Aside from being wildly successful startups, all three companies have business models based on having on-demand access to assets — what you need, when you need it, without a long-term commitment. From picking up a car for running an hour of errands, to staying in a cozy apartment for a few nights as if it were your own, to wearing a designer dress for a night and then sending it back, these companies make the ownership of assets essentially unnecessary.

If the success of these startups is any indication, this temporary-use model may be the operating model of the future, according to Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath. In a recent article for Harvard Business Review, she discusses how “owning anything may soon be seen as an industrial-age relic.”

While owning something certainly has a number of benefits, they come at the expense of flexibility or liquidity. When things change — which happens frequently in our fast-paced world — ownership can be problematic, she writes. In addition, permanent ownership is often unnecessary in situations where borrowing something will suffice.

McGrath also includes oDesk in this category of on-demand access to assets — in our case, access to talent. The advantages of the oDesk model present “the interesting question of when an employer would hire someone rather than simply pay for the services used on an as-needed basis,” she writes.

McGrath argues for the positive aspects of this trend: the ability for anyone to earn extra money on the side; the work opportunities for those who are physically unable to get a permanent, on-site job; and the freedom to pick one’s own hours and choose whether a traditional on-site job is best for them. While some may consider this shift to be damaging to the workforce, she also notes that regular employment options are not necessarily the gold standard for work security — in some industries, such as retail, there can be a great deal of instability and unpredictability.

“Many of the assumptions about society that we take for granted are based on the notion that relatively stable employment relationships are the norm,” McGrath writes. “When will our thinking catch up with the new reality?”

McGrath’s theory that the access-to-assets model may soon replace the ownership-of-assets model in certain cases relates back to the concept of Work 3.0, which oDesk CEO Gary Swart introduced in December.

Work 3.0 — a world where work is on demand, virtual and remote — is already a reality for many companies, those that are taking advantage of online work to make their businesses more agile and competitive. Similarly, millions of people are also leveraging the growing momentum of Work 3.0 to access work opportunities around the world, and to have the freedom to choose when, where and how to work.

When McGrath’s theory of on-demand access to assets is applied to the world of work, you get Work 3.0 and companies like oDesk. Businesses now have a huge, global pool of talent to choose from, allowing them to create a specialized, on-demand workforce that crosses borders, time zones and skill sets. In addition, the team can come together when it is needed, and dissipate when the project is done — without the need for office-based overhead or a commitment to yearly salaries.

In other words, not only does the on-demand model bring unprecedented flexibility as McGrath describes, but it also brings a significant competitive advantage.

And, in this Work 3.0 approach, the opportunities are boundless.

Jenna Weiner is a marketing specialist at oDesk and an editor of the oDesk Blog. With a background in business and technology writing and editing, she specializes in content strategy and social media marketing.

Imagine a world where employers have access to the best global talent, with just a click. One where people can work whenever they want, wherever they want, however they want. In this world, businesses can hire talent on demand, without worrying about complicated compensation packages, long hiring cycles or expensive overhead. In this world, people can work with companies from across the globe, instead of just those within commuting distance.

This world is not imaginary — it’s Work 3.0, and it’s already here.

In his presentation last week at the GigaOm Net:Work 2011 conference, oDesk CEO Gary Swart explained what Work 3.0 looks like, and how it is changing the world of work. Though many companies are already taking advantage of the technologies that power it, Work 3.0 is just getting started. Given the tremendous possibilities of this way of working, Work 3.0 will likely become commonplace much sooner than you may think. Here’s why:

Every business runs on talent. “It’s the single biggest lever we all have in our companies, regardless of the size, yet we’re all struggling to find good talent,” Gary explained. Traditional hiring is expensive and time-consuming, especially when you consider how competitive it is to attract and secure the best talent, and that “typically the talent doesn’t live where the jobs are located.”

But the times, they are a-changing. In the past two decades, we have gone from Work 1.0 — rigid, structured, on-premise work for one employer — to Work 2.0, where work is performed on site, but improvements in technology infrastructure have brought more flexibility to the workplace.

And now, with further improvements in software and cloud-based applications, we are passing through the gates of Work 3.0 — a world where work is on demand, virtual and remote.

A number of companies and workers have already found tremendous success with this model — Gary presented two examples — but the possibilities are endless.

“I don’t even think we’re at the knee of the curve of what’s to come,” Gary said.

Watch the video:

Erica Benton brings nearly a decade of experience as a small business owner and freelancer to her position as the editor-in-chief of the oDesk Blog.

- The United States has held the #2 spot for online workers since 2009.

- Small countries are growing and dominating as a group: work is spreading across more countries, as the number of countries included in the “Others” category grows.

- China joined the top ten countries in 2010, leapfrogged Canada for the #9 spot in 2011 (to date).

“We’re seeing rapid growth in online work over the past 7 years and now that growth is being distributed more evenly, in the sense that a wider range of countries are participating. Early on, India was incredibly dominant in the space, and–although still important and the largest country overall (in hiring statistics beyond the Bay Area)–we’ve seen tremendous growth in Eastern Europe, the Philippines, and even certain parts of Africa.” – John Horton, oDesk staff economist

Check out our infographic below to see the overall growth in online hiring from the Bay Area, and detail on how various countries are performing in the online work space.

Erica Benton brings nearly a decade of experience as a small business owner and freelancer to her position as the editor-in-chief of the oDesk Blog.

Diving into the Results:

“Location, Location, Location” Has Little Meaning

According to the survey results, building a distributed core workforce has become a key element to the success of both businesses and workers. The workplace itself has become virtual, reflecting a shift toward a truly borderless economy. Work happens regardless of location, and the majority of both employers and workers cite “non-preference” on the location of the other party.

“We are seeing a new employment reality,” states Gary Swart, oDesk CEO. “Location is less crucial to thriving employers and workers than it used to be, and today’s workplace is even more interconnected and global than Daniel Pink anticipated. There has been a substantial shift in the entire employment model.”

Addressing the Talent Shortage

Connecting local talent and opportunity has persisted as a challenge for businesses and workers alike. As stated recently in Manpower Group’s 2011 Talent Shortage Survey, as many as 34 percent of employers are having difficulty filling vacancies locally, making finding online talent to fill that gap even more imperative. According to oDesk’s survey, 28 percent of employers indicated the primary reason for building a distributed team is to access talent that is hard to find locally. Additionally, 21 percent of employers said that the ability to hire an online workforce enabled them to scale up or down quickly, responding in a nimble fashion to the real-time needs of their businesses.

Distributed Teams Plug In

Distributed teams may be geographically remote, but workers and employers consider themselves connected and engaged. According to the survey, as a result of frequent communication and collaboration on critical tasks with employers, online workers feel engaged, empowered and connected. 55 percent of employers assign “core” or “critical” work to remote contractors, while 87 percent of contractors, in turn, feel that they are an integral part of their employers’ staff.

Employment Loyalty Is Sprawling

The survey also found that workers have shown increased interest in growing their own horizontal networks and building reciprocal networks that lead to job opportunities. So, while workers collaborate in their work for employers, they are also developing loyalties to other workers. Daniel Pink called this dynamic “the new loyalty:”

Horizontal loyalty (is the) successor to vertical loyalty, which flowed upward — from an individual to an institution or authority figure…. By contrast, the new loyalty flows laterally. It is a fierce, and usually reciprocal, allegiance to: teams, colleagues, and ex-colleagues, to clients and customers; to industries and professions; and to family and friends.

Workers are harnessing their horizontal networks to support one another and network professionally, with 35 percent of contractors primarily finding work from other contractors referrals, and 59 percent of contractors participating in online groups/forums around their work.

“Big” Isn’t the Only Business in Town

The distributed workforce model is changing the nature of the business world. Access to global talent allows businesses of all sizes to grow and prosper. Contractors, specifically, are evolving into entrepreneurs and establishing their own small businesses. In other words, individuals are increasingly thinking of themselves not strictly as employers or workers, but as both.

Workers in distributed teams are growing their own businesses, and 77 percent of contractors currently consider online work as their own businesses. In addition, the majority of workers is reporting a higher expected income in 2011 than in 2010. Specifically, 66 percent of online contractors are expecting higher income this year than last, and 57 percent of workers are reporting a higher hourly rate.

Conclusion

Businesses and contractors are thriving — and 9-to-5 employment has nothing to do with it. While national unemployment rates remain frustratingly high and traditional staffing firms are touting a global “employment crisis,” the survey results show encouraging trends towards an interconnected online workforce.

Businesses that are building distributed teams, and the workers that are engaging in online work relationships, are succeeding in ways that are drastically different from the generations of workers and entrepreneurs before them.

How does the online workforce affect your business? Does the survey reflect how you typically interact with coworkers/employers online? Let us know in the comments!

Erica Benton brings nearly a decade of experience as a small business owner and freelancer to her position as the editor-in-chief of the oDesk Blog. She has recently admitted an addiction to infographics.

According to a recent Monster.com report (and our own oConomy), available IT jobs are on the rise.  Here in the US, IT market growth is forecast at 8% this year and 10.3% next year. And this growth isn’t limited to the United States. Forrester Research is predicting a 7.1% increase in IT spending at companies worldwide. Will you get hired? It all depends on whether your skill set is in line with current tech sector needs. Gauge your hireability by taking a look at this list of some of the fastest growing areas in the IT world:

1. Network Administration
   65% of CIOs say that networking professionals tops their “most wanted employees” list. Conversely, they also report that these job roles are the hardest to fill.  To excel in this field, you’ve got to be comfortable interacting with a wide range of technologies  from servers, routers, and wiring to the network management, security and various OS software packages that will be integrated into your LAN. Also, the ability to deal with server virtualization is extremely important. You must be able to understand the current infrastructure and then develop and work with a virtual version, while maintaining stability and efficiency.
2. Database Management
   Current average yearly salaries for IT professionals involved in database management are high, ranging from $80,000 to $100, 000. Salaries for workers familiar with Informatica, ETL (Extract, Transform & Load) and data warehousing topped the list, according to an eWeek.com report. ETL, in particular, is a bit surprising in its resurgence. Finding its past in mainframe history, ETL is now benefiting from speedy network infrastructure, cheap, reliable SAN and FOSS (free and open source software) structures that are gaining new traction among IT professionals, says John Hoffler at Tech Alliant.
   
3. Desktop Support
   A ComputerWorld survey found that technical support skills are extremely important for 42%  of potential employers. New OS version rollouts, plus federal health care legislation and its technological requirements are some of the reasons that companies are recognizing the need for more help desk job positions. When users are frustrated with technology, they either refuse to make use of it or don’t use the software correctly. Both options cost a company time and money (not to mention lots of headaches).
4. Mobile App Development
   More and more small to medium sized companies are wanting a smart phone presence. The challenge? There’s not enough app developers with the skills needed to take those mobile longings and transform them into reality. Mark Feffer over at Dice.com points to software engineers that can function as “developers, security experts and business analysts” as one of the hot items in today’s tech job market.
5. Security Professionals
   Now’s the time to brush up on your security credentials. In the ComputerWorld article referenced earlier, there was a quote from David Foote, CEO and chief research officer at Foote Partners LLC that basically stated that IT security experts haven’t suffered any industry instability or loss throughout these last few recession leaning years. Skills you should have include a general understanding of IT security, then a more in depth knowledge of enterprise firewalls, VPNs, IDS/IPS, as well as mobile security.
6. Cloud Computing
   On oDesk, the number of cloud related tech job opening has doubled over the last year. It’s easy to see how big the world of the cloud is becoming. Microsoft, Amazon, Google – all are making major bets on the future of cloud computing, and both businesses and consumers are signing on. But as offerings continue to grow, there will be a need for appliances and management tools that allow users to easily and securely migrate and work in the cloud environment. Are you comfortable in this field? Now’s a good time to become so. Check out this great article on Mashable.com about the importance of becoming well versed in data mining, web analytics and business intelligence as a part of your “cloud experience” skillset.

If you’re in the tech field, opportunities abound for upward mobility, both in salary and position. But you’ve got to be willing to adapt and transform your skill set as needed. And remember, just because a skill was hot 5 years ago doesn’t mean it’s what you need on your resume today. As one of my computer science teachers used to say on a weekly basis, “Evolve or evaporate.” Good advice then, great advice now.

What tech skills are you wanting to learn this year? In the comments section, share your thoughts, as well as any valuable training resources you’ve discovered to help achieve that goal.

Julia Camenisch is a freelance writer and editor for a wide range of clients, including national magazines, small businesses owners and non-profit organizations. She especially enjoys covering stories about the intersection of technology and business.

oDesk believes in the opportunities available in a truly borderless economy, and the global workforce created when both work and money can flow smoothly across borders. We are continuing our mission to empower this global workforce with the introduction of International Payments. With these new withdrawal methods, contractors’ earnings are deposited directly into their bank accounts, in their local currency, at a fraction of the cost of a traditional wire transfer.

The term “International Payments” refers to the suite of withdrawal options that allow contractors to directly withdraw their online earnings to their bank account. This includes Local Funds Transfer and Wire Transfer (Local Currency). While the mechanism that powers these transfers differ slightly, the end result is the same: easy, low-cost access to earnings in local currency.

International Payments are currently available in 47 countries worldwide, with more in development. We are working hard to bring low-cost, direct withdrawal options to as many online workers worldwide as possible — and deliver with it the potential of a truly borderless economy.

Growth of the SMB in a Borderless Economy
Today’s SMBs are no longer limited to just their local area to build their workforce. Once reserved for the Fortune 500, the global talent pool is easily accessible to companies of all sizes, thanks to recent advancements in technology. oDesk alone represents nearly 1 million remote contractors, based in 150 countries spread throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Today, any business can use online tools to identify and retain top talent, regardless of the workers’ location.

Growth of Long-Term Contracting and Contractor Teams
Since 2008, SMBs have increasingly turned to long-term contractors and contractor teams. According to the report:

• The number of employers hiring contractors on an on-going basis has increased 800 percent
• Contractor assignments lasting longer than six months have risen by 540 percent
• The number of SMBs tapping contractor teams of 10 or more has increased by 214 percent

Contractors provide a compelling alternative to the costs associated with full-time, traditional hiring — an option that any business owner with an eye on the bottom line can appreciate.

Growth of Skilled and Highly Paid Contractors
The SMB move from traditional hiring to the use of an on-demand workforce creates a need for highly skilled professional contractors. In many cases, contractors have developed a career by marketing their services to the same SMBs on an ongoing basis.

Contractors are also hiring other contractors, building specialized teams and managing the workflow of multiple contracts. In this way, career contracting is not only enabling individuals to thrive and SMBs to grow, but it’s blurring the lines and enabling career contractors to build their own SMBs from the ground up.

Curious about the workforce trends for SMBs and contractors? Check out the SMB Trend Report here. What’s your take on the SMB-contractor relationship? Let us know in the comments below!

Erica Benton brings nearly a decade of experience as a small business owner and freelancer to her position as the editor-in-chief of the oDesk Blog.

“Workers in small towns need access to jobs, and the Internet can put them in consideration for job opportunities on a global scale,” said Gary Swart, oDesk CEO. “Online jobs are giving workers a viable way to find employment, enhance their skills and build their own businesses — beyond their local economy.”

Small Towns Big Winners in Online Work

According to this month’s Online Employment Report, small towns are outperforming their big-city counterparts in online work activity and number of hours worked per contractor. Towns with populations less than 15,000 are going toe-to-toe with large cities–and winning.

When looking at the number of online workers per capita, small communities are meeting or beating nearly every major U.S. city – with San Francisco being the notable exception – and have proportionally higher “actively working” online populations.

In comparing the hours worked per online contractor, small towns like Kanab (UT), Wagoner (OK), and Newalla (OK) surpass New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles:

Online Hiring Hits Record High

Overall, demand for online work reached an all-time high in January, maintaining over 90% growth year-over-year and outstripping the slow hiring growth in local jobs.

Other key findings from the January Online Employment Report:

• 2011 Starts Strong for Online Hiring
  • A record 71,000 online job opportunities posted
  • More than $13M spent on online work in January alone
• Voice Talent and Presentations break into the Top 50 Categories
  • Businesses hiring creative talent

What do you think – are small towns the next big thing for online work?

Erica Benton brings nearly a decade of experience as a small business owner and freelancer to her position as the editor-in-chief of the oDesk Blog.

“The growth in the number and variety of online job opportunities has been driven by businesses’ needs for flexibility, on-call expertise and access to a wide range of skills,” said Gary Swart, oDesk CEO. “Online jobs are giving workers a viable way to find employment, enhance their skills and grow their own businesses — and in-demand skills can be the cornerstone of a successful contracting career.”

Online work is creating an economy of opportunity — where work is not linked to location, but to skills, experience and abilities. For employees and contractors, this allows them to manage their own work-life balance, get paid based on merit, and access an entire world of work opportunities. But what skills are in demand when the talent pool is worldwide? Today, we announced findings from the December Online Employment Report, a monthly analysis on the state of the online workforce.

Online work shows steady growth

Overall demand for online work held steady in December, maintaining 103% growth year-over-year, and surpassing slow hiring growth in local positions. December’s earnings for online workers topped a record $13M. During the past year, online workers have earned more than $115M, an amount which is expected to double in 2011.

Top skills in demand

Based on a sample of nearly 60,000 postings for online jobs, there has been ongoing interest from employers in hiring for mobile development, internet and social media marketing, and a new emphasis on translation. Specifically, the top skills requested in December included increases in the number of employers looking for iPhone application development and language expertise. Translation jobs were up 319% in 2010, highlighting businesses’ increasing interest in international transactions. Primary languages requested were Spanish, German and Korean.

Planning for the new year was also a top priority, with 123% increase in hiring for business planning and market strategy professionals over the same month last year.

What about your area of expertise?  You can see the entire list of Top 50 Skills below. Use it to help determine how in-demand your expertise is, and see what related skills might net you some of the top online jobs of 2011.

Erica Benton brings nearly a decade of experience as a small business owner and freelancer to her position as the editor-in-chief of the oDesk Blog.

The Numbers

With nearly 4,000 WordPress related jobs posted last month, the popular blogging platform sported continuous growth this year and currently outranks the job volume of Typepad, Drupal and Joomla combined.

Why?

Simply put. It’s free and it works.

The open source solution offers most users a relatively short setup time and, through its modular framework, the look and feel can be quickly changed with off-the-shelf themes. For more advanced users, plug-ins can extend the simple blog platform to handle e-commerce, analytics, photo galleries, connectivity with social networking sites, and much more.

The WordPress large library of plug-ins gives developers time saving tools that can greatly reduce development time and create a quick, working solution ranging from excellent to “good enough” for most projects.

As this WPShout.com post makes light of, there are a lot of different paths that lead users to WordPress. Users there cite their experiences, ranging from its advantages as a content management system, developers praising the huge library of user developed plug-ins, and others simply because of its popularity.

Employers seeking WordPress professionals are most likely seeking to fulfill one of three roles: content creators–or in this case, bloggers, blog managers, or theme designers/developers. This breadth may account for the large number of job postings. However, if this indicates an overlap with your skills, and you aren’t WordPress savvy, then  it might also indicates some room for growth.

Learn More

The huge amount of available  information and documentation is yet another reason for WordPress’s large user base. WordPress.org is a great starting place for learning more, and below are some links to more specific articles.

Learning Nerd’s – Welcome to WordPress.com: Beginner Resources
Net.Tuts+’s - Top 50 WordPress Tutorials
oDesk Blog – Building a Blog: From the Ground Up

Alex Hornbake is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team. He joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, and brings more than a decade of technical expertise to his clients. Alex shares his point of view to help you make informed decisions for your personal and business technology choices.

But a million is a big number, and a long time when you’re counting in hours. So, we tapped one of our 720,000 talented contractors to show you just how much can happen in one million hours.

To accomplish so much in such a short period of time, it’s obvious that online work is truly changing how the world works. The entire team at oDesk is so proud to have reached this milestone with our employers and contractors. In honor of Labor Day and this tremendous accomplishment, we congratulate online workers around the world over for many jobs well done!

Erica Benton is thrilled to celebrate 1 million hours worked per month with oDesk users the world over. Erica brings nearly a decade of experience as a small business owner, freelancer and independent contractor to her position as the editor-in-chief of the oDesk Blog. This infographic was produced by the incomparable Ernesto Olivares.

PHP still ranks at the top of the pack for requested programming skills, and it’s unlikely that we’ll see a change in this any time soon.

However, when we look at the biggest movers on the Top Skills list, we notice that demand for both C++ programmers and C# developers have climbed +22 and +20 rankings, respectively. In the lower half of top 50 skills list, we can see the high-level, readability-friendly, object-oriented languages Ruby on Rails (+22) and Python (+26) moving quickly up the chart as well.

The Highlights

#13 C++ Demand

The term “C++” gets used a lot to describe both C++ knowledge and as a marker for many different sub-skills – all of which are in demand. It’s often mentioned along side iPhone development–although “Objective C” is the proper term for this skill–and Android development, which is traditionally developed with Android’s C++ libraries. As demand for Apps and Games for these devices grows, so does the demand for C++ and related development abilities.

Concurrently with the jump in C++ demand,  Android gains deeper market penetration–see more on this from TechCrunch here– and it breaks in to the top 50 skills this month at #49 with a leap up 31 places over last year’s demand.

The use of C++ isn’t limited to just mobile device programming, but the growth in that segment of the oConomy is likely responsible for this specific jump in demand.

#17 C# Skills Wanted

C# is most notably used in conjunction with Microsoft’s .NET Framework, which makes it a popular choice for all things Microsoft. Considering that .NET made a more modest climb (+6) to #8 on the charts, this might indicate the shift away from other .NET/CLI languages like Visual Basic towards the more Java-esque object-oriented C#.

#40 Ruby on Rails & #45 Python

Ruby on Rails is winning over developers seeking out alternatives to the sometimes obfuscated nature of PHP and Perl scripting. Savvy buyers are aware of the time-saving nature of Ruby code, which is generally faster to develop due to it’s object-oriented nature, and easier to understand when compared to PHP and PERL.

Python makes the same leap forward, in this case being both object-oriented, and extremely readable. This, in turn, can make for faster development time. Time is money, and high level languages like Ruby and Python climb the skill rankings for their speed and readability.

Moving Forward

While we’re unlikely to see the death of scripting languages like PHP any time soon, the growth in demand for both web, application, game, and other development using object-oriented languages indicates a move towards more rapid development using modular languages. Sounds like progress to me. Let us know what you think in the comments–does the Online Jobs Report mirror your firsthand experiences?

Alex Hornbake is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team. He joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, and brings more than a decade of technical expertise to his clients. Alex shares his point of view to help you make informed decisions for your personal and business technology choices.

In viewing these numbers, keep in mind this is for oDesk, which is primarily concerned with placements for freelance and contract positions. This may vary with respect to full time placement numbers, though the data can be a useful indicator of overall trends.

In looking at the table below, there are three columns: one with the skill or technology, the second with the total jobs posted and the last with the Fill Ratio, which shows the competition for these postings – a low percentage in this column indicates great job opportunities, whereas a higher percentage score indicates that jobs requiring those skills get filled at or above our usual rate.  Anything not on this list is getting filled at a higher rate, which indicates high competition for the skill or technology.

First up, C++ programmers are recently experiencing the lowest fill rate – which means competition for jobs with this skill is fairly low. Additional good news: after an early summer slump, the field is growing again, as the number of positions requiring C++ programming skills are steadily climbing.

Java developers are growing in demand with 263 jobs posted per month and a 20% fill rate – moving Java skills up our list from #4 last quarter to #2 this time aroung. iPhone developers, the previous leaders in our opportunity rankings, have fallen halfway down the list. Not because the demand for skilled iPhone development has decreased (it has actually risen by almost 40% over the last 6 months), but because the number of skilled developers filling those jobs has pushed the fill ratio beyond the realm to be considered an area for current opportunity. As demand seems to be on a rising arc for iPhone development, you may see it reappear here in future months.

Continuing the ever-present PostgreSQL vs. MySQL debate, MySQL programmers have another quarter of strong showing on our chart, with by far the highest average number of jobs posted per month and a respectable fill rate at 28.54%. With the second highest number of available jobs, SEO consultants made a big leap in available opportunity by more than tripling the number of available jobs while maintaining a roughly 30% fill rate.

Bloggers make their first appearance on the opportunity scale, joining freelance writers in enjoying an average of over 160 job opportunities per month with a combined average fill rate of 28%.

This information derived from the thousands of jobs posted on oDesk every day. More information can be found on the skills and languages above, as well as many other desirable skills, on the oDesk Trends page.

This is a topic many bloggers cover and, in that spirit, this week’s post is about exercise for the pricing mind. I’ve collected some of my favorite blogs on the topic of pricing programming and freelance services and extracted the quotes I found most useful.

A web design service’s blog tips on pricing:
“Some potential clients will think your prices are high no matter what you charge. Some clients will understand what’s involved with designing and developing a website and others will not. Because there are people out there willing to design a website for next to nothing, some clients will think that you should be willing to do the same, even if your service is completely different. Try not to worry about turning clients off, and focus more on proving a service that’s worth the price (and being able to explain why it’s worth the price).”

A web design blogger’s top pricing tips:
“Some jobs will present challenges and opportunities for you to improve your skills and your experience. If you are interested in learning a new aspect of design, you may want to seek out projects that will provide those opportunities and price your services to be very competitive. Of course, if the job is a learning experience for you, you should communicate this with the client so they understand the situation and so they do not assume that you are an expert in this area.”

An MBA’s guide to consulting service pricing:
“One reason for so many different rates charged by consultants is that we operate in a world of imperfect knowledge. The first step in achieving better fees is to understand the difference between working as a temp and running a business. When consultants realize that their positions are as valid as those of the clients they serve, they will be able to set fees and estimate time for projects that let both of them achieve your goals.”

Competition: GigaOm on pay trends in the US, the pressure is on:
“Six months ago, more than half of U.S. employees couldn’t fathom taking a pay cut, but now 42 percent are willing receive a lower paycheck if it increases the likelihood that they’ll keep their jobs. Employees are also willing to do more than just take a pay decrease — nearly three-quarters are willing to take on more responsibilities at work and 64 percent would work longer hours to increase their job security.”

Nine freelance pricing factors:
“Signs that demand is high include too much work coming in, other freelancers being overloaded and people telling you they’ve been struggling to find someone to do the job. Signs that demand is low include finding yourself competing to win jobs, a shortage of work and fellow freelancers reentering the workforce.”

How to be a highly paid freelance programmer:
“Contribute to open source projects.”

Think from the buyer’s perspective
“Ask the developer some probing questions about the most important parts of the project. You will likely discover some assumptions that you or the developer are making.”

I’m curious to see what people’s favorite quotes from these selections are. Post your favorite quotes into the comments!

Customer Service and Support is an important priority for oDesk. Our stellar team has tripled in size, from just four team members to 12 this year. With this investment, we have been able to launch Chat Support from the hours of Midnight to 5:00 PM PST, and hope to expand to 24 hours Chat within the coming months.

Our commitment as a team is to help all customers be successful and thriving members of the oDesk Ecosystem, and as such, our team has been renamed the oDesk Customer Success team.

To celebrate this important milestone, we have gathered a few anecdotes to share with you that demonstrate our commitment, and might just give you a laugh.

• While chatting with a new provider, I learned that the first assignment she was rewarded was not legitimate. She was being hired now for the 2nd time, but she was concerned by a request to register on an outside site. I advised her to hold off and email the buyer asking for more information, but after we disconnected, I did a little more digging. I was relieved to see that the buyer was legitimate, and a GREAT buyer. I quickly called the provider back and advised her to go ahead and accept the work. A few hours later I got an email that the assignment had begun, but that the provider was looking for a little help getting started on oDesk Team. I asked her to call me on my cell phone during my commute, and we were able to walk through all of the best practices for ensuring success. I learned that this provider had been struggling to find a source of income after moving to a remote location in order to assist a loved one. I am confident that taking the extra time to ensure she had a great first assignment really made a difference, and set her up for future success on oDesk.

• Customer: How will oDesk know that I have submitted my job to buyer and if buyer pays me, keep oDesk %?
  Shannon: All payments go through the oDesk system, and will show up on your Financial Activities screen
  Shannon: Our fees are withdrawn before you are paid
  Customer: Well then. Thank you Shannon. I love you.
  Shannon: Good luck to you and you are welcome

• We had a provider contact us on chat, frantic that he was unable to withdraw funds. There was a significant language barrier, but we identified that the provider was having difficulty withdrawing funds from his Payoneer Debit Card. Perplexed, we decided to investigate this case, and at that time we realized that the provider had never been hired, or done any work on oDesk. While we are here to help, there are things that even we cannot support, and a self funding debit card is one of them! Darn.

Meet the Team:

Joe, Arizona	Karissa, Philippines	Shannon, California	Bernadette, Bahrain	Stephanie, Tennessee
Doreen, Massachusetts	Jasmine, Philippines	Michelle, Texas	Barbara, Massachusetts	Karen, Philippines

We look forward to chatting with you soon!

We surveyed 600 small businesses to determine how the recession is affecting their outsourcing plans.  Our survey results showed that 41.9% said they planned to outsource more in the near future, either because they’ve cut full-time staff (7.0%) or because they’re simply unable to hire full-time staff (34.9%).  They are also outsourcing more functions than ever before – 28.5% said they are now outsourcing something that they previously thought they couldn’t.   In light of such numbers, it’s hardly any surprise that 14.6% of them report that they have replaced employees with contractors in the last year, and 14.5% have hired a contractor who would have been otherwise unemployed or a victim of the economic downturn.

It should come as no shock, then, that many who have lost work recently are turning to freelancing.  32.1% of the 350 freelancers we surveyed reported that they’d lost their job within the last year.  A majority (59.0%) said that if they weren’t providing freelance services, they wouldn’t be able to meet their financial obligations and nearly a third (32.4%) said freelance earnings are their primary source of income.  A vast majority said that there are enough jobs on oDesk to meet their needs (73.9%) and feel they are earning fair rates (77.9%).  They cited “flexibility to live and work anywhere” as the number one reason for using our platform, followed by guaranteed payment for hourly work and the ability to set their own hourly rate.

American workers seem to be doing well in the global marketplace.  53.9% of the surveyed small businesses reported employing at least some U.S.-based contractors, while 84.3% of U.S. contractors are working for a U.S.-based buyer.

Outsourcing on oDesk nearly tripled during 2008, and the trend looks likely to continue.

It may be too early to describe what’s happening as a seismic shift in how Americans find and relate to work.  However, the numbers do clearly show a greater acceptance of contract work in the general culture.  Clearly, U.S. businesses are taking full advantage of the pool of freelance talent that’s out there, at the same time that more and more people are discovering the possibilities that contract work provides.

1)    Is outsourcing growing or shrinking as companies are tightening their belts in the recession?
2)    Is competition for freelance jobs heating up?
3)    If so, are wages being depressed?

As a marketplace for online workteams, we keep close tabs on outsourcing trends, including growth, wage statistics, and country-by-country comparisons.  We share as much of this data as possible with our community of businesses & freelancers in our oConomy. This analysis is based off of oConomy data.

1. The growth of outsourcing
Jobs aren’t just being slashed these days — they’re being clearcut like an old-growth forest. Yet work still has to get done, which is why freelancing and outsourcing continue to grow at a furious rate. With unemployment rates at their highest in 15 years, more skilled professionals are looking for freelance work, and leaner companies are looking to outsource functions rather than hire more full-time staff. The bottom line: Last year, outsourcing on oDesk nearly tripled.

This broad-based trend, stretching across continents, had an interesting twist — a resurgence of homeshoring, in which U.S. buyers outsource to U.S. providers.  We reported on this trend earlier this month.  Notice that growth in the amount of work done in the U.S. was faster relative to other countries known for outsourcing, like India and Russia:

We concluded that higher satisfaction rates are helping U.S. workers gain ground against the often cheaper competition overseas.

2. Competition for jobs
Although more freelance work is happening than ever, there are also more people looking to do it, which gives more leverage to employers. Eighteen months ago, there were 2.5 service providers for each buyer. Today, there are nearly 4.

More jobs means more providers are finding work than ever before, but that spike in competition means it takes new workers longer to find their first jobs and get themselves established. In January 2007, 11% of providers found their first job within 90 days of signing up on oDesk. Today, that number is down to 3%.

Increased competition leaves the freelance provider with two recourses as she shapes her resume, especially in tech-oriented categories such as software development: Pursue the skills and jobs showing the greatest growth in 2008, or those with the least competition.

3. Wages
You’d expect greater competition to push down pay rates. Surprisingly, oDesk is seeing wages within countries escape that downward spiral. For example, our U.S. hourly rate stats show key areas holding steady or, for highly technical skills such as software development, actually rising.

So there are more people competing for jobs, but it seems that not everyone is truly competitive.  The provider with valuable skills and the ability to market himself online and deliver results over great distances can still demand healthy rates.

So what’s the state of the freelance economy from our perspective? The bad news is the same that you’re reading in every newspaper — full-time workers are losing their jobs, and companies are tightening their belts. The good news, though, is that there there is more freelance work than ever, and the smart, skilled freelancer is well-positioned to thrive.  And, of course, businesses have more qualified freelancers to choose from than ever.

We’re a little obsessed with analytics here at oDesk. We start each day with a vigorous round of “Daily Predictions.” The rules of the game: Guess how many hours of work will be logged worldwide on oDesk that day (ending 4 pm Pacific time). Players must log their guesses in a Google doc by noon, and no one can pick a total within 20 hours of anyone else’s guess. Don’t even ask about the disciplinary procedures for sneaking in after lunch and changing your guess — they involve severe public shaming.  The winner gets bragging rights, his or her name in the official “winners column,” and the (grudging) admiration of colleagues.

This is not a game for the faint of heart. Each of us has developed a personal algorithm, taking into account such variables as the number of hours already logged a the deadline approaches, the percent increase over the same day and time from the week before, and which guesses have already been claimed by rivals. It’s amazing that any work gets done before noon.

Last week was an especially exciting for this pulse-pounding mental sport.  We crossed 10,000 online hours in a single day for the first time on Tuesday.  What does 10,000 hours mean?  That’s five man-years of work logged on oDesk in a single day.

We couldn’t have crossed this important milestone without you – the more than 200,000 buyers and providers in 150 countries, so thanks for building our success, and for giving us a thrilling afternoon.  Imagine if we had money riding on this game.

When we’re not swimming through our data for fun and sport, we’re crunching numbers to better serve our community.  We always like to be transparent, and like to share data with you whenever possible.  To better live up to that, we recently redesigned our oConomy this week, which is chalk full of fascinating trends and data.  Check out the new look:

In case you’re wondering, it’s Product Manager Anand Hattiangadi who’s on a winning streak at “Daily Predictions” these days.  But we’re all gunning for him now, refining those personal algorithms every chance we get.  Work hours might be going up, Anand … but you’re goin’ down!

We see over 11,000 jobs posted every month, and historically many of those jobs have gone offshore to lower-cost countries.  But, oDesk is a free market, and over the past year we’ve seen a resurgence in homeshoring, or U.S. companies outsourcing to U.S.-based talent. Why is this the case?  While rates are higher for U.S. providers, feedback scores tend to be higher, too.

Work done in the U.S. grew at a rate of 367% from 2007 to 2008, 50% faster than oDesk’s overall rate of growth.

This growth was faster relative to other countries known for outsourcing, like India and Russia.

One driver for offshore outsourcing has been the lower cost of living in other countries like the Philippines and Ukraine.  Software developers and other skilled professionals in these countries require less income than their counterparts in the U.S.  As seen in the chart below, the U.S. average hourly rate is more than $6 higher than our average.

In fact, when we break U.S. rates into job categories, we see that they are actually rising in skilled categories like software development.

So then why are businesses choosing to outsource their jobs to U.S.-based providers?  One possible explanation is that there are more U.S. providers today, providing buyers a wider variety of U.S.-based skills and experience, than ever before. In December alone, over 20,000 new U.S. providers signed up on oDesk, the largest monthly percentage increase (over 40%) that we have seen since 2005.  Other possible reasons could be better ability to co-ordinate due to time-zone differences or fewer language and cultural barriers.  Regardless of the exact cause, the chart below shows that U.S. providers’ average feedback score has been consistently higher than the oDesk average:

It seems that customer satisfaction on work done by U.S. freelancers is playing a key role in this promising new trend for talented U.S. professionals.  It goes to show that outsourcing is not just about finding the lowest price, and that’s why U.S. professionals are able to command higher rates.  We will keep monitoring this trend and keep you updated on our findings.

Один из самых простых способов определить степень трудолюбия, это посмотреть, сколько люди работают. Итак, сначала мы посмотрели на среднее количество часов, отработанных пользователями каждой из 7 стран, возглавляющих наш список, в 2008 г. – всего за год, и по дням.

*Общее количество часов, отработанных активными пользователями в каждой из стран, поделенное на количество отработанных человеко-часов.

Пользователи из России возглавляют список по количеству часов в год, и занимают второе место по количеству часов в день.

Причин, по которым некоторые пользователи работают больше, чем другие, несколько. Пользователи с высоким рейтингом, скорее всего, работают больше, потому что меньше времени тратят на поиск работы (Россия занимает середину списка из этих 7 стран со своим средним баллом в 4.30 из 5). Так же, пользователи, работающие над продолжительным проектом, работают больше, чем те, которые заняты краткосрочным заданием. Кроме того, пользователи с более низкой почасовой ставкой, как правило, работают большее количество часов (средняя ставка пользователей из России – $16.86, и она находится в более дорогой части спектра).

В дополнение к количеству отработанных часов, мы также рассмотрели усилия пользователей по прохождению квалификационных тестов. Эти тесты позволяют пользователям продемонстрировать потенциальным заказчикам свой опыт в разных областях. Мы исходим из того, что вероятно, что те, кто проходит больше тестов и получает по ним более высокие баллы, также более трудолюбив.

Пользователи из России занимают первое место как по количеству пройденных тестов, так и по полученным за них баллам.

Пользователи из России заняли первое место по трем из четырех рассмотренных нами показателям, и, таким образом, получается, что русские самие трудолюбивые. Так что, следующий раз, когда у вас будет особо трудное задание, рассмотрите в качестве возможного кандидата русского разработчика Ruby-on-Rails с высоким рейтингом – Дмитрия Сокуренко (нажмите на фото, чтобы увидеть его резюме). Конечно, к этому анализу нужно относиться с долей сомнения. Индивидуальные различия между пользователями намного перевешивают различия национальные, поэтому необходимо найти такого работника, который лучше всего пойдет для ваших нужд.

Если вам было интересно следить за нашим анализом (нам точно было интересно), и вы хотите еще, посмотрите раздел oConomy – богатый источник интересной статистики по аутсорсингу. Например, посмотрите на нашу странцу Аутсорсинг в России, где вы найдете более подробную статистику по России. Обобщенная информация представлена в недавно созданной Презентации по статистике по аутсорсингу в России в 2008 г.

(Russian translation of the previous post)

One straightforward way to measure hard work is to look at how much people are working.  So, we began by looking at the average number of hours worked by service providers in each of our top 7 countries in 2008, total and per day.

*Total hours worked by active service providers in each country divided by man-days worked

Russian providers top the list in terms of hours per year, and came in 2nd for hours per day.

There are several reasons why some providers may work more than others.  Providers with higher customer satisfaction scores may work more hours because they spend less time looking for work (Russians’ average feedback score of 4.30 falls in the middle of the spectrum of these 7 countries).  Similarly, providers working on longer-term projects tend to work more hours than those working on shorter gigs.  Finally, providers with lower hourly rates tend to work more hours (Russia’s average hourly rate of $16.86 is towards the more expensive side of the spectrum).

In addition to the number of hours worked, we also considered individuals’ efforts in qualification tests.  These tests allow providers to demonstrate proficiency in various skills to the businesses that hire them.  Presumably, those taking more tests, and scoring higher, are working harder.

Russians providers rank first for both the number of tests taken and their scores on qualification tests.

The Russians came in ranked #1 for three out of the four metrics we considered, and thus it appears that perhaps Russians do work the hardest.    So, next time you’ve got a really tough assignment, consider hiring a Russian like top-rated Ruby-on-Rails developer Dmitry Sokurenko (click photo to see profile).  Of course, this analysis needs to be taken with a grain of salt.  Individual differences between providers far outweigh national differences, so you need to find the right provider for your needs.

If you had fun with this analysis (we did), and want to do more, visit the oConomy, which is a goldmine of interesting statistics on outsourcing. For example, take a look at our Outsourcing to Russia page for more complete stats on Russia.  Summary stats can also be found in our recently created 2008 Russia Outsourcing Statistics Report.

Trouble is, oDesk doesn’t collect gender info from our remote providers — so we had to do it the hard way.  We took a sampling of 3,000 providers and divided the likely men (the Marks, Dmitriys, and Sanjays) from the likely women (the Jennifers, Olgas, Priyankas).  We threw out the names that could go either way (Robins, Shannons, Valeriys).  Here’s what we got:

The sample suggests that men outnumber women on oDesk by four to one.  Not surprising, since most of the professionals on oDesk are tech-related (like php programmers & ruby on rails programmers), and the engineering gender gap is well-known.  According to the National Science Foundation, fewer than 20 percent of engineering graduates in the U.S. are women.

However, it’s quality that we’re interested in, not quantity, so let’s look at the feedback provided by employers to their freelance professionals:

*These averages were computed with a standard error of 0.049, and are statistically significant with a p-value of 0.009 (for all the hard-core statisticians).

So there are the numbers, folks — women deliver the goods to their employers, 3.5 percent better, on average. (Gentlemen, that sound you’re hearing is thousands upon thousands of female remote workers cranking up Aretha’s “Respect.”) We know, of course, that in the real world, it all comes down to the individual you’re hiring, not how many X chromosomes he or she has. Still, we’re wondering whether any employers of remote workers would like to share their experiences.  Managers of provider companies that include small armies of remote workers might also chime in.  Have you noticed a gender-based difference, and did it contradict or confirm your expectations?

And hey there, remote-workin’ fellas — you may have the numerical advantage now, but our workplace for non-techie jobs is growing fast, so we expect more women to enter our marketplace in 2009.  You think the competition might start heating up?

Today we’re going to have some fun with numbers by trying to calculate “value for money” between countries in hiring contractors to your workteam. The following table summarizes oDesk’s average hourly rates and feedback scores in each of our top 7 provider countries.

*We’ve only broken out the rates for software development and data entry; there are many other categories of work on oDesk that aren’t listed here.

Looking at this data, it’s obvious that there is much greater variance in average hourly rates ($6.33 to $19.60) than feedback scores (4.01 to 4.40). We therefore scale the numbers to percentiles to compare between countries. We then do a quick-and-dirty calculation, averaging the percentiles, and finally rank the countries to determine their relative “value for money.”

The results … the Philippines and Pakistan rank the highest in this admittedly simplistic analysis, which must be taken with a grain of salt. There are many factors to be taken into consideration when hiring contractors to your workteams. But, in the meantime, congratulations to providers in these two countries for topping the list! Fans of outsourcing to the Philippines and Pakistan will also be glad to know that they were also the fastest growing countries on oDesk, by hours worked, from 2007-2008.

If you had fun with this analysis (we did), and want to do more, visit the oConomy, which is a goldmine of interesting statistics on outsourcing. For example, take a look at our Outsourcing to Philippines and Outsourcing to Pakistan pages for more complete stats on these countries. 2008 outsourcing summary stats can also be found in our recently created Philippines and Pakistan slideshare presentations.< –>

We’ve pulled together statistics on our top provider countries in the outsourcing oConomy to help you find answers to these questions.  We’ve created 7 “featured country” pages, each with an interactive map showing top provider cities, charts showing the country’s hourly rates & average feedback versus the oDesk average, and breakdowns of the type of work being done in each country.  We’ve also included other useful information, including time zones, holidays, and languages spoken in the countries, and listed each country’s most active providers.

We hope that the pages will be a valuable resource to both buyers (in making oDesk hiring decisions), and providers (in comparing their statistics to their country averages).  We encourage a healthy discussion around these statistics, and feedback on what other stats may be interesting & useful down the road.  Links to the new Featured Country pages are below:

• Canada
• India
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Russia
• Ukraine
• United States 

The stats have also been summarized in a slideshare presentation.

Today we released the oDesk Manifesto for Online Work, the first and only such bill of rights for buyers and providers. Our goal is to show the world that online work is just as viable as traditional work. And since we think oDesk has the best business model for both buyers and providers, we’re publishing this Manifesto to prove it.

oDesk is the only company to offer guaranteed payment to providers and guaranteed work to buyers. The Manifesto is a declaration to professionals who sell their services through the Internet marketplace and the companies that hire them: Don’t settle for less than you deserve.

Check our press release for more information.

• Over 110,000 professionals from 100 countries now offer their services on oDesk with the addition of 86,000 new providers in just 12 months.  Over 50,000 jobs have been filled at an average hourly job size of 390 hours. 
• Over 190,000 qualification tests have been taken by more than 55,000 oDesk providers
• Over 3,000,000 work hours have been logged on oDesk, with 55,000 logged within the last week alone

What’s driving the growth?  We think word-of-mouth has a lot to do with it, so a huge "oThank you" to everyone who has helped to spread the word.

See the full announcement here.

• Understand global rate trends and statistics. View averages and distributions or rates by country. Buyers can see whether the providers they’re interviewing are in line with the global market, and providers can set their rates based on expertise in comparison with their peers.
• Feedback stats chart the steady climb of buyer satisfaction since oDesk launched.
• Chart the rising expertise of our provider network: Test statistics show you how many times providers have taken our skills tests — and how many times they’ve passed.
• Where is everyone? Our global map of providers lets you click any of 90 countries to see how many providers are there, and check out their average rates and feedback scores. See which countries offer the best rates and earn the highest feedback. Russia, one of our largest provider bases, has 1,403 providers averaging $15 an hour and feedback scores of 4.1, while China hosts 229 providers, averaging $16 an hour and 4.5 in feedback.
• Which top provider companies are the best choices for larger staffing needs? Which top-ranked providers give buyers the most satisfaction? What do the latest job post stats tell you about the market you’re hiring or working in?

We’re still unleashing the power of the oConomy, so explore the new features and drop us a line with your thoughts – and suggestions for the data you’d like to see!

We’re excited to announce the launch of the “oConomy”, a feature that publicly shares data from the oDesk network on hourly wages, feedback, jobs, and certification tests. We scoured through our internal database in order to offer a valuable resource for both buyers and providers to understand global trends and lead to more successful remote work relationships.

The oConomy summarizes trends based on record $22.5 million (and counting!) of work completed on oDesk. The oConomy data covers more than 1,600,000 hours of work completed by over 47,000 providers from over 90 countries.

One of the first things we wanted to do when analyzing all of the data was to provide a helpful world map with details on service providers by country. For buyers – it can be intimidating to select candidates for their job and we hope the Google Maps mashup helps shed some light on the hiring situation. For providers – we hope this map can help set expectations and serve as a helpful comparison point for their individual rates and skills against their peers.

Among some of the other insights offered in the oConomy:

• Indonesian Providers Earn Highest Average Feedback Scores (for countries with over 100 feedbacks)
• The Average oDesk Pay Rate Is $14/Hour
• Experience Is A Strong Predictor Of Job Performance

Here are just some of the many things you can see in the new oConomy:

Top ranked provider companies on oDesk. The current top 10 are:

ISS Art
Impinge Solutions
SoftProdigy
SOFTREACTOR LLC
InterLink
Aarthika
UshaTech
Waverley Software
DevelopmentMill
Galindo Consulting Group

And lots of charts on every subject…

– Global hourly rate trends by week.

– Global distribution of provider rates.

– Feedback trends by Years of Experience.

– Number of Jobs posted by Type.

– Certification Test Statistics.

– Rankings of Individual Providers.

– Country List including Feedback Scores.

See all of the oConomy.

And even more data on oDesk’s growth trends. A few previews:

We’re hopeful that sharing this data will help everyone out there learn more about the global economy by garnering insights from the slightly smaller oConomy. We look forward to continued growth fueled by our dedicated users and encourage all to comment on the data and maps that you see here to foster meaningful discussion about these global trends.

When oDesk was founded, the idea was to connect small- to medium-sized businesses around the world with providers worldwide who could provide IT services at competitive rates. All around our site are images of globes and mentions of the words “global,” “international,” “worldwide.” Certainly a great number of our providers are international.

So it came as a surprise when we looked at recent data and discovered that U.S.- and Canadian-based providers are the fastest growing group on oDesk (when these two countries are added together).

How did we measure this?

We looked at the number of providers working over a set time period grouped by country. When we last looked at this data, the U.S. held spot number two in terms of the number of timesheets submitted by providers. Add the U.S. and Canada together, and bam, you’ve passed India.

What’s interesting, though, is then to look at the number of hours providers worked each day. Our providers in Asia continue to log in over 50% of the total hours logged each day, while U.S.-based providers log a lower percentage. What this suggests is that while providers in the U.S. are quickly joining our network, they are likely supplementing their incomes with jobs from oDesk (and thus not working a full workday on our site), while providers in Asia, including India, are more likely to be working full-time for oDesk projects.

Still, as U.S.- and Canadian-based providers continue to accrue feedback and work history on oDesk, I wonder whether they will slowly begin to switch to becoming full-time freelancers and we’ll thus see a growth in the number of hours logged by North American providers. We’ve already got some full-time North American-based freelancers on our site — take Keith S., for instance — who’ve left typical jobs and have never looked back.

What do you think? Do you see U.S. as the next outsourcing hub?

Those of you that frequent the oDesk homepage have probably noticed that the oConomy is growing faster than ever – nearly $3.5 million in the last 90 days!  You can see total provider earnings for the last 90 days on the “oConomy Facts” tab of our homepage.

Make your prediction for total provider earnings for the period from October 1st through the end of the year.

The most accurate predictors will split a pot of $250.

We’re very excited about the news and we know we have our buyers and providers to thanks for this achievement, so thank you!

Michael Arrington and Rafe Needleman both covered the news, about which we’ll be sharing more details on Monday. Stay tuned!

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Abid Mohsin

http://beta.odesk.com/economy/

“As business moves online in the Web 2.0 era, we have access to an array of new data sets about our business activities. Using these newly available sources, the O’Reilly Radar team has developed new techniques to analyze and visualize emerging technology trends. We’ve worked with Amazon to analyze data on technology book sales, with Simply Hired to analyze online tech job listings, and with Technorati to analyze blogs. Now we’re pleased to partner with oDesk to get access to their data on global supply and demand for technical projects and programmer hourly rates, to find out what’s hot and what’s not in technology,”

… says Roger Magoulas, Research Director at O’Reilly. Read the entire press release here.

Here’s are two visualizations to get you guys started:

See all of them at http://beta.odesk.com/economy/

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Abid Mohsin

CNNMoney.com ranked technical writing as the 13^th best job in America this year, with strong growth and high salaries. Here is a link to the CNNMoney.com report. oDesk has also experienced a recent surge in provider applicants with tech writing experience. As of today, there are 155 tech writers in the oDesk Provider Network, 55 of which have joined in this month alone.

Click here to search for a tech writing job opening.

Click here to search for a tech writer to hire.

Recently, we had a question on our Community forums about the Provider Rate box on the homepage, asking for some very relevant information. While we figure out how to push this information to our website and make it real-time, I wanted to post the histogram of the Number of Active Providers, by Hourly Rate range. (Click the image to open full size in a new window).

Also, be sure to check out the Pay Rate Visibility table in the Community, showing active assignments and their hourly rates.

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Abid