Freelance Jobs Area

Great way to think outside the box. But there's a lot of negative with doing that.

I personally would not like to see such a service on TreeHouse. The service could quickly become inundated with trash accounts from people just looking to get work and snake oil type salesmen. To me that would take away from what seems to be the core mission of TreeHouse, which is to teach people to code and run a business.

That's just my two cents. :)

@michel -- that, too, is a valid consideration.

Maybe participating in such a forum would require a prerequisite number of badges, a number of forum posts, having been a member of TH for a minimum amount of time, or some combo of all of those.

The way that I see it differing from elance/odesk/et al. is that rather than just getting any number of generic freelance jobs available... it would be internally-sourced work/projects.

As an example: I have had to turn-away client work because I simply didn't have time to take it on. It would be cool if I could grab a designer/dev from TH and have them work with me on a project or two. I could just make a post like that, but I think it would be cool to just have a separate area for that.

Clearly that's up to TH, their biz model, and how they may/may not want to implement it and keep it free of junk.

I definitely agree with your valid concern, but do disagree that it completely negates the idea.

@Alexander There are a lot of things that I would worry about with that particular type of forum. Anything involving money is going to eventually lead to someone getting a sour deal. I would hate to see the good will in the community get eroded because someone got brought in on the tail end of someone else's gig. If you want to do a gig with another person, it should be all the way through, or not at all. It's your name being represented to your client, not your sub-contractors, and you do not know if they can do the job until you hand your work over to them. I do not like the idea of anything remotely similar to ODesk or Elance anywhere near Treehouse. There are already many people who advertise themselves as web agencies, who go buy a $40 theme from ThemeForest and hire someone from Elance to do all the heavy lifting for a pittance. I know that's not what you imagine, but it's better not to go down that road at all. I don't see Treehouse as a commodity marketplace, but a place where everyone can learn together.

Instead, I like the idea of continuing the assistance with job placements, because there are people who get to know you involved. Some sort of Job Board might be a good idea at some point.

But I like the idea of people being able to post their Skills, Badges, and Contact Info, whether they are available for work or not in some sort of public area. Not like a want ads, but more like a bulletin board. That way, if you need help finishing out a gig, you can scan the list of people posted and contact that person.

@john and @michael -- you're both right. I think that by using Elance/odesk/craigs list as an example, I sold this incorrectly.

I, too, agree that services like those (and fiverr and others), deflate prices, encourage the robo-apply culture, and creates a culture where price is the only focus. gross - I hate 'em too.

I guess I was envisioning something like what you say, @john. -- maybe a more robust profile section is what we need... a collection of badges, a little bio section, links to site/social/etc., a resume, and a "[firstname] is interested in: Job, Freelance work, Nerd Talk". -- possibly some stats (like time with TH and # of posts in forum... etc.) -- even a linkedIn style "endorse" section could be considered, so it can add to the social cred.

Ultimate GOAL: Forums are good, but it would be nice to facilitate networking a bit... especially for those interested in sharing projects, needing help (beyond the capacity of a forum), and/or taking on extra work" -- closed to the public, just for active TH accounts.

@alexander Now THAT sounds like a robust and fleshed out idea. I think that would also help everyone get to know everyone else better as well, as Treehouse has had a huge influx of sign-ups this year.

I guess I was envisioning something like what you say, @john. -- maybe a more robust profile section is what we need... a collection of badges, a little bio section, links to site/social/etc., a resume, and a "[firstname] is interested in: Job, Freelance work, Nerd Talk". -- possibly some stats (like time with TH and # of posts in forum... etc.) -- even a linkedIn style "endorse" section could be considered, so it can add to the social cred.

I would love for that to be added to the profile section

Hi Guys, love this discussion! Just wanted to chime in and let you know you're touching on a bunch of subjects that the Treehouse team has spent a substantial amount of time working on.

Won't steal anybody's thunder by going into details now, but soon you will see some added functionality to the Forum, enhanced Profiles, and several other features that will improve your learning experience and outcomes, make it easier for you to market yourself, and all around increase the collaborative ecosystem of Treehouse.

We have had some success connecting employers with Treehouse members (both full time and freelance), and are in the process of ramping up these initiatives substantially. At the same time, we are very conscious about safeguarding our members and Community from the potential pitfalls of this (as John and Michael noted above) and will work hard to keep Treehouse amazing. Super excited for the new features to go live...soon I hope!

In the meantime, thank you for your engagement and valuable input. You guys are awesome!

w00t! good to know! Thanks @michael an @james

Maybe a personal messaging feature?

@john - I dig.