I’ve been working as a freelance designer/draftsman since shortly after my first child was born. Right about that same time the company I had worked for was sold and the office dissolved, which was ironically good for me, because my old bosses went to a couple of start-up companies and have been throwing me contract work.
I’d like to expand my client base and came across guru.com. Anybody have any experience with this service. Reputable, worthwhile, or should I run screaming into the night?
The circles I travel in are geared more toward the editorial side of publishing, but the buzz on guru.com is to run screaming into the night – unless you like the idea of working with people who are interested only in hiring the lowest bidder. Better to compete on your skills. Same seems to go for other sites that want you to pay for the privilege of bidding for work. Once they have your money, what do they care?
I’ve had good luck with hitting Google, using phrases related to the type of work I want to do (usually along with “freelance” to weed out the full-time jobs). This should turn up the Web sites of companies that hire freelancers as well as job banks/boards/portals/etc. that are much better targeted than Craigslist and the like.
My wife got several leads and jobs as a freelance writer through guru.com. Most of them petered out as regular clients after a year or less. Most people who post there really have no clue what they actually want or need, and don’t want to pay m uch for it in any case.
I do mechanical engineering type work, though I’m only at the designer level – I’m not a engineer by any stretch. I’ve worked in automotive parts manufacturers and medical device designing companies.