Justin Laing

I recently put up a project for bid on Rent A Coder.  This looks like a great way to get side projects done.  For not much you can try out an idea, get some help, or fix a bug. Within 2 days I’ve gotten about 20 bids about 10 of which were from what looked like high quality individuals or companies for very competitive prices.

I’d encourage anyone who is thinking about striking it out on their own as a programmer to start doing some jobs on there, it looks like a great way to start. I wish I would have know about it when I was looking for my first job.

It’s also interesting to see where all the programmers are located, many of them in Romania, Pakistan, and India.  I talked to a fellow on the phone who was Romanian, he’s ascent was a little hard but once I got the hang of it, it wasn’t too bad.  This is my first real hands on experience with the new “Global” knowledge worker economy.  As for American’s having trouble competing with cheaper foreign labor, I say bring on the competition.  I’m ready for it, are you?
I see more people working with technology as a positive, not a negative. I think this will increase the rate of technology development, open up new markets for selling technology, and generally create more opportunity for everyone.  Furthermore I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to fully utilize their skills whatever they may be.  I think it’s inspiring to see someone, from anywhere, work hard and have success.