More people, especially those of us who have recently been laid off, may have freelance contracting for knowledge work in our future, according to Sarah E. Needleman’s article Negotiating the Freelance Economy, in today’s Wall Street Journal. It points out the sobering fact that not just full time, but temporary work opportunities are also less available than a year ago. Hence the increased popularity of sites such as elance.com, odesk.com, guru.com and sologig.com. Needleman also does a good job of pointing out some of the practicalities and possible pitfalls of working this way. In a similar vein, see the May 4 report by Jessica Dickler in CNNMoney.com, Freelance is the new full-time.
From the employer’s perspective, check out Ryan Underwood’s article in the May Inc. magazine, Technology: Finding Freelance Programmers, and the sidebar Coding Made to Order.