Legitimate work-from-home job listing sites for a web developer?

[whoompswhoomps]

Hello all,

I know that there are a jillion websites out there that claim to have real work-from-home opportunities, but most of them look quite shady.

Do any of you know of a legitimate resource for finding those telecommute jobs that would work for a highly experienced front end/user interface (CSS/HTML/JavaScript) developer such as myself?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Doron

[WebErika]

Hello all,

I know that there are a jillion websites out there that claim to have real work-from-home opportunities, but most of them look quite shady.

Do any of you know of a legitimate resource for finding those telecommute jobs that would work for a highly experienced front end/user interface (CSS/HTML/JavaScript) developer such as myself?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Doron

Have you tried eLance.com ? That's the first site that popped to mind really. Everybody on there telecommutes ... or I'd say at least 99% of them .. :)

[whoompswhoomps]

Thanks for that, I will look into it!

Does anyone know of websites with links to actual full-time telework positions? My concern with eLance is that because I am US-based, I will not be able to compete on price with developers abroad.

[clanshrapnel]

Thanks for that, I will look into it!

Does anyone know of websites with links to actual full-time telework positions? My concern with eLance is that because I am US-based, I will not be able to compete on price with developers abroad.

As someone who is using elance now, I can tell you that you CAN compete with developers abroad if you make clear several things:

1) You can communicate well and efficiently. People WILL pay a higher price if you make it clear you are saving them back/forth with foreigners that do not have a handle on English. It's a real problem that I am finding out (and others have, too, I am positive). The worst part is that, more often than not, if a foreigner doesn't understand written requirements, rather than ask questions about it, they will skip the requirement all together. I've had this issue both with personal outsourcing to China/India as well as work-related outsourcing.

2) You provide true value for the price. A lot of 'cheap' developers on eLance are just cheap because their end product is cheap. While this may work for the cheap $50-150 job, it doesn't work well for full-blown websites and more advanced application work. If you have a great portfolio and you can demonstrate that you are truly providing value over just cost-savings, there are people who will prefer that.

Make sure you make those 2 points above very clear, and you may be surprised that you can still charge more and yet still get the project you are bidding on. Think about why people still rely on web developers in the US rather than abroad. Also keep in mind that human psychology often leads one to believe that 'you get what you pay for,' so even though your bid may be higher for a project, your perceived value will also be raised. You can often get the project in the end.

Good luck!

[kamakiri]

Thanks for that, I will look into it!

Does anyone know of websites with links to actual full-time telework positions? My concern with eLance is that because I am US-based, I will not be able to compete on price with developers abroad.

There are tons of opportunities out there to make $400-$500 a month full time online. That is great, if you live in India that is. Heck, you could farm gold on WoW and make more than that. Why would you come here looking for full time work? You mentioned nothing of salary. I hope that working 40 hours a week is not more important than salary for you.

Re-evaluating your priorities might be in order. Before you start looking for answers, take a look at your questions and make sure you are even asking the right ones.

[whoompswhoomps]

@clanshrapnel, thank you for the great insights, you've definitely opened my mind to using eLance as a possible source of income!

@kamakiri, I definitely see your point. The only reason I mention full-time work is because I am currently looking for something that will act as a bridge to finding my muse. Web development is most definitely not something that I see as a "muse" as it is extremely time-consuming. I suppose I could start my own web development company and farm out all of the work to contractors, but that seems like it would consume a great deal of hours each week for a very long time until I could automate it.

Right now the challenge for me is to free us some time while still being able to support myself. I cannot simply walk out of my job today and begin experimenting with random business ideas, as I have expenses just like everyone else, and my savings are still minimal at this point in time.

However, if you have any ideas of how I could begin to experiment with some of the principles in this book while still being able to pay my bills, I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks everyone!

[kamakiri]

That clears it up. The real trick with designing the lifestyle you want to live is to ask the right questions. Full time telecommuting is probably not the answer for you. Build yourself a 'bridge' and you just might never get off of it.

Here is a quote from the Zen Habits blog (check it out if you haven't seen it)

Creating Space in Your Life
It’s time to take a Big Picture look at your life — how are you spending your time right now? How long do you work (and how much of that time is spent on doing what you really love about your work)? What do you do before and after work? What do you do on your days off?
Now think about all the things you do, and how many of them are on your short list. For the things not on your short list, what can you eliminate? Some things might be big commitments that are hard to get out of — but over time, you can get out of them. Learn to say no, and learn how to tell people that you can no longer commit to doing something. It’s not always easy, but remember that this is your life, and you should do what you really want to do, not what others want you to do.
Really think hard about how you can eliminate the non-essential things in your life (the non-short list stuff). Work on this over time, and create the space in your life that you need for the things you love. Be sure to allot that time you’ve created to the things on your short list — don’t just use it up with television or other space fillers.


Also, read this post (http://fourhourworkweek.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=2299) by me. You might just as easily spend as much time finding that bridge as it would take to get a muse up and running, so keep that in mind.

And as a final note, having a bridge also means you have an escape route. If you don't go out and burn the bridges you cross, you might never get to your destination. That strategy worked for the Greeks.

[whoompswhoomps]

kamakiri, You've definitely given me much to digest. (I love Zen Habits and Seth's Blog, btw) Thanks for the great insights!

[DaveCraige.com]

Doron, can you link us to your work.

And you might want to try www.authenticjobs.com