolito, who launched vWorker.com (formerly RentACoder.com) in 2002. His Tampa, Fla.-based site connects businesses with a global market of more than 312,900 virtual workers in hundreds of fields. |
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| Rule one when running small companies: Do what you're good at and delegate the rest. That includes technology support. [...] Where to find reliable tech talent when you need it? First, precisely determine your requirements and time frames--any wriggle room and things fall apart. Then check out any of the following websites: [...] vWorker.com (formerly RentACoder.com). A coder haven. No upfront fees to post work opportunities. Charges contractors up to 15% of the final cost of the project. |
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| Ultimately, the company that regularly produces content and makes it free for the taking sees its revenue grow as "followers" become customers. It worked for the Dead, and it can work for you, too. Here's a to-do list: [...] 4. Find a low-cost developer (vWorker.com is one) and build some sort of an application for the iPhone (AAPL) or the Web that will give your market great pleasure. |
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| Almost every company in America is outsorucing at least part of its work. "Outsourcing is no longer considered a temporary fix to a short-term need," says Katie Ratkiewicz, a practice leader for the institute. "Instead, it's being redefined as a permanent fixture in organizational makeup." Freelance job boards like...vWorker... are top among the websites where you can list your project for open bidding, or choose who you want to bid based on their portfolios or other criteria. |
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| vWorker (through it's former name of Rent a Coder) was awarded the 2010 Inc 5000: Fastest growing private company award. This is the fourth consecutive year in a row the company has been awarded this prestigous honor. |
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| So you need an IT worker, but the ones who show up to your door just aren’t the right fit. What do you do? Ian Ippolito has an idea. He’s the founder and CEO of vWorker.com (formerly “Rent-a-Coder”), an e-commerce site where you can find and rent effective computer programming and coding personnel for your company. He talks with “The American Entrepreneur” Ron Morris about his company, and what the recent economic turmoil has done for “The Ebay of computer programmers”. |
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Issue Cover Title: "The hundred smartest, most innovative, hands-down brilliant companies on our radar"
Do businesses hire actual employees anymore? Maybe not. As employment numbers plummeted, more than $24.7 billion of outsourced contracts were dished out in the fourth quarter last year--up 8 percent year over year, according to TPI, a sourcing advisory firm.
Much of that growth is the result of crowdsourcing: Instead of paying for full-time employees, employers are tapping into the online community of hungry freelancers. Marketing, public relations, research, design, legal services--all can be handled quickly and affordably through crowdsourcing sites.
One of the first to latch onto the opportunity was programmer Ian Ippolito, who launched RentaCoder.com back in 2002. His Tampa, Fla., site connects businesses with a global freelance market of programmers, and today, an astonishing 136,837 buyers and 285,700 coders from all over the world make up the RentaCoder marketplace. Posting of work requests is free, but RentaCoder takes a 6-percent to 15-percent cut of the final transaction. In 2008, the most recent data available, revenue was $2.4 million--more than double what it was in 2004. This year, Ippolito expects $3 million and will rename the site vWorker.com (from Rent a Coder)--for virtual worker. Ironically enough, RentaCoder has become a company that hires its own employees. For now, it has 12. |
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The content management system--the powerful, behind-the-scenes operator--can make or break your site...So before you dive in and try to do it yourself or spend thousands on a developer who may put together a site beyond your comprehension, here's what you need to sort through.
When it comes to cost, there is no magic number: The price depends on your needs. A basic, well-designed and search-engine friendly WordPress blog might run $1,000. A full-blown site built with Vignette, a powerful commercial CMS used by major corporations, will likely exceed $250,000. Lower-cost developers can be found through ... rentacoder.com, a website that allow developers to "bid" on your project. "You can basically offshore your development," Shibles says. |
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| The content management system--the powerful, behind-the-scenes operator--can make or break your site...So before you dive in and try to do it yourself or spend thousands on a developer who may put together a site beyond your comprehension, here's what you need to sort through. When it comes to cost, there is no magic number: The price depends on your needs. A basic, well-designed and search-engine friendly WordPress blog might run $1,000. A full-blown site built with Vignette, a powerful commercial CMS used by major corporations, will likely exceed $250,000. Lower-cost developers can be found through ... rentacoder.com, a website that allow developers to "bid" on your project. "You can basically offshore your development," Shibles says. |
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It was the second baby that persuaded Dr. Camil Sader to become an iPhone app entrepreneur. "My goal was to be as efficient as possible, so I had more time for my children" he said. Sader is a general surgeon with Advanced General Surgeons of South Florida, a division of South Florida Surgical Specialists. He's also the creator of Dr. Rounds, an iPhone app that makes his job easier by tracking his patients' visits, diagnoses, procedures and billing charges.
He used to start his day with a printed list of patient names. By the end of the day, his paper would be so crumpled it would resemble Kleenex. At the end of the week, when it came time to reconcile the paperwork, "it took me literally hours to go through seven pieces of paper, and if I was at four hospitals, forget it."
An avid fan of his iPhone, he knew exactly what he wanted the device to do for him. So he went to Google to look for a programmer and discovered rentacoder.com.
After several rejections, Apple finally sent him the word they'd sell the Dr. Rounds application on July 4. "That was a great moment." Dr. Rounds now sells for $24.99. |
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For the third year in a row, Rent a Coder was honored with inclusion in the INC 5000: a prestigious list of the fastest growing private companies
Rent a Coder operates an online marketplace where a pool of more than 250,000 computer programmers from over the world compete for projects. |
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| Visit...vWorker.com.com and you can hire a genius to create a killer XP app, iphone proggy or symbian widget. Sell these online after paying the coder $200 and its all pure profit from there. I used download.com to sell windows optimizers for $9. The profit was great, but I had to ensure occasional updates when bugs surfaced. |
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| If you are not technically savvy, you may want to hire professional web designers to assist you. Rentacoder...has great designers that you can hire for your project. By hiring a freelancer, you can effortlessly put up a website that is aesthetically pleasing and search engine friendly. Simply check out the freelance professionals’ feedback and profile and interview them thoroughly. Make sure that they agree to the terms and conditions you set forth for project completion and agree to complete the project within your stated deadline. In addition, you may want to try out their services by asking them for a “paid mockup” to make sure that you’re both on the same page. |
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| vWorker.com is an...operation focusing on programmers... Such services are making offshore outsourcing, which was once strictly the province of global corporations, more accessible to smaller businesses. Mr. Bartus says the bill can be as little as one-twentieth of what the same work would cost in Canada. |
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| Remote work is a term used to describe the smaller side of the outsourcing industry - the piecemeal tasks like data entry, video transcription, and personal assistance - which small businesses and individuals can seldom afford to complete with local labour. This type of work doesn’t require much more than basic training, low-cost hardware, and bandwidth to complete. Because the work is relatively low-risk (unlike, say, call centre services), it can be done by mom-and-pop operations in regions that lack costly infrastructure, or are sparsely populated, like much of rural Asia and Africa. Thomas Friedman made a similar point in The World is Flat in 2005... Outsourcing has created over 2.3 million office jobs in Asia…Could small-scale outsourcing to locally-owned businesses make a bigger dent on poverty in places like Africa? Several websites, including Rentacoder, help customers connect to freelancers and small companies for projects in the under-US$1,500 range. |
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Whether it's building a website, developing an iPhone application, creating a widget, or customizing a program for internal use, many businesses are turning to freelance programmers to get the job done cheaply. But as Redfern discovered, it can be tough finding good help, especially if you don't have a technical background.
The process is made easier by services such as...RentACoder. These sites, which work like eBay or Match.com for small businesses looking to hire outsourced workers, offer directories of hundreds of thousands of programmers in Russia, India, Ukraine, Pakistan, Argentina -- and the U.S. The contractors' profiles are quite detailed; they typically include rankings and comments from former customers, work history, skill level, and hourly rates. RentACoder even displays the number of times a programmer has been involved in arbitration because of a dispute with an employer. |
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| Best for guaranteed results: RentACoder. This site lets companies require an "expert guarantee." That means that the contractor must put his own money -- typically a percentage of the contract amount -- into escrow. If the project isn't completed as promised, the contractor loses his deposit. Employers can also require bidders to sign a nondisclosure agreement. |
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The other day a friend recently sent me a clipping from a small paper featuring the story of a first time author who is enjoying some nice success with her book on shopping etiquette. … The back-story was incredible. It was written by Kathleen Small; a 69 year old grandmother who recently recovered (but not fully) from a stroke. Talk about the right attitude being everything! Writing is literally a painful experience for her but she used that great attitude and took the most annoying things people do in stores and turned them into a paperback treasure trove.
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Scott: "Your book has some great illustrations. Are you an artist?"
Kathy: "Not at all. Even stick figures are too much for me. I hired an artist through a website called Rent A Coder (http://www.RentACoder.com) that my son told me about. He hires computer programmers through it and told me I could probably find a talented artist who was trying to build his portfolio or earn extra money while in school. And he was right. The artist and I both ended up very happy." |
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| Anthony Johnson, founder of six-person, $600,000 ICC Software, has used vWorker.com since 2003, saving up to 60% on coding projects. He warns not to jump at the first bid, as 15 usually roll in within an hour of posting. Wait a few days for freelancers too busy to respond, he says. Buyers normally receive intellectual-property rights to work done through the sites, so Johnson is quick to copyright work as it comes in—making it truly his own. |
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| Ian Ippolito, was interviewed on the radio show "The CEO Lounge" by host Brent Britton. They talked about how Rent a Coder works and about web 2.0. The interview starts at the 19:20 minute mark in the attached audio track. |
| Radio Interview |
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| By Brent Britton |
| The CEO Lounge, October 18th |
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For the second year in a row, Rent a Coder was honored with inclusion in the INC 5000: a prestigious list of the fastest growing private companies
Rent a Coder...operates a web marketplace where computer programming services can be bought and sold. 7,300 projects, which include website developments and business process automation, are completed every month through the site. It often makes economic sense to outsource. In some cases, buyers might pay a foreign programmer only 30% of what they would pay a U.S.-based programmer. Plus, they can choose from a pool of 200,000 professionals based on bids and blind ratings. |
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Small-business owners are increasingly finding help for their high-tech needs in online markets where free-lance tech specialists compete to provide their services.
Darren Gates, a Los Angeles entrepreneur who sells software programs and widgets for business Web sites, says he first used vWorker.com in 2002 when he realized he couldn''t finish some projects on time and on budget by himself. Using code writers in Los Angeles was too costly for him, he says, because they generally ran about $100 to $150 an hour. vWorker.com was the less expensive option. Workers he hires through the site cost him about 80% to 90% less than what he would spend locally, he says. |
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"There has never been a better time to start a company than now. Here are reasons why you should start a startup...
- The costs are incredibly low. Development tools are free. The other day I created a server and disk space for a startup using Amazon EC2 and S3. My total cost so far? $4.27.
- You can do things differently. You can challenge the established rules of business. Want to outsource your development to vWorker.com? Go for it.
Twenty years ago starting a company required substantial capital...Today people work on their personal machines wherever they are, connecting with each other via email or Skype. Servers and storage exist in a cloud, for the price of a cup of coffee a day -- and scalability is an afterthought. And the Internet is your nearly free demo room and sales/distribution channel. If you have a credit card, you're on your way. So what are you waiting for? |
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| "It’s getting the point that if you aren’t using some form of Web 2.0 in your online endeavors that you are behind the game by about a year...To get started with Pligg, first visit www.Pligg.com. You can also hire a freelance developer to do the install and build a custom template for you from places like vWorker.com." |
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| "For startups with limited resources who need to get to market quickly, the tools are all there -- if they have the management skills and the gusto to try them out...Ian Ippolito, runs the online software developer contracting site vWorker.com. com, [which] uses an escrow system and will jump in when arbitration is needed. "One in 10 projects have a dispute and we offer arbitrations. We don't charge for that," he says, adding that the site facilitates almost 8,000 contracts a month. 'We step in if necessary, test the software code that was developed and look at the project specifications.'" |
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| "If you want to start marketing as an affiliate then you need to have your own website. You can hire a web designer to do this design work for you... The easiest way to hire a designer is to use an auction website like vWorker.com...Simply type a description of your project and designers will enter their bids. You will receive many bids from different designers. Check the portfolio and rate of each designer. Select the one which is best for your work and award him your project. After getting your website you can pay him through the auction website." |
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| "'All my WordPress sites are down,' said the panicked voice coming over the phone. 'Nothing was where it was supposed to be!' This is just typical of the many horror stories I've heard when business people eagerly jump into the new-media marketplace. Sure, blogs have finally gained the recognition they deserve in the business community as a viable marketing tool. But with all the hype, if you don't know some of the pitfalls or how to upload your own plugins to prevent spam on your site, you could find yourself in a great deal of trouble if you don't have a trusted programmer at your immediate disposal. Check out vWorker.com to find affordable programmers to join your team..that will take care of all the headaches for you." |
| Secrets to Success |
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| By Deborah Cole Micek and John-Paul Micek |
| Honolulu Star Bulletin, January 1, 2008 |
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| (Note: This is a podcast of the original video interview): "Our guest today is Ian Ippolito who is the CEO of Exhedra Solutions, (d/b/a Rent-a-Coder.com). His company provides an online marketplace where software programmers can sell their services like guild workers to buyers who need custom programming. In order to remain competitive, many of us are constantly discovering ways to improve our websites. However, even those of us with an internal IT staff sometimes discover that our people just simply don’t have the skills, or time, to take on all of the projects we would like to implement. Others of us work for small companies that don’t even have an internal IT staff. Rent-a-Coder provides a solution. It is analogous to eBay in the sense that it is a website where buyers and sellers of programming services can match-up. Presently, about 200,000 programmers offer services on the exchange to about 100,000 buyers. Only about one-third of the programmers are in the United States, so many are available at low cost relative to domestic wage rates." |
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| "Back in the day (a year or two ago) it was a pain to create and maintain a Website...if you do need some help building your site or creating interesting content, you can go to vWorker.com and put your project up for bid. Chances are you’ll find someone who will do the job for what you can afford." |
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| "Within the last five years, more small businesses, from travel agencies to boutique motorcycle manufacturers, are taking advantage of inexpensive labor outside the United States. Websites like...vWorker.com...have made it easier for small businesses to find eager service providers worldwide. [....] Rock Blanco, chief technology officer at Atlas Travel International, a 130-employee travel agency in Milford, Massachusetts, used vWorker.com last year to find computer programmers to write software to synthesize and analyze customer data. He ended up accepting a bid from a Russian outfit and paid them in three installments as they reached benchmarks in the project. ‘I was blown away by the job they did,’ he said. The cost was about a third of what it would have been if done locally. ‘They also delivered two weeks early.’ This was largely due to the time difference, which allowed him and his Russian coders to jointly work on the project 24 hours a day. […] Blanco was so impressed that he recently hired the Russian programmers to do another job.” |
| Smallsourcing |
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| By Kate Murphy |
| Conde Nast Portfolio.com, October 3, 2007 |
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| "Who writes the seed content in the first place? Canada-based Dave Markel uses … vWorker.com …to source original articles. He recruits would-be writers who want to turn a quick profit. "I started paying between $5 and $7 per 500-word article. I was using the emerging markets - Pakistan, India and Romania. But you could tell that they were taught English as a second language," he says. "So I started looking at the US, Canada, Britain, and Australia. Now I pay between $10 and $15 per article, but I don't have to do nearly as much editing. Markel says that his writers are stay-at-home mothers, students and others wanting to write for money." |
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| There are ways to be more productive in your software development if you are prepared to...try some new methods. Sourcing the team members [can be done from] vWorker.com. This site, which serves as a marketplace to connect buyers with coders, does not charge a finder's fee to the buyer, but instead charges the developer a commission for a successful bid. The payment for the job is held in escrow (by a third party) until the code is delivered and the buyer is satisfied. |
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| The Inc. 5000 is the list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. vWorker.com was honored with placement on this list. It was ranked #82 out of all Inc. 5000 companies in software, #3 out of all companies in the Tampa Bay area and #1,065 out of all companies in the nation Inc. magazine described vWorker.com as:vWorker.com connects businesses with freelance programmers around the world through a Web marketplace. It's service is unique, and a high demand exists for freelance coders. |
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| Social networks and related data management services should become an important part of your online search marketing strategy. Learning how to use blogging can help you create authority, connect better with your customers and lift your visibility in the search engines....It takes about 10 minutes to set up....[Then] add a blog post once every week or more to start. Frequency is important to search engines, and users will come to expect regular updates. If you have more money than time, have someone from vWorker.com...write it for you. |
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| Outsourcing has transformed the way U.S. companies do business. Now, some early adopters are figuring out how to tap overseas workers for personal tasks. They're turning to a vast talent pool in India, China, Bangladesh and elsewhere for jobs ranging from landscape architecture to kitchen remodeling and math tutoring. They're also outsourcing some surprisingly small jobs, including getting a dress designed, creating address labels for wedding invitations or finding a good deal on a hotel room, for example...Some big freelancing sites include vWorker.com. |
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| As a CIO at Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Jay Crotts’s...goal is to hire the best IT person for every role, no matter where in the world that person resides...A growing number of U.S. companies — whether they’re global or domestic, small or large — are mimicking Shell’s approach. Thanks to online programmer “marketplaces” like vWorker.com...there are more ways than ever before to communicate and collaborate with skilled individuals who happen to live overseas. “Smart companies are really looking at a whole mix of options...and it’s being driven partly by strategy, partly by the ability to find talent and generally to keep costs lower,” he says. |
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| The promise of saving time and money by exploiting technology and inexpensive labor overseas is an old headline. "If other companies are doing it and cutting costs, you have to do that or you'll be out of business," says Vineet Katial...Selecting a vendor is hard enough for large companies with fat travel and research budgets, let alone entrepreneurs on a shoestring. How to find a reliable partner? Matchmaker Web sites like...vWorker.com pair outsourcers with vendors. |
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"I spoke with a user of vWorker.com, who was himself a former developer but is now succesfully running a direct-sales organization. He needed a fresh corporate design, including a new logo, an interactive website, a shopping card and all the requisite security mechanisms. 45 days later he had a new look, a new website and was steadily taking orders via the web. Total cost US$1,000...(the figure includes TWO designs of the corporate look).
At these prices it makes sense for even small firms to consider outsourcing projects. As the user confided to me, 'I know C++, and I've done assembly language development, so I could have learned PHP and set it up myself. But I could not have done it as fast, as well or as cheaply as by outsourcing it this way.'" |
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"Athens Development, Inc. is a small company from Tennessee that specializes in software applications for marketing. The company uses the marketplace [vWorker.com] to outsource 100 percent of its software development and support as well as some marketing-related services such as Web design.
'For a small company like ours, it might be difficult to get adequate treatment from a typical Indian outsourcing provider as we do not generate enough work," says Tracy A. Childers, the Founder of Athens Development. "A marketplace like vWorker.com that provides access to talent from all over the world, along with value-added services such as escrow accounts, document storage, and arbitration, is an excellent solution for us. My business heavily relies on vWorker.com. If something happens to vWorker.com, it would be hard for me to switch to a different outsourcing channel,' he adds." |
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| On vWorker.com....there are thousands of coders worldwide...Roughly 30 coders viewed my project and made bids from a few hundred dollars to several thousand...Once I identifid my “knight in shining armor” ... vWorker.com did the rest. It provided the legal text about ownership of the software, and my money was put in escrow, which I could release in increments of my choosing. The site keeps track of how long the project is supposed to take and allows the buyer to cancel the project if it’s not completed by the specified date. It also provides mediation and arbitration if either party feels he or she has received less than what was agreed upon. Coder and buyer are allowed to rate each other at the end of the transaction. vWorker.com helped me tremendously in finding three of the four contractors I used for the project. |
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| vWorker.com matches projects with software developers from around the world. In just over three years, the site--a sort of eBay for software projects--has exploded, attracting a cumulative 45,000 buyers who've posted projects and 121,000 coders around the globe offering to take on work. ...The site is a window into the distributed, hypercompetitive future of work: Coders, mostly from the United States, India, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Pakistan, dive into the fray to bid on projects. |
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"I told a friend, ... that I planned to build my own site. He said...'You should outsource.' I reminded him that I'm not a multinational PLC...That's when he told me about personal outsourcing. Apparently, it's possible to pass on the IT problem to a third party ... It's all done via a website called vWorker.com - you write down the details of the program or website you want developed, post your requirements on vWorker.com, and wait for bids.
I thought it best to give the bid process 21 days [but] the following morning, there...were 63 bids. ...I settled for a company, ... the whole process has been carefully thought through. The funds are held in escrow and only released when you're happy with the work. If you're not satisfied and can't settle things with the developer, vWorker.com conducts an online arbitration to settle the dispute. ...I was impressed." |
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"Jotpot is a perfect case study for illustrating the four big trends that make it cheaper, and therefore also easier, to start a company in Silicon Valley today than during the last boom.
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| #3) | The labor market has gone global.
In the 1990s, only monster companies like IBM had tapped into offshoring. Today JotSpot, using ... vWorker.com, has programmers on the payroll in Germany, India, Romania, and Russia -- at a fraction of what they’d cost in the Valley." |
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"With billions of Web pages existing online today, it takes more than a simple brochure or ad to attract visitors and motivate them to stay on your site...It takes quality content.
To find a local copywriter, try an online service that specializes in connecting business owners with writers...vWorker.com offers a service in which you place your proposal online and receive bids for your projects." |
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| "I prefer to use vWorker.com to hire good writers, simply because they have an escrow system that allows the payment to be held until the work is finished. Take plenty of time to write a detailed project specification to make sure that you cover precisely what you expect the writer to provide. You should also pay particular attention to the individuals' feedback score before choosing a writer." |
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"Big businesses are not the only ones who can benefit from sending work overseas...The idea of hiring a programmer to make that little widget you are desperate for might seem decadent, but it is very good value for money and remarkably easy.
I needed a selection of little programs to do things with my email. But I'd never had the time, or the patience, to write them myself. After a visit to vWorker.com...I got something I needed for a fifth of the price I would otherwise have had to pay. Indeed, the UK price was always too much: I wouldn't ever have spent that much money. But via the web, I could get what I needed for a price I could afford. That it was written in Belorussia, and not Brighton, made the difference between having it or not." |
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| By Ben Hammersley |
| The Guardian, July 14th, 2005 |
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| "There’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur because it’s never been cheaper to be one... Startups today have unprecedented access to global labor markets. Back in 1993, IBM had access to technical people in India, but little Excite.com did not. Today, with rent-a-coder...we have access to a world-wide talent pool of experts on a temporary or permanent basis....All in all, it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur." |
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| "Choosing a web designer can seem like a daunting task...If you know exactly what you are looking for and can explain your project thoroughly and clearly in writing, then there are huge savings to be made...Go to web sites such as...vWorker.com...offering the benefit of escrow and arbitration services." |
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| "British Telecom CEO Ben Verwaayen said in a lecture at the Judge Institute of Management [at Cambridge University]...vWorker.com [programmers are] ready to work for you at the click of mouse. It's better and cheaper." |
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| Sending programming work overseas lets Hawaii companies remain competitive. ...James Kerr sits down in front of his laptop and types in the Web address of vWorker.com, a virtual marketplace for freelance software programmers around the world. His face brightens as the page loads. "Is this unbelievable or what?" asks Kerr, president of computer-services company SuperGeeks, while scrolling wildly through the bios of some of the 71,000 programmers -- many of them in countries that can offer ultra-competitive rates. "I'm like a kid in a candy store." |
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| Hay says outsourcing saves him at least 30%...Thanks to firms such as...vWorker.com, small employers can now find skilled contractors for everything from software programming to graphic design more easily than before. |
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| Beachead's competitors were finding cheaper labor offshore, and Brookins, to win contracts, had to match them. Last fall, he logged on to a Web site, vWorker.com, a matchmaking service between employers and some 30,000 programmers around the world. There, Brookins found a 27-year-old Romanian named Florentin Badea, a star from Bucharest's Polytechnic University and the 11th-ranked programmer on the whole site. Badea was willing to charge just $250 for a project that would have cost $2,000, Brookins estimates. |
| "Software" |
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| By Stephen Baker and Manjeet Kripalani |
| Business Week, March 1st, 2004 |
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| Finding a cheaper source of high quality programming is the only way to remain both competitive and profitable...I wrote up a functional specification and posted out the project...Rent-A-Coder produced about 20 bids from $95 to $4000 for the entire project. The bidders hailed from all over the globe, representing countries in Europe, Asia, and South America...The hardest part of the process has been narrowing the field and selecting a programmer...(but) I found a standout. I accepted Veronica's bid...and the project has been going well. |
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| With Rent-A-Coder...programmers like Meeks and King, [find] help on the job is always at hand, at a distance of about a few thousand miles, and at a fraction of the cost they are used to paying for similar jobs in their own markets... |
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The premise of vWorker.com is simple: if you need a computer job carried out — a site designed, a program written, a database created — you put it up for tender on the website. Freelance developers read your request, ask questions and name their price for completing the project. You make the choice, sign a contract and wait for the software — all online.
vWorker.com has a complex set of safeguards to prevent either side being ripped off: clients pay their money into a secure account to guarantee their good faith and there is an arbitration panel in case the buyer claims the coder did not do the job properly. |
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| As the e-bay of sourcecode, vWorker.com has become the standard site for source code shopping. |
"Digital, Inc."
Understanding Management, 4/e Chapter 9 |
| By Dorothy Marcic |
| Published by Cincinnati: Southwestern Publishing 2003 |
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| Whether you’re a career contractor just looking for some side work or even a manager trying to staff a small project, you should definitely check out vWorker.com. |
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| You may be in the market for a new website. Perhaps you may be looking for a new logo or a database constructed for yourself or a small business...You can save up to 75% without batting an eyelash...vWorker.com is one of the best freelance sites on the web today...Rent-a-coder is getting quality work done at rock bottom prices. |
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| vWorker.com is the most secure and easy to use outsourcing website. |
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| I have used Elance, oDesk and vWorker.com, and vWorker.com by far has the most experienced and talented coders and workers out there! |
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| I regularly need design work done for web applications I develop; vWorker.com provides cheap exceptional quality designers to plug a gap that my small business can't afford. |
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| vWorker.com allows me to offer my clients more choice…and most importantly the ability to guarantee results! vWorker.com's Escrow process is efficient - I never have to worry, as long as I stay attentive and in good communication with the workers. |
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| I don't have the capability of doing my own graphics, so I find someone on vWorker.com that I trust and I stick with him. We developed a wonderful business relationship that allows me to contact him through vWorker.com and he gives me a small discount for being a repeat customer. Now I'm free to focus my talent on other things. |
| senatl of Georgia, United States |
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| vWorker.com is my gateway to intellectual property geoarbitrage. People on vWorker.com will write code for $100 that it would cost me $1000 or more to have written in Silicon Valley where I work. As an ex Google product manager, I find the vWorker.com experience to be ideal: I write specs, submit them for bids, and pick the best two bids to both complete the work; I have two coders work on the same project in case one of them isn't able to complete it on time. I can afford to have two people working on the same project in parallel since the rates are so reasonable, and if both deliver the project, I have the luxury to choose the better engineered code. Even great software companies don't usually have that option. |
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| vWorker.com is the best resource I have found for project based outsourcing. One of my early programmers from Pakistan ended up working for Nokia in Germany on the basis of the work experience he had with me writing mobile applications from his village. This is more than a way to get cheap software; it’s a way to give a leg up to bright people all over the world. |
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| I've worked with local students and professionals on many projects and prefer the reliability and security of using vWorker.com. |
| WBH.ME of South Carolina, United States |
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| I've been using vWorker.com for some 50 projects spanning back several years and I've consistantly been very impressed with the quality of service. The very few cases that have gone to arbitration have always been handled fairly, to the point where I even agree with a decision against me (although we might not like it!). It's an excellent website and a senstational way to get things done. Well done. |
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| Just wanted to say I love vWorker, I've used it for years and it's the only way I outsource software work. (And PSC is not too shabby either) ;) |
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| I just wanted to thank you and acknowledge you for what you're doing with this site. I posted my project with other sources as well, but yours seems to have the best response (by far!) by qualified professional workers. And after reading about your pre-verification process and how that came about, I have to say I'm impressed with your business integrity, and I really appreciate your efforts to make and keep vworker a safe, secure business environment for all parties. My team and I are very impressed with vworker overall, and we plan to use you exclusively in the future. |
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| You guys are AMAZING. Wow, within 10 minutes, I had responses via email and phone helping me out. Your customer service just blew my socks off by impressing me with your responsible and friendly attitudes. What a great company you are running! I will continue to use you here on out. Thank you so much. |
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| You have an excellent service. I think it is one of the best on the web. Keep up the good work and don't change a thing. |
| John_La of Alexandria, United States |
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| Hi Ian,I am from Australia and have taken my freelance business full-time thanks solely to working through RAC for almost 2 years, and I pay a large mortgage on my own. I have managed to earn a ranking of around 800 ... I would like to thank you Ian for making it possible to follow my dreams exactly as I wish ... I would like to also thank your staff for being there if and when needed. I am happy with the fee because I have an innate trust that if there is a problem it will be dealt with fairly. Out of over 100 jobs I think I have put three jobs into arbitration. Congratulations on providing a great place to work through ... keep up the great work and I'll keep up the feedback... |
| whiteshepherd of Australia |
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| I'm completely stunned at how well this works and even though my first contract hasn't even started yet, I have no doubt as to the efficacy and integrity of this process. Brilliant concept and execution. I had a winning bid minutes after I posted. I am completely confident that the result will be successful. I am looking forward to a long and rewarding relationship with your company. Thanks for such great service quality. |
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| Great job. I can't believe I've been messing with odesk, elance, whatever. I had such a rewarding experience hiring through you guys that I just wanted to say thanks. Keep up the great work!! |
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| I just want to say THANK YOU very much for helping with this coder, and getting the project back on track for me. You and the vWorker.com team are very helpful and have serviced my business many times before and I enjoy your system and setup. This is a prime example of why the vWorker.com program and system works for Buyers. The rules and the guidelines saved me from getting money stolen. Thank you. I look forward to being a good client of your serivce, because I like they way your system and process works. Thank you! |
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| Just would like to say that this is one of the best sites I have used. Thank you for all your help and endeavours to keep it running. |
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| I am very impressed by your service. I got the add-in tool I needed from an expert in the Phillipines at an unbelievable price. Will be using your service whenever I need to. |
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| Rent A Coder is a fantastic way to quickly expand my development team on an ad-hoc basis to meet the peaks in custom software demands from the business. |
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| Your system works amazing.. What I hate about it is the fact that now I have to rethink how we do software development! I had a quote for $3K to do a small project and someone told me of your site.. I was not sure so I tested it. I am getting the same thing done for $100. How can one not do it through your system.. Great job. I am simply baffled, amazed, and more importantly amused by the responses. My compliments for a great job and a great idea. |
| KRazvan of Blacksburg, United States |
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| My name is Jorge. I'm a user of rentacoder from the first months of 2004, and more than 5 years have passed. The site is still much like the first, because it is simple but functional. And more important, are the personalised replies that you do all the time. I began as a coder; I won my first job with an australian guy, when I was only 17 years old. Thanks to that $300 usd, I bought my first Pioneer stereo for my first car, an old Fiat Uno 1985. 10 months later, with that stereo I gave my first kiss to my girlfriend, who is now my wife. The years have passed, and now I'm a software engineer and a buyer, not a coder, and I use rentacoder more than ever. It's incredible what I can do with $50 usd in 12 hours; jobs that a designer could take weeks to do...and also, minor jobs that a designer doesn’t want to take. I opened my own business (nothing related with the software) but I have a real competitive advantage over my competitors, since I have brochures of the highest quality, the best websites, etc. Now in the internet era, that is more important than the business itself. I can say that rentacoder was my partner in the more importants years of my life. Best regards. |
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| Just escrowed funds for my first project as a buyer. I've used another site in the past several times. I'm so pleased with your site and your support that I will never go back to them. |
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| If you'd ask me what's the best place where you can get your IT project completed on both a TOP QUALITY and AFFORDABLE PRICE then I would definitely direct you to RentACoder (www.rentacoder.com). And the best thing is that they protect you and your money from any fraud attempt from the coder - you release the money from escrow only when the work is completed. |
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| I just wanted to say how happy I am with the service I get from rentacoder. When I have a new project I usually post the same thing accross several freelancing sites, but consistently rentacoder provides me cheaper bids from higher quality programmers than other sites. The end result is that with rentacoder I get a better product for cheaper cost. |
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| vWorker.com has been a lifesaver for my business! I know you're not the only site with programmers, e-cover creators, and writers for hire, but you are the best! I know-I've tried them all and I keep coming back to you! |
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As an entreprenuer on a shoestring budget, I can honestly say that vWorker.com is the way to go.
Before finding vWorker.com, I purchased Visual Studio Pro and hired a local programmer to 'get me over the hurdles'. Then the nightmare began. As my deadline drew closer it became more and more obvious that I was in way over my head. I was really panicked when the programmer I hired to 'get me over the hurdles' shrugged and said "I can't help you".
Out of desperation I turned to half a dozen internet programming portals, and vWorker.com won out. What an awesome decision it turned out to be. My program got developed under budget and before deadline, and it totaly rocks! My skepticism was shattered, and now I will recommend vWorker.com to anyone. |
| Andy Baughman of Greensboro, North Carolina |
Control Strategy
(336) 253-3019 |
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I've operated as a corporate consultant for more than twenty years and held management positions over project managers, software engineers/programmers and hardware engineers/programmers. My experience over the last few years with Rent-a-Coder itself as a buyer has been satisfying, fair and highly successful.
The project failure percentage rate in the open market is several times higher than it is using Rent-a-Coder. If a project's management is at least conversant with logic and rationale, and is able to avoid the over-politicization of the project on all fronts, what is likely to result is a superb project result that exceeds most all reasonable expectations. |
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| By the way... I have cut my cost dramatically by putting jobs out to bid on vWorker.com instead of hiring my own programmer which I always did in the past. Your website is awesome. |
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| After many months of outsourcing more than 30+ ministry projects, I am convinced more than ever that the vWorker.com community is, without a doubt, one of the first great innovations of this 21st Century. I’ve had the pleasure to work with Graphics brilliance in Romania, 3D Animators in Russia, Web Designers in Brazil, Malaysia and Canada, and Software Developers in India... The vWorker.com rating system allowed me to read a trustworthy historical record of each Coders performance record.... I am more than happy to encourage any other potential buyers you might have to join vWorker.com... and try out a test project for a few hundred dollars. They’ll be thanking me for years! ;) |
| Troy A. Lyndon |
CIO Bright Media Foundation
Former Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year Award Recipient
March 7th, 2004 |
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| You have fundamentally changed the way I get product development done...which is pretty cool. |
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| By being able to outsource some of the more time consuming portions of web site and software development (at affordable rates!) I have been able to double my production and cut my development time in half for my clients. Thank You! |
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Hi! I just wanted to take a moment to tell you how pleased I am with vWorker.com.
I have been hiring programmers for over 13 years, and I'm sure you're aware of how time-consuming and difficult it is to find good people with the appropriate skills. I'm currently working on some projects that require very obscure knowledge and careful coding, and using vWorker.com it took only a matter of days to find the appropriate programmers, at prices that were literally 25 times less expensive than we expected. The programmers delivered quality software on time.
You have provided an elegant solution to a complicated and difficult problem.
I will continue to use your services again and again, and I already have a friend I referred who has had similar success, and I rave about you to everyone who will listen. |
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| I just had a project completed through your site, and I am very impressed with it. I don't think I could have written that level of code on my own, and...the project was done within twelve hours of it's initial posting! I think you may have one of the single most useful sites on the internet on your hands. |
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| Your service has allowed us to move forward with our project quickly and within our budget. We truly appreciate the service. |
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| In May I decided to take a look at vWorker.com ....I received almost all bids in the first 3- 4 days after posting my project, beginning within an hour of posting. This seems to be common.... The coder I chose does not live in the U.S....his spelling was not perfect...The end result is that he developed my modules as I wanted (actually better as he made suggestions along the way) on a quarter of the time and at half the cost...I was very happy with his work and gave him a generous bonus. |
| Review by Duster at MaxDev.com |
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| I want to complement your service. You take submissions on the weekends, and cleared my payment with the additional requirement of a copy of the CC in record time. You are doing a great service. It has been the best value we have ever received, and we do not pay a premium for it. Thanks again, and keep up the great job! |
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| Just a brief note of appreciation of your services. Within a couple of days of bidding, my coder has completed the task to my entire satisfaction. I thoroughly recommend your service! |
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| Our company was in desperate need for a VBA program modification....your service came to my rescue. The bid process really helped us manage our tight budget line. I received the results I was looking for and then some. Guaranteed I’ll be back to post another job! |
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| ...vWorker.com got us a step ahead of the competition! I'm sure there are many smaller businesses that are as glad you're here as I am! |
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| You have certainly proven why this program is such an invaluable tool for buyers...had I contacted this coder through normal channels, I would have suffered a tremendous loss. Thank you for all you help in this matter. [Note: this email was received after the arbitration process showed that the coder did not deliver completely...and buyer's money was refunded from escrow.] |
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| vWorker.com is simply terrific! After a disastrous experience with an Indian programmer I contacted as a result of his article in a Windows developer magazine, I turned to vWorker.com --- and now have at least four highly qualified bidders for my project! |
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| FYI... I'm VERY happy with the service you provide me here at vWorker.com, and I got several projects started and done here...And many more it will be..:-) |
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| On a side note, I absolutly love the vWorker.com service.. |
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| First let me say your site fills my requirements much better than eLance. I put my bid out and found my programmer right away. |
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| I've searched low and high for people to help me solve my coding problems. Most message boards did nothing, as people didn't reply. But when i found out about vWorker.com it solved all my coding problems. Just like to say how great vWorker.com is, and loads of people i know agree with me 100%. Great work everyone! |
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| First I'd like to tell you that you web site is great. The service you provide is best I've seen. I worked with HotDispatch before and I am never going there again. |
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| What an amazing service you offer! I have recently put my first piece of work up for bids and received 38 in less than a week! |
| Ian StJohn |
| The Corporate Sports Company |
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| I want to thank you for calling last night and for taking care of this matter for me. I like working with vWorker.com WAY better than eLance.com. |
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| This was my first experience as a vWorker.com buyer. I am completely pleased. Thanks for providing such a valuable service. |
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| Well done! vWorker.com is going from strength to strength. I have recommended all of my friends to use vWorker.com, they love it too. |
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| I found vWorker.com to be a fantastic service. Exactly the kind of thing that is necessary when working with a coder remotely so that everyone gets exactly what they require in a very easy fashion. |
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| I wouldn't know where to begin to contract with coders in another state, let alone another country without the safety and recommendations provided by vWorker.com. This service has been most benefical to myself and my company. Thank you. |
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| It has been a very pleasant experience. I would recommend this service to anyone. |
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