$700 000 Russian programmers on Odesk

I THINK the $60 is an amount they set on Odesk but it's negotiated with every job.

However, there's also multiple levels of programmers many who earn far less and some who will go onto earning that from one job.

Also, how long has he been working and is he doing it alone? I know programmers who actually takes work from one account and have 2-3 ppl actually working at the same time.

MarketingBees is right, the hourly rate on the profile is usually higher than what they actually bid for. Not to mention he probably didn't start off with that rate in the first place. You don't just start bidding for jobs at that rate with zero history.

If he worked 10 hours a day on his own, every single day, it would have taken him a little over 3 years to reach that amount. That would indeed leave him with a very impressive $20k/month income. Even if he did it over the course of 6 years that's still a pretty impressive numbers at $10k/month.

Good programmers are hard to find. Great programmers are even more so. $60/hour is really high IMO and judging from the hours he put into it, he must be good at what he does.

Agree with NK. Sounds like this is a service with multiple people working. This can be good or bad. It's good in that it can go quickly, but sometimes the communication isn't as easy as it is when working with one person. You're usually going through a project manager though, so you'll be connected with one guy personally and he'll do all the rest for you.

Dang I guess there is a lot of money to be made on Odesk. Only thing is I hate freelancing, its like you are a slave.

Is he still working there or left for vacations..

If that programmer knows his or her stuff and adds solid value, he or she is worth every penny of that rate. Don't assume that skills are commodities. They aren't. Some coders are worth paying extra for due to the quality of their work.

Ditto what some people here already said. GREAT programmers are worth a fortune. Sometimes a higher hourly rate for a A-player works out cheaper than a lower rate for a B-player with all the back and forth, poor quality etc.

It's a great income stream to be a developer. Even with all the offshoring, programmers remain in demand. In the US, starting graduates can easily get $80-$100k per year. One big drawback of course, it's not passive income and not easy to scale. But as far as "working" goes, it's a great gig.