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Pay rate visibility

Dear oDesk Providers,

The latest and most up-to-date rate distribution can be found in oConomy.


The following information is not current and will not be updated:

Here is some information to help you set your hourly rates.

(Note that you can change your hourly rate on the "Profile" tab. The new rate shows up immediately on your profile, does not affect currently Active assignments and will take effect on your next assignment.)

Below are two tables showing distribution of hourly rates for both providers and assignments for ALL skills in the network.

Please keep in mind that the table shows hourly charge rates that already include oDesk Fee. The oDesk Fee is 10% of the bill rate. When changing your hourly pay rate, our interface will show you the total hourly charge rate before you save the change.

Hourly rates are NOT the only criteria used by buyers. Buyers have told us that they consider several other important factors in making hiring decisions:

  • oDesk Work History (how many hours worked?)
  • oDesk Skills Tests taken
  • Certifications from vendors such as Brainbench and ExpertRating
  • Schedule flexibility (will you be online at the same time as the buyer?)
  • Years of Experience
  • English skills

What does everyone think of the data in the table? Are you surprised by the rates for any of the skills? Have any of you had success adjusting your rates?

Also, let us know what other information you would like to see.

Here is a table with the distribution of Hourly Charge Rates, for ALL Active Providers, for the ALL Skills mentioned on their profiles:

Revised: January 2008

  These charge rates are for Providers that have EVER billed This charge rate distribution is for ALL Providers, whether they have billed or not
Skill Total Developers with Skill Lowest Charge Rate(Cash Average Charge Rate(Cash ">Maximum Charge Rate (Cash   $0-5   $5-10   $10-15   $15-20   $20-25   $25-50 

 $50+

3D Design 137 $1,11 $15,90 $50, 13,% 40,% 33,% 8,% 1,% 5,% 1,%
Access 320 $0,01 $16,70 $90, 13,% 38,% 25,% 11,% 6,% 4,% 3,%
ActiveX 113 $0,01 $17,48 $50, 4,% 38,% 32,% 12,% 4,% 9,% 7,%
Adobe Flex 51 $5,56 $21,13 $113, 8,% 27,% 29,% 18,% 2,% 14,% 4,%
Adobe Illustrator 31 $2,00 $16,55 $35, 12,% 32,% 32,% 8,% 8,% 8,% 4,%
Adobe Photoshop 42 $0,01 $14,09 $30, 9,% 44,% 29,% 6,% 9,% 3,% 3,%
AJAX 826 $0,00 $16,38 $400, 9,% 44,% 30,% 10,% 3,% 3,% 2,%
AJAX/PHP/MYSQL 16 $8,89 $14,01 $20, 6,% 44,% 50,% 0,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
Application Design 267 $0,00 $20,90 $135, 4,% 24,% 34,% 17,% 8,% 9,% 6,%
ASP 419 $0,00 $16,30 $80, 9,% 44,% 26,% 13,% 3,% 3,% 2,%
ASP.Net 32 $5,56 $21,10 $100, 4,% 39,% 25,% 11,% 14,% 7,% 7,%
ASP.NET 2.0 with SQL Server 2005 18 $5,56 $14,78 $25, 22,% 33,% 22,% 22,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
ASP.NET+ADO 703 $0,00 $16,77 $400, 6,% 45,% 31,% 10,% 4,% 3,% 1,%
Assembler 129 $0,01 $16,77 $35,1 6,% 32,% 37,% 15,% 6,% 5,% 2,%
Asterisk 26 $6,99 $24,50 $54, 4,% 15,% 31,% 19,% 8,% 15,% 8,%
Borland C++ Builder 99 $4,44 $16,05 $34, 6,% 39,% 37,% 12,% 3,% 3,% 2,%
C/C++ 18 $5,56 $16,99 $25, 11,% 17,% 44,% 17,% 11,% 0,% 0,%
C/C++/Unix 262 $3,89 $17,21 $80, 8,% 34,% 30,% 17,% 4,% 5,% 3,%
C/C++/Win32SDK 393 $0,00 $17,00 $50, 5,% 35,% 39,% 12,% 4,% 5,% 2,%
C# 16 $6,89 $23,99 $100, 21,% 14,% 29,% 14,% 14,% 7,% 7,%
C#/.Net 708 $0,00 $17,25 $400, 5,% 42,% 31,% 12,% 5,% 4,% 2,%
C++ 24 $7,78 $16,18 $22,5 4,% 35,% 35,% 17,% 9,% 0,% 0,%
CakePHP 13 $9,37 $13,38 $17, 17,% 50,% 33,% 0,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
Cobol 27 $5,56 $20,43 $50, 19,% 7,% 26,% 26,% 7,% 11,% 4,%
CodeWarrior/C++ 13 $10,00 $17,60 $30, 0,% 46,% 15,% 23,% 0,% 8,% 8,%
ColdFusion 84 $0,00 $19,39 $113, 4,% 39,% 31,% 13,% 2,% 11,% 5,%
Corel Draw 15 $8,89 $15,95 $29,75 7,% 29,% 36,% 21,% 0,% 7,% 7,%
Crystal Reports 258 $0,00 $16,21 $100, 10,% 44,% 24,% 13,% 5,% 3,% 2,%
CSS 751 $4,44 $16,90 $113, 9,% 39,% 32,% 11,% 4,% 4,% 2,%
CSS/HTML 18 $7,00 $15,74 $38,7 24,% 29,% 29,% 12,% 0,% 6,% 0,%
Data Entry 248 $1,67 $10,99 $35, 44,% 29,% 16,% 8,% 1,% 2,% 1,%
Database Modeling 338 $4,00 $18,97 $113, 5,% 31,% 33,% 15,% 6,% 7,% 5,%
Delphi 229 $5,56 $16,31 $50, 6,% 38,% 34,% 14,% 3,% 4,% 3,%
Delphi/VB 19 $5,56 $16,09 $40, 15,% 30,% 35,% 15,% 0,% 5,% 0,%
Design/Flash 275 $3,33 $16,05 $80, 8,% 45,% 30,% 11,% 2,% 3,% 1,%
DotNetNuke 102 $0,00 $15,17 $45, 4,% 56,% 26,% 9,% 2,% 3,% 2,%
Dreamweaver 31 $2,56 $16,13 $50, 14,% 32,% 39,% 11,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
Driver development 27 $7,78 $17,11 $30, 4,% 33,% 30,% 19,% 7,% 7,% 7,%
Drupal 32 $3,99 $15,89 $27, 7,% 43,% 33,% 3,% 10,% 3,% 3,%
EDI 17 $11,11 $21,92 $50, 0,% 38,% 19,% 19,% 0,% 19,% 13,%
Excel 18 $2,22 $14,35 $22,5 18,% 24,% 35,% 18,% 6,% 0,% 0,%
Facebook APIs, PHP, MYSQL, AJAX, HTML, JAVASCRIPT, MySQL 12 $9,99 $15,31 $18, 8,% 25,% 58,% 8,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
Filemaker Pro 14 $2,22 $18,87 $50, 14,% 21,% 43,% 7,% 0,% 7,% 0,%
Flash 18 $7,00 $17,58 $50, 12,% 35,% 29,% 12,% 6,% 0,% 0,%
Flash/ActionScript 216 $2,56 $16,95 $113, 16,% 39,% 26,% 9,% 2,% 5,% 2,%
Flash/Macromedia 401 $2,56 $15,60 $113, 14,% 42,% 29,% 8,% 3,% 4,% 1,%
FoxPro 82 $2,56 $16,17 $50, 10,% 45,% 24,% 16,% 0,% 5,% 2,%
Games/Windows 72 $4,44 $16,44 $60, 18,% 34,% 23,% 13,% 3,% 7,% 6,%
Graphics 285 $2,00 $16,32 $50, 11,% 38,% 29,% 13,% 3,% 5,% 2,%
GTK programming 11 $11,11 $17,23 $30, 0,% 36,% 27,% 27,% 0,% 9,% 9,%
Hibernate 129 $8,00 $17,63 $55, 5,% 29,% 35,% 20,% 6,% 4,% 4,%
HTML 34 $4,44 $18,43 $72, 6,% 32,% 32,% 19,% 0,% 3,% 0,%
HTML / CSS 10 $2,56 $13,27 $19,8 10,% 70,% 10,% 10,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
HTML / XHTML 10 $8,89 $15,67 $22,5 20,% 30,% 20,% 20,% 10,% 0,% 0,%
HTML/DHTML 1193 $0,00 $16,31 $113, 9,% 40,% 30,% 12,% 4,% 4,% 2,%
HTML/DHTML/CSS/Javascript 26 $0,00 $14,72 $25, 8,% 46,% 27,% 12,% 8,% 0,% 0,%
Illustrator 15 $13,33 $21,86 $50, 0,% 33,% 25,% 8,% 17,% 8,% 8,%
Informix 15 $7,78 $18,28 $24, 7,% 20,% 33,% 27,% 13,% 0,% 0,%
IntelliJ IDEA 50 $10,00 $18,67 $48, 0,% 22,% 48,% 18,% 6,% 6,% 4,%
InterBase 56 $0,01 $15,47 $23,4 7,% 34,% 38,% 16,% 5,% 0,% 0,%
Internet Research 23 $3,33 $8,18 $15, 76,% 6,% 18,% 0,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
J2EE 362 $0,00 $17,56 $90, 5,% 35,% 33,% 14,% 6,% 6,% 4,%
J2ME 95 $0,00 $16,74 $42, 2,% 38,% 38,% 13,% 4,% 4,% 3,%
Java 54 $4,44 $18,03 $50, 4,% 40,% 27,% 19,% 4,% 4,% 0,%
JavaScript 445 $0,00 $17,13 $113, 11,% 37,% 30,% 11,% 5,% 5,% 3,%
JBoss 88 $8,89 $18,54 $55, 1,% 31,% 34,% 21,% 4,% 6,% 4,%
JFC 37 $7,00 $18,74 $31,5 5,% 13,% 39,% 29,% 8,% 5,% 5,%
Joomla 195 $4,44 $14,85 $80, 15,% 44,% 29,% 6,% 2,% 3,% 2,%
JSP 245 $0,01 $17,61 $55, 2,% 37,% 33,% 15,% 6,% 6,% 5,%
LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) 12 $11,11 $15,83 $20, 0,% 42,% 50,% 8,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
LAMP administration 172 $3,99 $17,94 $55, 5,% 33,% 33,% 15,% 8,% 4,% 2,%
LaTeX 21 $10,00 $16,36 $22,5 0,% 33,% 48,% 14,% 5,% 0,% 0,%
Lotus Notes 20 $5,00 $16,97 $35, 21,% 26,% 11,% 26,% 11,% 5,% 0,%
Mac OS X 58 $3,89 $20,09 $50, 7,% 18,% 21,% 37,% 4,% 12,% 7,%
Macromedia Director 43 $5,56 $18,95 $80, 7,% 44,% 26,% 12,% 2,% 2,% 0,%
Macromedia Dreamweaver 11 $8,89 $16,01 $29,75 20,% 50,% 10,% 0,% 10,% 10,% 10,%
Mambo 112 $6,67 $16,75 $80, 9,% 47,% 29,% 6,% 3,% 3,% 2,%
Math 23 $5,00 $19,95 $50, 4,% 13,% 46,% 17,% 13,% 0,% 0,%
Microsoft Excel 17 $2,22 $11,44 $22,5 42,% 25,% 25,% 0,% 8,% 0,% 0,%
Microsoft Word 15 $2,22 $13,11 $30, 38,% 15,% 38,% 0,% 0,% 8,% 8,%
MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) 13 $4,44 $11,84 $25,5 50,% 17,% 17,% 8,% 8,% 0,% 0,%
MS-SQL 621 $0,00 $17,41 $400, 6,% 43,% 28,% 13,% 5,% 3,% 2,%
MySQL 638 $4,44 $17,33 $113, 7,% 39,% 30,% 14,% 4,% 4,% 2,%
MySQL, Oracle, Interbase 47 $6,00 $14,47 $18, 4,% 54,% 22,% 20,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
Online Payments 144 $4,00 $16,49 $50, 9,% 39,% 33,% 11,% 3,% 4,% 3,%
Oracle 12 $7,78 $19,10 $31,5 10,% 10,% 40,% 30,% 0,% 10,% 10,%
Oracle Application Server 20 $7,78 $16,29 $35, 9,% 36,% 32,% 9,% 9,% 5,% 0,%
Oracle DBA 84 $6,67 $22,58 $400, 6,% 35,% 29,% 13,% 8,% 5,% 4,%
Oracle Forms 32 $4,44 $15,84 $35, 21,% 15,% 45,% 6,% 9,% 3,% 0,%
Oracle PL/SQL 174 $0,01 $18,28 $100, 7,% 35,% 30,% 14,% 8,% 5,% 2,%
Oracle Reports 26 $7,78 $17,75 $35, 4,% 27,% 50,% 8,% 8,% 4,% 0,%
Oracle, DB2 79 $8,89 $15,88 $25, 1,% 45,% 37,% 13,% 4,% 0,% 0,%
OsCommerce 185 $6,67 $14,84 $80, 9,% 55,% 25,% 6,% 3,% 1,% 1,%
OSCommerce / PayPal / Credit Card / Yahoo Shopping Cart 13 $8,89 $10,72 $15, 46,% 46,% 8,% 0,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
PalmOS 40 $2,22 $13,90 $27, 8,% 58,% 20,% 13,% 0,% 3,% 3,%
Perl 184 $5,56 $18,39 $55, 5,% 32,% 30,% 19,% 7,% 3,% 3,%
Photoshop 578 $2,00 $15,81 $50, 14,% 39,% 30,% 10,% 3,% 4,% 1,%
Photoshop CS2, CS3 18 $8,89 $15,48 $30, 6,% 47,% 35,% 6,% 0,% 6,% 6,%
PHP 490 $4,44 $16,31 $80, 8,% 43,% 32,% 10,% 3,% 3,% 1,%
PHP, MYSQL, AJAX, HTML, JAVASCRIPT 24 $4,44 $12,36 $18, 18,% 45,% 32,% 5,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
PHP/HTML/DHTML 419 $3,33 $15,93 $100, 10,% 44,% 32,% 8,% 2,% 3,% 2,%
PHP/IIS/MS SQL 118 $6,00 $15,03 $50, 14,% 48,% 23,% 11,% 2,% 1,% 1,%
PHP/MySQL 984 $0,00 $15,53 $100, 10,% 44,% 30,% 9,% 2,% 3,% 2,%
phpNuke 57 $6,00 $17,50 $50, 7,% 34,% 40,% 9,% 5,% 2,% 0,%
PocketPC 64 $0,00 $18,25 $60, 3,% 48,% 19,% 13,% 3,% 10,% 5,%
PostgreSQL 138 $5,56 $19,15 $80, 3,% 24,% 42,% 16,% 6,% 6,% 6,%
PowerBuilder 12 $8,89 $14,95 $19, 8,% 50,% 33,% 8,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
Project Management 278 $0,00 $19,26 $135, 8,% 26,% 31,% 18,% 8,% 7,% 5,%
Python 57 $4,44 $19,79 $72, 9,% 23,% 23,% 28,% 7,% 7,% 7,%
QA 107 $0,00 $15,13 $50, 7,% 48,% 28,% 13,% 0,% 4,% 3,%
Qt 21 $11,11 $17,46 $30, 0,% 33,% 38,% 19,% 5,% 5,% 5,%
Recruiting 32 $2,99 $13,83 $30, 29,% 23,% 26,% 13,% 6,% 3,% 3,%
Remoting 41 $3,33 $19,81 $50, 2,% 27,% 37,% 17,% 5,% 7,% 5,%
Ruby 120 $0,01 $18,66 $50, 4,% 36,% 25,% 17,% 9,% 8,% 6,%
Ruby on Rails 30 $3,99 $20,35 $60, 4,% 29,% 29,% 18,% 11,% 7,% 4,%
Search 38 $2,99 $12,96 $35, 31,% 38,% 18,% 5,% 0,% 8,% 8,%
SEO 183 $0,00 $15,32 $113, 17,% 44,% 23,% 8,% 3,% 3,% 3,%
Sharepoint 49 $4,44 $21,38 $50, 4,% 13,% 32,% 30,% 11,% 9,% 4,%
Smarty 197 $6,49 $16,44 $80, 8,% 41,% 34,% 9,% 4,% 3,% 2,%
SOAP 119 $4,44 $18,13 $55, 5,% 33,% 29,% 17,% 7,% 7,% 5,%
Spring 13 $13,33 $20,44 $31,5 0,% 9,% 45,% 27,% 9,% 9,% 9,%
SQL 470 $0,01 $18,22 $113, 5,% 34,% 32,% 15,% 7,% 6,% 4,%
SQL Server 2005 11 $8,89 $20,17 $45, 10,% 40,% 10,% 20,% 10,% 10,% 0,%
SQLite 21 $6,76 $20,26 $45, 10,% 19,% 19,% 24,% 14,% 14,% 14,%
Struts 103 $6,00 $18,03 $55, 4,% 29,% 35,% 20,% 6,% 5,% 3,%
Sybase 23 $8,89 $20,69 $54, 4,% 29,% 29,% 21,% 8,% 0,% 0,%
Symbian SDK 22 $10,00 $15,69 $22,5 0,% 32,% 59,% 5,% 5,% 0,% 0,%
Systems Programming 68 $3,89 $19,08 $50, 4,% 29,% 32,% 13,% 12,% 7,% 6,%
TCP/IP 161 $3,89 $17,62 $54, 10,% 28,% 33,% 17,% 5,% 4,% 2,%
Tech Writer 117 $3,33 $17,68 $80, 14,% 30,% 29,% 14,% 4,% 5,% 3,%
Testing 137 $2,99 $15,82 $50, 15,% 37,% 26,% 12,% 4,% 3,% 3,%
Tomcat 119 $5,56 $17,46 $55, 3,% 29,% 39,% 18,% 6,% 3,% 3,%
UI Design 200 $5,56 $18,32 $50, 6,% 36,% 31,% 14,% 5,% 7,% 3,%
UML 218 $4,44 $17,55 $50, 5,% 32,% 33,% 19,% 5,% 5,% 4,%
Unix Shell 137 $6,99 $19,17 $54, 4,% 28,% 31,% 20,% 7,% 9,% 5,%
VB/.NET 436 $0,00 $16,34 $50, 7,% 43,% 29,% 13,% 4,% 3,% 2,%
VB/Delphi 10 $11,11 $16,73 $22,5 0,% 40,% 30,% 20,% 10,% 0,% 0,%
VB/Delphi/ASP/IIS 21 $0,01 $14,15 $21, 5,% 57,% 29,% 10,% 0,% 0,% 0,%
VBA 115 $7,00 $17,65 $50, 9,% 32,% 32,% 15,% 6,% 4,% 3,%
Video Streaming 65 $7,78 $17,37 $45, 5,% 44,% 33,% 8,% 2,% 9,% 2,%
Visual Basic 257 $3,00 $16,74 $54, 12,% 38,% 26,% 13,% 5,% 5,% 4,%
Voice/Windows 34 $7,22 $16,80 $35,99 3,% 43,% 31,% 9,% 9,% 6,% 3,%
VoIP 41 $4,44 $19,37 $54, 13,% 20,% 35,% 15,% 5,% 8,% 3,%
Web design 19 $3,33 $18,73 $50, 18,% 24,% 29,% 12,% 12,% 6,% 6,%
Web Sphere 41 $7,78 $18,02 $30, 2,% 31,% 31,% 17,% 12,% 7,% 7,%
WebLogic 59 $7,78 $17,74 $30, 4,% 32,% 25,% 21,% 11,% 7,% 7,%
Windows Administration 143 $3,33 $17,22 $50, 11,% 31,% 35,% 10,% 3,% 8,% 4,%
Wireless 30 $5,00 $19,13 $54, 13,% 33,% 17,% 13,% 10,% 10,% 3,%
WML/WMLScript 39 $10,00 $17,38 $36, 0,% 38,% 43,% 10,% 5,% 5,% 2,%
WordPress 117 $3,33 $16,80 $80, 18,% 34,% 25,% 11,% 3,% 6,% 4,%
XHTML 16 $6,67 $19,47 $40, 29,% 7,% 21,% 21,% 7,% 14,% 7,%
XHTML/CSS 16 $8,89 $16,94 $30, 14,% 21,% 50,% 7,% 0,% 7,% 7,%
XML 677 $0,00 $17,05 $100, 5,% 39,% 32,% 14,% 4,% 4,% 3,%
XML-RPC 30 $11,11 $19,35 $50, 0,% 23,% 40,% 27,% 3,% 3,% 3,%
XUL 15 $11,11 $19,51 $30, 0,% 27,% 33,% 20,% 7,% 13,% 13,%

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Here is a table with the distribution of Hourly Charge Rates, for ALL Assignments that have ever billed, by the Skill Requested in the assignment:

Revised: February 2007 

This charge rate distribution is for ALL assignments that EVER billed

Skill Requested $0-$5 $5-$10 $10-$15 $15-$20 $20-$25 $25-$50 $50+
3D Design 6% 0% 61% 39% 0% 0% 0%
Access 2% 5% 55% 0% 9% 2% 2%
ActiveX 0% 0% 100% 200% 0% 0% 0%
ActiveX/COM/DCOM 25% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Adobe Flex 0% 0% 0% 800% 100% 0% 0%
AJAX 2% 11% 67% 5% 0% 0% 0%
Application Design 0% 0% 42% 100% 8% 17% 0%
Application Design and Concepts 3% 3% 47% 0% 7% 0% 0%
AS/400 0% 0% 100% 5000% 0% 0% 0%
ASP 3% 7% 67% 42% 1% 1% 0%
ASP.NET+ADO 0% 8% 67% 1% 0% 1% 0%
Assembler 0% 0% 25% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Asterisk 0% 0% 80% 0% 0% 0% 20%
Blackberry/RIM 25% 0% 50% 0% 25% 0% 0%
Borland C++ Builder 0% 0% 100% 4100% 0% 0% 0%
C#/.Net 1% 9% 64% 3% 1% 2% 0%
C/C++/Unix 0% 8% 80% 21% 0% 0% 0%
C/C++/Win32SDK 4% 6% 77% 0% 2% 1% 0%
CodeWarrior/C++ 0% 17% 83% 267% 0% 0% 0%
ColdFusion 1% 4% 67% 2% 4% 5% 0%
Crystal Reports 0% 0% 78% 189% 0% 0% 0%
CSS 0% 6% 65% 11% 3% 3% 0%
Data Entry 15% 56% 15% 1% 1% 0% 0%
Database Modeling 0% 20% 20% 20% 0% 40% 0%
Database Modelling 0% 17% 50% 17% 17% 0% 0%
Delphi 0% 18% 79% 62% 0% 0% 0%
Design/Flash 1% 6% 71% 2% 1% 2% 0%
DotNetNuke 0% 0% 81% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Flash/ActionScript 0% 0% 67% 3400% 33% 0% 0%
Flash/Macromedia 0% 5% 60% 0% 2% 2% 0%
FoxPro 0% 18% 73% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Games/Windows 60% 0% 40% 800% 0% 0% 0%
Graphics 2% 8% 66% 1% 1% 1% 0%
Hibernate 0% 0% 50% 850% 0% 0% 0%
HTML/DHTML 1% 12% 59% 27% 1% 2% 0%
HTML/DHTML/Javascript 0% 9% 69% 0% 0% 1% 0%
InterBase/Firebird/Yaffil 100% 0% 0% 2300% 0% 0% 0%
J2EE 0% 2% 69% 2% 4% 2% 0%
J2ME 0% 0% 62% 246% 15% 8% 0%
Java/J2EE 1% 5% 70% 0% 1% 3% 0%
Java/J2ME 0% 0% 100% 200% 0% 0% 0%
Java/JFC 0% 7% 63% 11% 0% 0% 0%
Java/JSP 0% 7% 79% 4% 4% 0% 0%
JBoss 0% 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0%
JFC 0% 0% 0% 600% 0% 0% 0%
JSP 0% 8% 42% 58% 0% 0% 0%
LAMP administration 15% 18% 45% 0% 0% 0% 0%
LaTeX 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Lotus Domino 0% 0% 0% 200% 0% 100% 0%
Lotus Notes 0% 43% 29% 29% 0% 0% 0%
Mac OS X 0% 0% 33% 67% 0% 0% 0%
Macromedia Director 0% 0% 0% 250% 0% 0% 0%
Mambo 0% 0% 82% 4% 0% 0% 0%
Math 0% 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0%
Miva Merchant 0% 0% 86% 129% 0% 0% 0%
MS-SQL 0% 10% 52% 23% 0% 10% 0%
MySQL 26% 4% 44% 0% 0% 0% 0%
OCX (OLE Control Extension) 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Online Payments 0% 0% 100% 33% 0% 0% 0%
Oracle DBA 0% 0% 67% 33% 17% 0% 0%
Oracle Forms 0% 0% 67% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Oracle PL/SQL 0% 0% 100% 900% 0% 0% 0%
OsCommerce 0% 4% 75% 0% 2% 4% 0%
PalmOS 0% 7% 93% 100% 0% 0% 0%
Perl 2% 10% 63% 16% 2% 2% 0%
Photoshop 0% 15% 65% 74% 2% 3% 0%
PHP 0% 8% 73% 11% 1% 0% 0%
PHP/HTML/DHTML 0% 14% 63% 2% 2% 0% 0%
PHP/IIS/MS SQL 0% 8% 67% 2192% 0% 0% 0%
PHP/MySQL 0% 9% 70% 0% 2% 1% 0%
phpNuke 0% 0% 100% 100% 0% 0% 0%
PocketPC 0% 0% 83% 8% 8% 0% 0%
PostgreSQL 0% 0% 25% 0% 0% 50% 0%
postNuke 0% 0% 100% 250% 0% 0% 0%
PowerBuilder 0% 0% 38% 150% 0% 0% 0%
Project Management 0% 5% 63% 2% 0% 5% 0%
Python 0% 0% 80% 180% 0% 0% 0%
QA 9% 11% 49% 6% 6% 0% 0%
QT 0% 0% 75% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Recruiting 0% 0% 0% 450% 50% 50% 0%
Ruby 2% 2% 60% 2% 7% 9% 4%
Search 0% 33% 33% 100% 0% 0% 0%
SEO 0% 0% 70% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Sharepoint 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Smarty 0% 50% 50% 0% 0% 0% 0%
SOAP 0% 0% 100% 163% 0% 0% 0%
SQL 0% 0% 55% 0% 3% 0% 0%
Struts 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Symbian SDK 0% 0% 100% 200% 0% 0% 0%
Systems Programming 0% 0% 80% 0% 0% 0% 0%
TCP/IP 0% 0% 100% 2100% 0% 0% 0%
Tech Writer 1% 1% 56% 1% 8% 10% 0%
Testing 0% 10% 80% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Tomcat 0% 0% 100% 600% 0% 0% 0%
UI Design 0% 5% 60% 5% 5% 0% 0%
Unix Shell 0% 0% 63% 663% 25% 0% 0%
VB/.NET 0% 7% 60% 0% 3% 3% 1%
VB/Delphi 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
VB/Delphi/ASP/IIS 0% 0% 100% 25% 0% 0% 0%
VBA 0% 0% 50% 100% 0% 25% 0%
VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) 0% 11% 37% 11% 11% 21% 0%
Video Streaming 0% 7% 60% 73% 13% 7% 0%
Visual Basic 0% 10% 62% 3% 0% 0% 0%
Voice/Windows 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 50% 0%
VoiceXML 0% 0% 100% 50% 0% 0% 0%
VoIP 0% 0% 33% 0% 33% 0% 0%
Web Sphere 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%
WebLogic 0% 0% 100% 200% 0% 0% 0%
Windows Administration 0% 21% 57% 0% 0% 7% 0%
Wireless 0% 0% 75% 0% 0% 25% 0%
WML/WMLScript 0% 0% 100% 300% 0% 0% 0%
WordPress 0% 0% 50% 100% 0% 13% 0%
XML 0% 0% 62% 0% 4% 4% 0%
XML-RPC 0% 0% 100% 200% 0% 0% 0%
Zope/Python 0% 0% 40% 0% 20% 0% 0%

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Vote Result

+++++++---
Score: 7.4, Votes: 39
Useful

Abid, thanks a lot for such useful information. Now we can see the marketing situation as well as possible. This should help every provider to estimate themselves in relation to another. Especially thanks for other factors that buyers consider. This is what we have to think about before changing the rate.

My additional thought. Another powerful factor that would help buyers to make decision is a provider's oDesk background. I mean some features and real solutions already done by the developer or developers team. This one would be available to the buyers in some way. The provider would build its own background repository by mean of some special tools and that should help everyone to market itself. I have ideas about above tools, but this is another subject.

We can play around with hourly rate now. But the hourly rate is not a sole thing, another one is what we sell for the price. The work time spent within oDesk exists brings the experience backgroung growing day by day. We should keep that treasure in order to sell ourselves more dearly, and providers can do that I think.

Thanks again for informing us.

Agree that buyers should have more background

Excellent points.

We agree that buyers should have more background on a provider's oDesk experience, and we are working on putting together detailed oDesk work histories for all providers.  We encourage providers to put URLs of sites they have worked on.

Are you suggesting that providers should be able to attach code samples from previous work to their oDesk Profile?  (This might be problematic since all work completed for oDesk Buyers is owned 100% by the buyers).

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Abid

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Abid

Skill copyrights

Abid, thank you for reply!

I agree that owner rights is a most sensitive point here. So no code samples shared of course. I guess, the buyers are not familiar with program code, that why they hire us. And the code would make no sense for the buyer. I'm talkng about another thing.

The idea is to show customer WHAT we can do, but not HOW we do that. The providers' background would also be the descriptions of the solutions invented, developed and used during the past experience. Descriptions written in "human" language, not a code. Here is a trivial example:

"The Word Length Limit. If your site has forms where the visitors can post a text, this feature may be useful. Because someone would enter very-very long word just for fun. This will broke the page layout expanding the page width and forcing the user to scroll. To prevent that, the single word length can be limited by the program. As usual, everybody limits the total text length, we think more deepely."

The buyer should see something like this. Above feature is very simple for us, but I'm sure that could be something new for most of buyers.

Back to copyrights. When I implement the above feature for a buyer, he owes the code I wrote. Means that I can not implement this feature to my next project? For example, I write Shopping Cart object for every e-shop. Means that some particular buyer owes the Shopping Cart and I can not make the Shopping Cart for another buyer? I'm not a loyer, however I guess we can not share the written code, but we can use same methods in various projects. Please advise.

Another thought. The links to developed sites are a necessairy thing. However, the most of programer's work is hidden. The buyer sees the design, but he can evaluate the program part by using the site only. Therefore, many features stay not discovered. This is particular for C and other desktop developers.

Let me disagree about code

Let me disagree about code samples. Many buyers are technical people, and seeing your coding style might help them to choose you for a project. It is not needed to post the whole code of course, but a short sample of code is often very useful to share...

Regards,
Dmitry.

Copyright definition and showcasing prior work

Hi akaydansky,

Thanks for the clarification.

Regarding Copyrights and Confidential Information, it does not include anything that is generally known or distributed by outside parties, was already known by the provider before taking on the assignment, or was independently developed by the provider without using any buyer Confidential Information.

Regarding how to showcase your work, I think you offer a great solution. I would put in the descriptions of what you have done in your profile, and would even put in relevant descriptions in the cover letter sent to the buyer when you apply for an opening. There is not a rule that applies to all types of work (as Dmitry points out in his reply), so please use your best judgment on what is relevant to a buyer and what is not.

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any further questions

Thanks!

-
Abid

-
Abid

communicating code

I am commissioning developers here. I will be using a simplified UML diagram to communicate my needs. It helps clarify my thinking as well as communicate code as transparently as possible. I can't imagine non-coders getting into this or even contemplating commissioning critical projects without some understanding of coding frameworks.

Portfolio's are extreemly important. Yes you need to communicate your level of experience.
Cheers Ian

Great

Hi all,

This is great functionality provided by the Odesk which leads to transparent business, and create Trust in the Buyer->Odesk<- Provider. I appritiate this effort.

Regards,

Vaani Sharma 

Good Analysis ! Thanks a lot

The rates shown in the table are with current market trend and will help us lot in finalizing the rates .

I have one question, are the above rates *visible* to the buyer also ?

If not can we make the above rate table available to them also as it would help us save our time in finalizing the rates (but offcourse thats what I feel )

One final thing we have not included CORBA in the above list , though currently there are very few  projects posted on CORBA technology but I do feel it would be good idea to include CORBA also in the list .

Once again thanks a lot !

regards,

Bshukla

Planning a statistics page that will become part of the applicat

Thank you for the comments. I completely agree: buyers should have this information as well. Since the Community is accessible by everyone, we hope that buyers will read it and comment on it here.

We initiated this conversation with providers since many of you have requested information to help in setting your rates. 

We are currently planning a statistics page that will become part of the application, in the Provider Search section of the site.

Our list of skills does not go down to the granularity of technologies like Corba.  Do others think we should be tracking more skills?  Or tracking at a higher granularity?
 

-
Abid

-
Abid

Nice efforts

Well This is really help full for the providers but the difference between Other Web Development and the PHP development is too much please review this thing.

Over all its good for the new users as well the the exsisting once

hope for best

Rashid Bilgrami
Best visualization
www.bestvisualization.com

Worrisome

Thanks for posting this information, unfortunately this doesn't make me very hopeful of getting any projects here. These rates are so low! I don't know how ODesk will attract any developers from countries where rates are higher.

 Simmy
 

Very Useful

This information is very helpful for developer in terms of knowing the present market. Developer gets the idea that of rates and accordingly he can proceed to get better options to set his goals for the future. Specially the information which give the idea for the developer that how his services is judged by Odesk team and the clients.

Thanks
Parwez

Usefull to have additional info

Usefull to have additional info: 

 - Project duration per "category"

- Team size per "category"

rates and skills

When I work on contracts I negotiate I consider the skills the buyer needs in order to set my rates appropriately. I have skill worth $45 per hour, but most buyers do not need those. Setting one rate without considering what the buyer needs is not practical or realistic.If I am making a manual for reasonably easy to learn hardware or software in Word, my lowest rate should apply. However, if the buyer wants API documentation in Rational Rose, my highest rate is very competitive. If I need to read C++ code then I am worth more. Most providers do not need all my skills, but if I set my rates at the lowest common denominator I could easily wind up selling myself short. Multiple profiles, using the username with a number, plus an attached description of skills and tools available, plus maybe output types would work for this, and I am certain that this type of thing would work well for all categories. For example, if a provider needs someone to make simple gifs he does not want to pay for the skills of a super duper flash programmer. It would also be nice if employers could search on a set of skills and tools and find people with these. It is true that my current hourly rate is more than fair, considering my skill set. However, if I want work which requires a lower skill set I need to have a different hourly rate in order to compete. This is how I determine bids for sites where I must make them.

In addition, the skill set you list for technical writer is very short and totally incomplete. Also, a description of what each of these job titles includes would help if buyers could see it. If multiple profiles is not practical, perhaps a checklist of tools and skills with attached prices would work. I hope I am making myself clear, because I do in my head what I am describing here when I bid on a project. I write SEO content for $15 per hour and that is a bargain for the buyer, since they get about 1500 words per hour and extremely good quality. However, for RoboHelp development the price should be $25 per hour, because it requires many different tools and skill sets to do this well.

Does anyone else have ideas about multiple rates per job type?

Karena

rates and skills

Assessing rates according to task undercuts everything else one brings to the table. For example, a person may specialize in advanced c++ but is asked to provide junior-level complexity of c++ development that can be accomplished in half the time at half the quality that a junior person can provide. One is only diminishing the value of their experience by adjusting their rates to accommodate a biased  or uninformed expectation of value for the work done. One is already providing a savings by completing the work at a higher level of quality at half the time.

Another example, this time for cross-functional tasks:

An advanced c++ programmer is asked to document c++ code, and although technical writing may not be this person's forte, their subject-matter experience contributes to a savings simply because of their intimate familarity with the subject. A savings of time occurs not only in assuring completeness and accuracy but also in research time, also resulting in less time spent to accomplish the same goal as a non-programming technical writer would.

An hourly rate is a summation of a person's value that should be easily justifiable by experience, expenses and market rates. Comparisons between provider rates should be strictly determined by experience and location (ie: the cost of living for their locale).

In my 20 years of experience, I have rarely encountered a client who's needs do not extend beyond the scope of the original request for service. In other words, when a client discovers that I also have experience in an area outside what we initially agreed upon, they prefer to continue working with me because they not only save more dollars on an ability to rely on one person who's become acquainted with the work at hand than they do by spreading tasks around. Additional benefits also include consistency of product as well as reduced ramping up time.

Having said the above, adjusting one's rates is a viable business strategy, no different than a "loss leader" in the retail world, where a product is sold at a loss in order to attract new customers.

The difficulty with this strategy however, is that one's skills, knowledge and experience are disregarded by a client who's primary concern is to simply get a specific task accomplished and the intrinsic value in the quality one might provide becomes meaningless when the value of their work becomes commodotized as in a production process in an assembly line.

If we were making widgets at a rate of x-numbers per time-period, then each widget could be assigned a specific value tied to the cost of its production. This, however is not an intellectual, creative or innovative contribution toward the success of the project and/or product and it does not in any way reflect the true value a client gains by the skills and experience of a provider.

In short, when you teach your clients  to reduce the value of your experience to that of a machine, you only diminish the value of your contribution and create an expectation that you are as disposable as a lego block. If you don't value your experience, no one else will and you will only succeed in turning off those clients whom expect more than a machine to help them achieve success.

It's work per $$, not $$/hour that counts

Someone who is good and fast can save you money even if they charge more. If an experienced programmer can do a "junior" task in an 10 hours @$50/hr, and a junior programmer takes 40 hours @20/hr ...  do the math.  The "expensive" programmer can save you $300.

I think employers understand this, especially because they are paying by the hour, not the project. 

It's work per $$, not $$/hour that counts

This sounds very rational...and might be easier to say than to do.  How would you know the first provider takes 10 hours and the other will take 40 hours to finish the project?  ODesk could create a video tutorial on prospective provider searches to demonstrate ideas on how one might weigh value, red flags, etc. while sifting through potential providers. 

JW

Wow! Thanks for these

Wow! Thanks for these numbers!
I hadn't realized that so few people were charging $25+/hr (me included) for their ASP.NET/C# skills -- there's only 1% of all billed providers doing that!

I guess its fortunate that I'm pretty skilled at ASP.NET/C#. +D

rates and issues on this page

I agree totally with the other commenter who was lamenting on the low rates being quoted for the skills provided. I could not see anybody really in a country where rates tend to be higher being competitive on this website.

Also I am VERY confused here on this page as I do not understand the table "distribution of Hourly Charge Rates" which is showing percentages of 5,000%, 2,192%, 2,100% etc. ummmmm am I wrong or is there a math issue here! Smile

rates and issues on this page

One sad fact of gloablization is that workers living in cheaper countries will get more work.    $5 per hour can provide a better standard of living in some poor countries than $50 per hour can provide in some rich countries.  And there is no guarantee that the $50 workers are any more skilled, only that they are living in a more expensive country.

 Bottom line:  this site provides great opportunities for people in poor countries, but not much hope for people in more expensive countries.
 

rates and countries

Is anyone in the U.S. making a living with o-desk as a primary source of work?  The fact is that I do live in the U.S. and my English skills and ability to technically edit and stylistically edit web content is far and away beyond what any ESL editor I have ever met can do.  It's beyond what most American editors can do.  But I don't want an 8-5 job and I have no ready source of referrals where I live.  How can I get myself known here?  Do I have to start at $5.00 an hour to build a reputation before I can charge a fair rate for the U.S. or what?

yes you do

It looks like your skills and experiences are not valued here as we expect them to be in America.  oDesk global buyer job descriptions show exactly what the U.S. have been going through for decades now, which I have witnessed since the 70's; showing how much we either accept way lower than minimum wage due to those cheaper wages accepted in other countries, or just give those jobs to them, and keep trying in our bad economy.  At oDesk you can directly see that in plain English.

One great thing here though is the openness to learn from other Providers on what they were paid as you compare skills, pay, to U.S. locations (apples to apples in your economy to help you learn what to charge eventually). 

I saw only $1.50/hr offered by a company in China asking for many job tasks per whatever they wanted when needed.  The tasks were easy, but after taking so much money globally to help them grow exponentially for decades, they want to only pay $1.50/hr across the globe in return to help them grow more???  Well I'll stop here at that point!

I don't know how to be successful here yet.  I got turned away for too high a pay rate (around $7 which I chose from their job posting area) but then not allowed to offer a lower rate for the same job.  I think I have to bid around $3/hr or something like that to get going here.  That part is all 'political' which I'm not good at guessing about.  I just want to work, prove my skills, and get paid.  So here, it is no easier to do that, than at a company, due to not guessing the right pay rate they want to hear when applying for the job.  It is that simple.  My rejection only said too high a pay rate, so how am I supposed to know what to change it to when I apply?

I want a chance to do a simple job just to get some feedback score, oDesk hours posted, build relationships, and work with the system; but I can't get an interview for those political, not skill level, reasons again.  I have not figured it all out here yet and I'm studying everything.  I'm not getting paid for learning it all either, which is now very expensive, with no interview or jobs yet.

Brainbench is mentioned but they charge so that was a bust to consider.  I'm just going to keep trying to say the right political thing for that interview, inbetween minimum wage day-labor jobs at Minute Men, and then work on updating by taking more tests here.

Good luck to you,

Laura

Cleveland, OH

U.S. providers at $3 an hour?

Are my fellow Americans seriously considering working for $3-5 an hour? You can make significantly more than that babysitting if you put a sign up in the local laundromat. More still if you'll tutor schoolkids.

I honestly can't think of a single reason to work for less than minimum wage. Not only are we unable to compete on price with people who live in less expensive places, but the chance to work for less than the kids at McDonald's doesn't seem like something worth competing for.

I Agree

I am new to oDesk and was surprised by the hourly rates. There is now way to compete with that. I wont work for those prices and it may take quite some time to develop relationships and get jobs but I am hoping that eventually something will be done so that this becomes worthwhile for all the providers.

I am willing to negotiate my price but not $3.00 per hour.

I Agree

I am new to this site and was frustrated with the on-going rates. I wonder why this advertise this at Good Morning America when americans can offer work for as low as $2 an hour? That's rediculous....

See this post. -

See this post.

- Danalyn


Before you complain about rates, read all 4 parts of the oDesk Insider Blog's Make More Money series.

Inevitable

It's inevitable that each time we get a 'batch' of new providers one of the most common complaints is rates and almost always from people who have not read all of the terms of service or understand what oDesk is and how it functions.

Chances are that *most* US providers are making more than $2 per hour - in fact there are a few of us (I am one) making a full living at oDesk.  You can rest assured I'm *not* doing that at $2 per hour.

Since this is a global marketplace the rates vary - and you'll find especially low rates in countries where the cost of living is far lower than it is here.  Paying attention to not just the job opening but the buyers payment history (i.e. if they've regularly been paying low rates don't expect to be hired at higher rates) and understanding that this is *not* a brick and mortar job site then you'll have to customize your profile to meet *buyers* needs.  Your profile should be geared towards filling the buyers needs and laying out your experience in a clear and concise manner.

Good luck! Doreen

Inevitable

Thank you Doreen.   Since I am new to oDesk I wasn't really looking at the buyer's locations.   I am a seasoned admin. assist. w/over 20+ years and recently got laid off.   

 I will start paying more attention to locations and the buyer's payment history.

 Thanks for the insight!

Lisa

I am a wealth

Of useless information Lisa :)  And I also have about as much tact as a sledgehammer Smile

Doreen

Odesk is a joke

Odesk is defiantly making money from this concept.  And sure, this is a great vehicle for the people in India and the Philippines to make money off of cheap US buyers who want to pretend to be "employers."  For the rest of us, those of us who speak perfect English and have portfolios that most of Odesk would give their left eye for, not so much. 

Frankly, any American offering a job for less than the US minimum wage should be ashamed of themselves.  Due to their lack of actual business acumen, as is evident by gathering providers off of Odesk who can't speak or write English, the buyer will ultimately fail in their endeavor to use the Internet and the poverty level of others as a method to "get rich quick."

oWach? neighborhood watching program ---- Thanks for data.

I think we must create some sort of
neighborhood watching program within the provider in the system. It
looked at the tables and study the data so I can adjust my rates, but
some rate are low.

I want to concentrate here: PHP/MySQL

Providers  1781

Low 5,56

Av 14,41

H
78

  

We are 1781 inside the system with
PHP/MySQL Skills. Somebody charge 5.56/h for a job making the average
price for a job go down; therefore, we all earn less. With the
neighborhood program we will make 3 of the 1781 providers flag the
job as appropriate; therefore, we make sure it is a “fair” rate
for the assignment.

Providers will have to flag others jobs
as “appropriate” or “not” in in order to get jobs. This way
we are trying harder for the community to stay human and not full of
bots.

We could also elaborate on the idea in
order to make it work for all of us. Providers and Buyers will
benefit from it because the community make sure you are being charge
a fair price. Up or Down.

 

Ivan Acosta-Rubio Smiley 

That was a Terrific Idea, How about some suggestion??

I think thats a terrific Idea, community driven ratings ...

But, there is a deeper sense to it, You just cannot rate the work monetarially , as many of us are as diverse as a cheese to chalk, when considering the "economic status" of the countries we reside and , currency valuation, inflation, dollar/euro - deficit are just somethings that could affect a person's bid. Instead, I would like a weighted rating in the place of financial appreciation. Say, if an assignment involves around 15pages of dynamic pages/content and utilizing XML-rpc and x,y,z  techniques, we can have a weighting like this,

 Skills

x   = Proficiency level A

y  = Proficiency level B

z  = Proficiency level C

d = Duration quoted by provider

D = Mean duration of assignment 

 

Financials,

Dollar Appreciation to the Bidder's currency,

Mean of the providers' fee from his native country ,

 

Rating=  (X+Y+Z)*(|D-d|)/Fins

 

Actually, it may sound a lot complicated., But its generally neutral this way. And involves a lot more than just financial information. In case we are to,  say a vote-system ,  like the one you put-forth is to be implemented, the buyers will think of it as a cartel kinda measure to protect Provider's interest alone...

 

tanx,

Ramkumar


 

different view of your formula

dear

it's a lucrative formula but lack of judgment. new idea can not be priced only by works hourly done

some jobs are really hard to accomplish by general public so odesks choice is correct bid your self. if the buyer wanna pay, there is nothing wrong.

Pay rate table

Very good for me to have a clue about the minimum payment I can claim for a specific kind of job. Nevertheless I want to point out that the tables aren't up to date they were last revised in February 2007. It has been passed almost a year. Can you publish a fresher one. I will really appreciate a more refreshing system for those tables. Thanks and hope it will be better next time thanks to community members that provides feedback to the system.

Best Regards

Alexei 

 

The providers rates table

The providers rates table was updated. Assignments rates table update is coming soon.

Regards,
Olga
oDesk

Don't understand percentage distribution

In second table, for example, you get rate columns with 300%, and in anycase total of columns for one skill is over 100%...?

Usefulness???????

SmileyThis will be useful only when oDesk will set the minimum assignment rates. Some buyers require that providers should  work for too low rates (even below $1 per hour) and give loads of work, this is something I hate on oDesk. 

Smile

You do not have to accept

You do not have to accept assignments if the rate isn't acceptable for you.

Regards,
Olga

% represent what exactly?

The % is a percent of what number?  Which represents charged per hour?  I'm still trying to understand how this is setup so I can get an interview.

Thanks for any help.

Laura Gullett 

The new, dynamically updated

The new, dynamically updated rate distribution table is now available in oConomy.

Regards,
Olga

Hi There, Anyone?

Can somebody kindly explain to me how there can be such a thing as a 200%, 800%, 5000% and a 4100% charge rate distribution and should'nt the cummulative total of all charge rate be equal only to 100%Smiley

Please disregard this rates

Please disregard this rates table, the new, dynamically updated rate distribution table is now available in oConomy.

Regarding iPhone

Can you please put actually billed rate for the iPhone skill?

Thank you for your support.

tags/REL_20091118 built on 2009/11/19 01:27