Has anyone actually successfully gotten work through this app?
Replies19
- @Ben Scott Gosh, it certainly doesn’t bode well! Thank you for your honesty!
- picked up a few paid projects, sometimes shared the project with other designers when work load was tight on deadline.
- @Ben Scott I am OK with non-paid things, as long as it is clear. Unpaid gigs can be completely worth it for all kinds of reasons – passion project, untested writers looking for clips or whatever.What bugs me are things like: "looking for killer copywriter to help shape my brand," except it turns out to be for free. In what world?
- @Christiane Lange absolutely hot the nail on the head!
- @Tiggy Chadwick I’ve noticed this too! They will say they need illustrators for projects then never get back to you at all
- @Christiane Lange that is so frustrating and very unfair/unprofessional considering you put a lot of effort in to help someone.But yeah, unfortunately it's part and parcel in dealing with certain people and isn't exclusive to The Dots.There's definitely more pros than cons on here and I like that's it's a relatively small and unknown platform (compared with more mainstream social media platforms). A kinda hope it stays that way :)
- @Peter Wright Yes, the lack of response can be frustrating. As I said, I have had some excellent collabs through here, but also some less than excellent experiences.One person wanted feedback on a written piece, and I offered to help. I did a fairly thorough edit and sent it back. Crickets! Common courtesy would be to send a simple thanks, even if the feedback wasn't useful.Another person wanted to use some of my material for a project, which was fine with me, but never sent the final product to me.It is a small world, and it really is important to be decent, especially when people are helping you for free. A simple thank you is not only polite, it is also good business.
- See question thread. https://the-dots.com/asks/has-anyone-actually-gotten-a-job-they-ve-applied-to-through-the-dots-be-that-freelance-an-internship-part-time-or-full-time-36261
- Nope.
- @Zara Shams I know what you mean, I’ve noticed that even when people are actively looking for artists etc that they almost never reply to the responses, it seems a shame and a bit of a waste of time to be replying to potential jobs. Hopefully though it’ll lead to some cool projects!
- @Christiane Lange ahh that’s very interesting, thank you for replying!
- @Peter Wright that’s more or less what I’ve noticed too, I really like the people here but it’s a huge shame there isn’t much going on in terms of actual work
- Much like everyone else who's replied, I find it's a great place to connect with other creatives. Everyone is supportive and positive which is great and there's very little negativity.I have made connections that have resulted in paid work, but more often than not, someone will post a shoutout for work, you reply either via DM or a comment, and hear nothing back - not even an acknowledgement - which as nice as the community is, leaves you feeling like there's a lack of professionalism.Unfortunately, there's not much you can do except to keep going. There's definitely a wealth of experience and some really talented people so as ever, persistance will win the day in terms of getting clients/projects.I also think there's less 'showing off' here as there is on other platforms...(LinkedIn).The people who run this platform are great too and often get involved with conversations and posts etc, which sets it apart.
- Hey Tiggy, I’ve never found any paid work through this app unfortunately - neither through the Jobs section nor through the Ask one.I did get to be a part of some free collabs, but I found even those aren’t easy to carry out given there are so many talented artists out there competing with you. On top of that, they’re usually a one-off thing, and people never contact you again regardless of the quality of the job you carried out for them.As far as the calls for collabs go, they’re usually very demanding with a pretty fast turnaround, which feels surreal given you’re not really getting much but a line on your CV as retribution. I find a lot of people come on here because they know they can expect a certain type of fellowship given this is a very artsy platform, and that awareness makes them more manipulative, demanding and pushy with what they want, how they want it and how fast it has to be delivered.People looking for work for free on here also often “hire” more than a creative at a time, so after carrying out what you were asked to you might find out your piece is not what the brand/individual is going for and you put a lot of hours into the project for nothing.It’s definitely an interesting platform and there are lots of upsides to it, but as far as my experience goes getting a job hasn’t been one of The Dots’ benefits.
- I've connected with some excellent people on a couple of collaborations. However, this was for a side project, which I never intended to be paid.In general, I like the site because everyone here is on the creative side of things and willing to share info, provide feedback, etc. If it leads to paid gigs, that would certainly be great, but we mostly get our paying clients the old-fashioned way, through referrals and bids.
- I’ve been using it for a couple years. Had one writing opportunity which ended up not being very good so I turned it down. A friend of mine found some paid voiceover work here and that was a great starting point since he was inexperienced. I use it mostly to engage with the community and express myself creatively. I don’t personally mind contributing a poem in exchange for a contributor copy. When someone posts a question looking for someone to do work it’s always good practice to ask them if it’s paid up front. It’s a shame at this point that we have to ask! But unfortunately it is the case.
- Hi! thanks, wondering what experiences others have...
- @Roos Levano unbelievable! I’m sorry that this has happened to you, I know how frustrating it is.Have you managed to be a part of any collaborations or anything?
- Hi Tiggy, I can tell you my experience. I had contact with a couple of potential clients. After sending me their brief I found out they want to have design work for free included all tecnical specifications. Others I didn't hear from them anymore after I gave them a quote. Or some send me an incompleted brief and they ask me to go through it with hem to give them tips, work a design out, make it print ready. All for free.
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