Saturday, September 21, 2013

The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting

In our lecture on Wednesday, Dr. Burton explained a lot about crowdsourcing. There are some amazing things that crowdsourcing has been able to accomplish, but of course, there are ups and downs to anything. I'd like to focus this post on something I know more about, which is the world of freelance editing and design.


There are a lot of ways that people freelance. Some have their own individual websites and portfolios, but many people seem to gravitate toward sites like oDesk or freelancer.com. On these sites, employers can post projects for freelancers to search through and apply for. Here are some pros:

  1. Very flexible. Not only can you work when you want, but you can choose which projects you want to take on (and when).
  2. Employers increase their pool of applicants.
  3. Freelancers increase their pool of possible projects.
There are, however, some cons that need to be addressed, and some implications that come out of them:

  1. The pool of applicants is huge, which gives employers a lot of power.
  2. The prices are set very low. I mean very, very low. Often you'll see a project that will probably take 40 hours to complete with a wage of $100 (that's $2.50 an hour).
But why do these sites survive, then? Someone must be taking these jobs. And they are. Who takes them is very interesting for the future of the workplace.

  1. Amateurs trying to build up a portfolio.
    • Fair enough. Maybe people get a portfolio built up here and then move on to create their own website and build clientele from there. Does this mean that places like oDesk are the new entry-level jobs?
  2. People who live in low cost-of-living areas.
    • This is the one I find the most interesting. One hundred US dollars goes a lot farther in some countries than it does in the United States. US freelancers could complain about this, but then again, they could also move to and work from these places themselves. Does the future of telecommuting mean that workers will live in areas according to the types of services they offer?

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2 comments:

  1. Amber ZSeptember 21, 2013 at 11:09 AM

    Your second point is very interesting. Considering businesses already build their companies overseas for cheaper labour, I could see the possibility of freelancers doing the same to get more worth for their money. What I'd like to know more about is your first point though. Do employers take this kind of work seriously enough to consider it an entry-level job? I'll have to research that.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 21, 2013 at 12:14 PM

    I found the same thing. I freelanced for a media group last year through oDesk, and it wasn't even worth my time to pick up assignments, because I was in competition with people from post-British-Colonial countries where two or three dollars an hour isn't half bad. I found it was impossible to make a living as an entry-level writer or editor. Maybe the more experienced writers can make it, but I realized it wasn't for me and quit after just a month or so.

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