2017-08-03: Web scrapping seems to be one most popular assignments on Upwork and other freelance sites. But will there be more of this type of work or less? Should parsing projects be structured differently, than they are now? Do clients always know what they want? Are they getting a good return on their investment?
Is market for parsing jobs growing or declining?
I can see several directions where this discussion can head:
- best practices for freelancers (if people want to share, I personally vote up a glossary or terms/slang)
- how-to for clients (possibly some checklists to refine the project)
- parsing market stats (popularity of tools, number of project offerings, etc - something that gives a structured look on the parsing activity)
- possibility of a new specialised marketplace (I personally liked old style odesk and elance and kind of hate Upwork and Freelance.com even more, even though I've met great people there and learned a lot from them)
Which direction for this discussion group you'd endorse:
Please comment at issue 1 about your happy/sad experiences with scrapping/parsing projects and about what this discussion group better do for you.
whom should I ask to get this project done?
what is the proper cost for this project?
damn, the scrapper broke, need to do it again!
how do I extract meaningful result from this pile of trash?
where do I get more clients? good clients?
how can I do a more value added work and earn more money?
it took so long to figure out a proper requirement, wish client was more educated
ah! agian this stupid meaningless soon-to-die task for only USD50
ahh! Indians say they will do it for USD15...
is parsing a growing or a dying field? (better talk to APIs rather parse web pages, right?)
what tools are most popular and why?
is there room for a new business case in scrapping? (eg. a dedicated web site for parsing tasks only, certification / contests)
any hard data on parsing activity may be collected? (eg number of project offerings, number of freelancers available)