Anton Mazhirin: “Create Employee 2.0”
We decided to talk with Anton Mazhirin not only because after 2 days he had a birthday. Anton - the creator of the most famous network project in RuNet, which united freelancers and employers - Free-lance.Ru . In an interview, he tells about the history of Free-lance.Ru, about his new project "7 hands", as well as about what "Web 2.0" and "Employee 2.0" are.
How was the idea of Free-lance.Ru born? Who came up with the project?
Once upon a time we had a company that was called Petrograf (stupid name, I agree, but we were young, lived in St. Petersburg and wanted to
do design. How can we be called ...) Since we were small, we could not afford to recruit a full-fledged staff. Therefore, resorted to freelancers. We climbed the entire Internet in search of a resource that would meet all our requirements, but could not find it. We decided to create your own. We launched a pilot version - and on the first day about 2000 people registered. We realized that we got to the point. Urgently redesigned engine, design and launched the site that can be seen now.
')
We are Vasopayev Vasily and I - Mazhirin Anton.
How many people participated in the development? How much did the project cost?
I drew the interface myself. There was a programmer on staff, he also installed the first version. As a result, we spent only our time and skills on launching the site, nothing more.
What do you earn now?
First of all, sales of services: PRO account, paid projects, a transaction without risk ... Plus, of course, external media advertising and joint promotions (conducted with Hostzona, Linux; at the moment there is a competition for Mamba).
And how much do you earn, if not a secret?
I’m not going to talk about profits: it’s not so big to talk about it openly. But at the moment in the state - 6 people, three of whom we pay salary. The resource is on two servers for which you also need to pay. And all this pays for itself.
I can name other numbers. We have registered 25 thousand users, per day - from 10 thousand unique visitors. Last year, Free-lance.Ru made deals worth $ 3 million. Over the year, the figure has increased at least three times. More or less visible companies that were looking for freelancers with us: eHouse, Mail.Ru, DP.ru, Defa, Agave, Stockholm School of Economics, Mamba, Linux.
Your new project is a social network "7 hands" . Tell us a little about him. Recently, more and more social networks appear in runet: what will the “7 hands” differ from the rest of?
First of all - the system of establishing links. In order to give a relationship a “friend” status, you need to really trust the person, because he gets the right to delete your account after the connection is established. If we succeed (and this is already happening) to build a network with real, rather than virtual connections, then this network can be used in many areas where the trust factor is necessary. I don’t want to expand on specific services, but the work is already underway.
The idea of this network is that all people know each other through 7 handshakes. On other sites (in particular, MoiKrug ) I met the information that after 6. Who is right? :)
All are right. The fact is that in 6 handshakes (initially this idea, formed by Stanley Milgram, spoke not about hands, namely about handshakes) 7 hands are involved. But this theory is not rigid. No one has canceled the standard distribution schedule (in the form of an elephant in the stomach of a snake, from the “Little Prince”). Here is the hump of this curve - 6 handshakes. There are deviations, of course: connections were also made with the 7th and 8th handshakes. But with the increase in the number of users, they will strive for 6.
Starting this or that project, what tasks do you set for yourself?
1. It does not sound naive, but I ask myself the question: will this project make the world easier, will it help people?
2. Is there any hope that the project will bring money? After all, it is necessary to develop something.
3. Will he bother me in a year?
What is Web 2.0 for you? Many still cannot clearly explain what this phenomenon is.
Web 2.0 is a rebranding of the Internet. In order for the system (in this case, the Internet) due to its natural development not to kill itself, it needs to acquire a new status. The new name - “Web 2.0” gave this status.
The Internet began to be perceived not as a set of texts, but as a living, dynamic environment with a lot of involvement of each of its members. Projects that use mechanisms designed for this can be safely considered as Web 2.0 projects. The point, by the way, is not only in AJAX. Just this technology allows you to reduce the time costs for the transaction "user - system" and "user - user."
What could be the result of such involvement into the network environment of all “Internet users”? The world will be ruled by ordinary web users, and corporations will adapt to them? What are the prospects for the "new version of the Web"?
I don’t think that now only corporations rule the world. Peace rules the world, everything is interconnected. User feedback influences corporate decisions, and corporate decisions affect user feedback. In fact, people are engaged in guessing the right path for all mankind, and
this way already exists in a certain non-material environment. Now corporations are paying a lot of money to find out the opinion of users about a particular product. And with the advent of Web 2.0, the amount of effort spent on getting feedback and identifying user preferences will decrease.
I do not know what to answer the question about prospects. It is just a cost reduction. What, for example, are the prospects for digital television? It's just clear to everyone that in order to come from point A to point B, point B. is not needed. We remove it, and the path becomes shorter - optimization!
Are your projects Web 2.0?
7ruk.ru is originally Web 2.0, and Free-lance.Ru is committed to this. In general, the “freelance” mission is to give a new status to the very concept of “work”, to create “Employee 2.0” - a person who is a brand himself, does not depend on the company and works while having fun, for his own pleasure, when he wants it and so much how much he wants.
“Worker 2.0” is a kind of ideal type, so anyone who is looking for a job probably wants to be. :) The idea is that a freelancer is a new type of employee. How consistent is it with the requirements of employers? You, as a person successfully developing a core web project, these requirements are probably already well known.
Any business should be efficient. For this, it is necessary to effectively manage resources, including human ones. And an effective resource is primarily a predictable resource.
We know that the machine can produce 20 parts per day, of which 1-2 are defective. It's the same with people: we need to know for how many hours this person will do a certain task and how good it will be. The impossibility of forecasting is the main problem of freelancing. Prices vary greatly, there are no quality criteria. In order to select the right employee, you have to talk to the 20th unnecessary ones and the likelihood that you have chosen the one you need is very small. Therefore, companies resort to the services of freelancers in extreme cases. It is easier for them to take a person to the state, they can do it.
In order to use freelancers effectively, we need the following conditions, which are not there now:
1. Freelancers must learn to manage their time, be able to count the time required to perform a particular task.
2. The freelancer should know how much it costs an hour of work.
3. The level of responsibility should be much higher than now.
4. A system should be built with which the employer could transfer money by wire transfer, and the freelancer could receive it in the way that suits him.
5. It is necessary to learn how to conclude contracts and legally execute documents so that the company can competently report to the state for the money that was transferred to the freelancer.
I think that all these conditions will eventually be fulfilled - and paradise on earth will come. :)
What new network projects would you single out, what was the most memorable? What services do you regularly use (both in the Russian Internet and in the “foreign”)?
In RuNet, this is primarily News2.ru and Habrahabr . I regularly visit and actively use both resources.
I was very upset by the changes on Webplanet , stopped looking there.
And among foreign ones, of course, YouTube is a very useful thing.
Finally - about your creative plans. :) Are new projects being prepared about which you can already spread rumors?
Cooking. But, unfortunately, was a bad experience. Once we shared our plans about the “7-hands” and after reading about them our competitors released a product a month earlier than us. I do not want to repeat mistakes.
How was the idea of Free-lance.Ru born? Who came up with the project?
Once upon a time we had a company that was called Petrograf (stupid name, I agree, but we were young, lived in St. Petersburg and wanted to
do design. How can we be called ...) Since we were small, we could not afford to recruit a full-fledged staff. Therefore, resorted to freelancers. We climbed the entire Internet in search of a resource that would meet all our requirements, but could not find it. We decided to create your own. We launched a pilot version - and on the first day about 2000 people registered. We realized that we got to the point. Urgently redesigned engine, design and launched the site that can be seen now.
')
We are Vasopayev Vasily and I - Mazhirin Anton.
How many people participated in the development? How much did the project cost?
I drew the interface myself. There was a programmer on staff, he also installed the first version. As a result, we spent only our time and skills on launching the site, nothing more.
What do you earn now?
First of all, sales of services: PRO account, paid projects, a transaction without risk ... Plus, of course, external media advertising and joint promotions (conducted with Hostzona, Linux; at the moment there is a competition for Mamba).
And how much do you earn, if not a secret?
I’m not going to talk about profits: it’s not so big to talk about it openly. But at the moment in the state - 6 people, three of whom we pay salary. The resource is on two servers for which you also need to pay. And all this pays for itself.
I can name other numbers. We have registered 25 thousand users, per day - from 10 thousand unique visitors. Last year, Free-lance.Ru made deals worth $ 3 million. Over the year, the figure has increased at least three times. More or less visible companies that were looking for freelancers with us: eHouse, Mail.Ru, DP.ru, Defa, Agave, Stockholm School of Economics, Mamba, Linux.
Your new project is a social network "7 hands" . Tell us a little about him. Recently, more and more social networks appear in runet: what will the “7 hands” differ from the rest of?
First of all - the system of establishing links. In order to give a relationship a “friend” status, you need to really trust the person, because he gets the right to delete your account after the connection is established. If we succeed (and this is already happening) to build a network with real, rather than virtual connections, then this network can be used in many areas where the trust factor is necessary. I don’t want to expand on specific services, but the work is already underway.
The idea of this network is that all people know each other through 7 handshakes. On other sites (in particular, MoiKrug ) I met the information that after 6. Who is right? :)
All are right. The fact is that in 6 handshakes (initially this idea, formed by Stanley Milgram, spoke not about hands, namely about handshakes) 7 hands are involved. But this theory is not rigid. No one has canceled the standard distribution schedule (in the form of an elephant in the stomach of a snake, from the “Little Prince”). Here is the hump of this curve - 6 handshakes. There are deviations, of course: connections were also made with the 7th and 8th handshakes. But with the increase in the number of users, they will strive for 6.
Starting this or that project, what tasks do you set for yourself?
1. It does not sound naive, but I ask myself the question: will this project make the world easier, will it help people?
2. Is there any hope that the project will bring money? After all, it is necessary to develop something.
3. Will he bother me in a year?
What is Web 2.0 for you? Many still cannot clearly explain what this phenomenon is.
Web 2.0 is a rebranding of the Internet. In order for the system (in this case, the Internet) due to its natural development not to kill itself, it needs to acquire a new status. The new name - “Web 2.0” gave this status.
The Internet began to be perceived not as a set of texts, but as a living, dynamic environment with a lot of involvement of each of its members. Projects that use mechanisms designed for this can be safely considered as Web 2.0 projects. The point, by the way, is not only in AJAX. Just this technology allows you to reduce the time costs for the transaction "user - system" and "user - user."
What could be the result of such involvement into the network environment of all “Internet users”? The world will be ruled by ordinary web users, and corporations will adapt to them? What are the prospects for the "new version of the Web"?
I don’t think that now only corporations rule the world. Peace rules the world, everything is interconnected. User feedback influences corporate decisions, and corporate decisions affect user feedback. In fact, people are engaged in guessing the right path for all mankind, and
this way already exists in a certain non-material environment. Now corporations are paying a lot of money to find out the opinion of users about a particular product. And with the advent of Web 2.0, the amount of effort spent on getting feedback and identifying user preferences will decrease.
I do not know what to answer the question about prospects. It is just a cost reduction. What, for example, are the prospects for digital television? It's just clear to everyone that in order to come from point A to point B, point B. is not needed. We remove it, and the path becomes shorter - optimization!
Are your projects Web 2.0?
7ruk.ru is originally Web 2.0, and Free-lance.Ru is committed to this. In general, the “freelance” mission is to give a new status to the very concept of “work”, to create “Employee 2.0” - a person who is a brand himself, does not depend on the company and works while having fun, for his own pleasure, when he wants it and so much how much he wants.
“Worker 2.0” is a kind of ideal type, so anyone who is looking for a job probably wants to be. :) The idea is that a freelancer is a new type of employee. How consistent is it with the requirements of employers? You, as a person successfully developing a core web project, these requirements are probably already well known.
Any business should be efficient. For this, it is necessary to effectively manage resources, including human ones. And an effective resource is primarily a predictable resource.
We know that the machine can produce 20 parts per day, of which 1-2 are defective. It's the same with people: we need to know for how many hours this person will do a certain task and how good it will be. The impossibility of forecasting is the main problem of freelancing. Prices vary greatly, there are no quality criteria. In order to select the right employee, you have to talk to the 20th unnecessary ones and the likelihood that you have chosen the one you need is very small. Therefore, companies resort to the services of freelancers in extreme cases. It is easier for them to take a person to the state, they can do it.
In order to use freelancers effectively, we need the following conditions, which are not there now:
1. Freelancers must learn to manage their time, be able to count the time required to perform a particular task.
2. The freelancer should know how much it costs an hour of work.
3. The level of responsibility should be much higher than now.
4. A system should be built with which the employer could transfer money by wire transfer, and the freelancer could receive it in the way that suits him.
5. It is necessary to learn how to conclude contracts and legally execute documents so that the company can competently report to the state for the money that was transferred to the freelancer.
I think that all these conditions will eventually be fulfilled - and paradise on earth will come. :)
What new network projects would you single out, what was the most memorable? What services do you regularly use (both in the Russian Internet and in the “foreign”)?
In RuNet, this is primarily News2.ru and Habrahabr . I regularly visit and actively use both resources.
I was very upset by the changes on Webplanet , stopped looking there.
And among foreign ones, of course, YouTube is a very useful thing.
Finally - about your creative plans. :) Are new projects being prepared about which you can already spread rumors?
Cooking. But, unfortunately, was a bad experience. Once we shared our plans about the “7-hands” and after reading about them our competitors released a product a month earlier than us. I do not want to repeat mistakes.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/4693/
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