How To Avoid Getting Scammed while Working For The Job Section here?

[No_Syntax]

I am a programmer working 8 hours a day for $28 an hour and i am tired of this type of work. I decided ill probably go freelance so i think starting here working for people looking for programmers in the job section on the forum is a good idea. I like games i did OT coding in 2008 so yeah seems like a good idea.

Anyone knows what guidelines or protocols i need follow to avoid getting scammed after a work is done?

Ive seen a lot of kiddie offers on the forum for jobs that are worth a lot has anyone worked for someone here and got paid professionally in exchange of professional work?

Suggestions welcomed

 

[Elwyn]

Well, to be honest every job I took here I didn't worry of being scammed over. I just said my price, did the job and sent the script/source and they would pay me. If you ever get scammed just report the person and make sure other people stay on alert about him.

If you take a job from someone that doesn't have a record of scamming, I don't think you should worry about it.

Oh, and offer long term support over the jobs you take. Even a scammer would think twice when he buys a good product with support.

 

[DestinationSer]

If you have a stable job irl right now making 24 usd per hour you should stick to that as you will most likely make 80% less here than what you're making at your job.

 

[Shadowsong]

I am a programmer working 8 hours a day for $28 an hour and i am tired of this type of work. I decided ill probably go freelance so i think starting here working for people looking for programmers in the job section on the forum is a good idea. I like games i did OT coding in 2008 so yeah seems like a good idea.

Anyone knows what guidelines or protocols i need follow to avoid getting scammed after a work is done?

Ive seen a lot of kiddie offers on the forum for jobs that are worth a lot has anyone worked for someone here and got paid professionally in exchange of professional work?

Suggestions welcomed

If you are going to script for people, the best way would be to set up your own test server that other people can connect to, and once you finish a script for someone, invite them to your server to see the script working.
Once they see the script is done, they pay you, and you send them the script.

When you get a little bit of positive reputation and happy customers, you can ask for 1/2 or 1/3 of the full price before you start working, as a deposit to assure the trade.

 

[No_Syntax]

If you are going to script for people, the best way would be to set up your own test server that other people can connect to, and once you finish a script for someone, invite them to your server to see the script working.
Once they see the script is done, they pay you, and you send them the script.

When you get a little bit of positive reputation and happy customers, you can ask for 1/2 or 1/3 of the full price before you start working, as a deposit to assure the trade.

I do c++ and scripts is a great suggestion ill have to set up a server i guess

If you have a stable job irl right now making 24 usd per hour you should stick to that as you will most likely make 80% less here than what you're making at your job.

i really need more time for my newborn kid and friends and coding for bank is not quite fun but you got a point.

Maybe @Elwyn o somebody can tell me about pricing and income?

 

[J.Dre]

I've hired a few people, so I'll give feedback based on my experience...

You're not going to make as much on here. It's unlikely anyone will pay you hourly. This is a game designed & run mostly by kids. A lot of members that stuck around are older now, but most of us "older" guys are not looking to hire anyone. So, expect to work with kids 90% of the time. That being said, anything that takes about an hour costs $10+ (depending on the difficulty). Some people may be able to pay more, some less. It all depends on the individual... As the work is probably much easier / less demanding than programming outside of OtLand, you can probably do more of it and make up for the lost wages.

Potential to make more with more work. But there's no guaranteed way of avoiding scammers. Just be smart.

 

[WibbenZ]

Lets just say you can earn alot of money of it (If you are good and have reputation for it ofc.)

What I always do (unless ive done numerous of sales with that person before):
You say what you want, I give you a price then make it if you agree to it, you send the money and I then send the script.
Another good thing is to only accept payments from approved accounts.

 

[DestinationSer]

I do c++ and scripts is a great suggestion ill have to set up a server i guess



i really need more time for my newborn kid and friends and coding for bank is not quite fun but you got a point.

Maybe @Elwyn o somebody can tell me about pricing and income?

I get what you mean there but do not base tibia on your main income. Do your normal job and have tibia as a hobby

 

[No_Syntax]

Lets just say you can earn alot of money of it (If you are good and have reputation for it ofc.)

What I always do (unless ive done numerous of sales with that person before):
You say what you want, I give you a price then make it if you agree to it, you send the money and I then send the script.
Another good thing is to only accept payments from approved accounts.

I see any other suggestion based on experience they are welcomed.

 

[Elwyn]

Maybe @Elwyn o somebody can tell me about pricing and income?

When making scripts, I set a minimum of $10 per script plus $15 per hour (if it's really simple, $10 per hour) but that's per script so if someone requests a system that needs 3 simple scripts and 1 complex I'll ask from $55 to $70. There's some people that pays for conversion, then I'll ask to see the scripts before, and if I can use any of them I'll ask $10 per hour (without the minimum of $10), if not, I'll ask the same as if making new scripts. If there's future errors because of my code, I'll fix it for free.

When making source changes, first I ask what source does the person uses and if he want me to work directly with his sources (most people will not want to send you the sources). No matter how simple the source change, I always set a minimum of $25 plus $20 per hour. Why: If you make the source change, and for some reason that does not involve your code, his server gets a segmentation fault, he'll look for you. When this happens, and the error is not in my code, I explain to the client (without complicated terms, unless asked to do so) and won't charge anything on the first time. If the seg fault/error is because of my code, I'll fix it for free.

For any kind of support, it's really hard to give a price. Most people will pay for support when they're dealing with a segmentation fault, and on older sources with amateur changes it can be quite a headache, so I wouldn't recommend doing support services unless the client gives you a sure fire way of reproducing the error.

PS: For source changes when the client doesn't send the source, when sending the code most of the times I ask for the clients specific files, upload it to a secret gist (gist.github.com) and then upload my changes on his files. You may want to use TeamViewer, as it can happen of the client messing with the syntax without knowing when doing the copy paste and thus unable to compile.

Sorry for the wall of text, hope it helps you

 

[No_Syntax]

When making scripts, I set a minimum of $10 per script plus $15 per hour (if it's really simple, $10 per hour) but that's per script so if someone requests a system that needs 3 simple scripts and 1 complex I'll ask from $55 to $70. There's some people that pays for conversion, then I'll ask to see the scripts before, and if I can use any of them I'll ask $10 per hour (without the minimum of $10), if not, I'll ask the same as if making new scripts. If there's future errors because of my code, I'll fix it for free.

When making source changes, first I ask what source does the person uses and if he want me to work directly with his sources (most people will not want to send you the sources). No matter how simple the source change, I always set a minimum of $25 plus $20 per hour. Why: If you make the source change, and for some reason that does not involve your code, his server gets a segmentation fault, he'll look for you. When this happens, and the error is not in my code, I explain to the client (without complicated terms, unless asked to do so) and won't charge anything on the first time. If the seg fault/error is because of my code, I'll fix it for free.

For any kind of support, it's really hard to give a price. Most people will pay for support when they're dealing with a segmentation fault, and on older sources with amateur changes it can be quite a headache, so I wouldn't recommend doing support services unless the client gives you a sure fire way of reproducing the error.

PS: For source changes when the client doesn't send the source, when sending the code most of the times I ask for the clients specific files, upload it to a secret gist (gist.github.com) and then upload my changes on his files. You may want to use TeamViewer, as it can happen of the client messing with the syntax without knowing when doing the copy paste and thus unable to compile.

Sorry for the wall of text, hope it helps you

Thanks for the great answer

all this using paypal and the forums here?

 

[WibbenZ]

Most people use paypal, it was easier when the market existed since you could sell datapack that you made to sell, cast systems etc etc
Lets just say it was easier to find customers.

A thing to note is that to gain reputation you should upload things to show that you know what you do, you will have a hard time getting any major paying jobs if you aren't able to show what you can do.
But when people start hiring you and you make sure to really do you best they will tell other people etc etc.

 

[No_Syntax]

Thanks for all the answers ill think about it and do some numbers maybe a better option is to switch to a part time job with the same salary

doing a quick calculation and taking in mind the time waste contacting clients, doing online transactions and presenting my work will not make up for making a new system for $100 or 10-20 $ an hour

 

[WibbenZ]

Thanks for all the answers ill think about it and do some numbers maybe a better option is to switch to a part time job with the same salary

doing a quick calculation and taking in mind the time waste contacting clients, doing online transactions and presenting my work will not make up for making a new system for $100 or 10-20 $ an hour

Don't see it like that, sure you sometimes waste alot of time talking to people who actually aren't looking to buy / want it for free.
But the next customer might be one that you can charge 200-400eur from, really depends on what you offer etc

 

[No_Syntax]

Don't see it like that, sure you sometimes waste alot of time talking to people who actually aren't looking to buy / want it for free.
But the next customer might be one that you can charge 200-400eur from, really depends on what you offer etc

If i can make 5 or 6 jobsthat pay me that monthly i am happy but i dont really see it unless you are working outside otland

 

[Elwyn]

Thanks for the great answer

all this using paypal and the forums here?

Yes

If i can make 5 or 6 jobsthat pay me that monthly i am happy but i dont really see it unless you are working outside otland

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing free lancing here for a living. The amount of job offers aren't enough to sustain a family, though it's a good side job.

 

[WibbenZ]

If i can make 5 or 6 jobsthat pay me that monthly i am happy but i dont really see it unless you are working outside otland

You can't rely fully on otland ofc, but it's a nice "side income" and at the same time you learn more and more.
And aswell the more you learn the more you can charge and as I said the more people who see the "did a good job" messages the more customers will contact you.
But the greatest tip I can give you is WHEN you make a sale, test it out...
Even if I rarely do it(and I really should since I do quite often forget to things like "," and ")" etc the customer will prefer to get it working right away.

 

[No_Syntax]

Yes


Yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing free lancing here for a living. The amount of job offers aren't enough to sustain a family, though it's a good side job.

I guess a 2d artist or graphic have it better here?

 

[Znote]

I do c++ and scripts is a great suggestion ill have to set up a server i guess

What was your former username? I do not know who you are.

Freelancing OT will probably never give you a better salary than you already have. I earn 31 usd/hour on my job as a web developer and this community will never be able to match it in a stable long-term manner.
(Your lucky if you work 10 usd/hour here).

But if your not too interested in money, or maybe you wanna earn a little bit extra ontop of your job, this may be a fun hobby project if your interested in this community.

A good way to test the business and build your developer reputation is to make some contributions to the community. Show us what you can do and getting jobs will be easier.
Check otlands bountysource. Do some pull requests on our official repository for the forgotten server and you'll earn a bit of cash along with it. Serious customers who got cash for you won't jump on you unless they can see what you have done.

And you can pretty much rule out any custom project that isn't out yet, usually the best they can offer you is money after the server goes live (and they earn money through their shop system if successful), which usually never happens.

I guess a 2d artist or graphic have it better here?

No. And in that regard a web designer is the best way to go, and entire layouts will go from 5-50 usd normally, and you usually spend way more than 1-5 hours on making them.

Jobs of value you could offer can be:
Smooth migrations to Linux hosting.
Server maintenance jobs. (apache/nginx/lightpd, mysql, compiling and running server from an unix environment).
Error cleanups / OT optimisations.
Lua scripting jobs.
C++ coding and integration jobs.

 

[whitevo]

Lua scripting jobs.

These must be some badass scripts I never even have thought of.
I base my lua scripting value around ~2$ per hour.
And biggest service I gave so far was making some long real tibia quest what didn't exist in open datapack. (earned 20$)

Interestingly enough, the services I have given are overpaid xD (meaning they give me more than I asked for)

Then again, I'm after a challenging scripts and reputation so win for me either way