Arc Reviews 194

I am happy with Arc.dev. I had a bunch of good customers, that hired me for important deliverables. Payments always on time, full support from the Arc.dev team, no problem ever blocked us.

Got a recommendation from friend and never regretted my decision to join Arc community.

Arc is an excellent platform to work with. Support is readily available if there is any problems, money is handled on time. The process from submitting a proposal to scheduling a preliminary meeting with clients to signing the work contract is effortless.

The folks at Arc also do a great job setting expectations with both sides of the working relationship, so you find yourself in a place where clients, and potential clients, have a clear understanding of how to work with you. Through the online platform, its simple to peruse available work and apply to what you're interested in, on your terms.

What do you need to be successful on Arc? You still need to have strong communication skills – especially since much of it is remote, an ability to use different project managements tools for each client, know how to balance your schedule so you can get the job done, and be comfortable tracking and reporting your time. While the folks at Arc do a great job setting expectations, it's up to us as clients and freelancers to uphold it.

I'm proud to be part of a network that embraces the vision of work without boundaries.

This company has a very long and convoluted “vetting process” in which they supposedly qualify you just so you can be a freelance worker. This consists of a four hour coding test, a phone interview, work reference, a 30 or so hour project, another technical interview, just so you can start from zero. When they asked me to take the coding test, I had no idea this was their process. After passing the coding test and the phone interview, I was handed a time consuming and trivial python project to complete.

After three days of meticulous work finishing the project AND hosting it for them because they are too lazy to spin up a local server, I hear back nothing from them. Some days later I see my access to the website has been revoked with a two sentence message that I did not pass the project portion. They couldn’t dignify adding a hint of explanation, so I had to send another email to ask why my project was not accepted. This is what I hear:

Reason 1 “Eh, we didn’t like your commit message. You had one in there that said ‘small clean up’”, which was was a commit I removed some trailing white space.

Reason 2 “You didn’t have enough directories in your repo. Your code was in one ‘huge’ directory”. This was a back end project where there were only four (4) source files in that directory, no front-end, no static resources, no templates, nothing else, just a basic python package. I guess they expected me to put every source file in its own directory. I’ve never in my life heard such nonsense before.

Reason 3- “You didn't encrypt the passwords before saving them”. In their project specification, they lousily passed passwords as plain text over HTTP requests. In real applications no one does this. Passwords are hashed on the front-end before they are even sent to the server. So seeing this, I realized they obviously didn't care about security. Mind you, no where in the API specification mentions the slightest requirements about security. Now out of nowhere they are anal about it.

That's all she literally wrote. I was really hoping to hear back about some bug from which I could learn something. But as it was, they didn’t find a single bug in my code. They couldn’t fault its functionality. They even had the audacity to praise me because my code was fully documented and they had an easy time reading it.

Overall, I feel it's been a major waste of my time. If they want to set up a stringent interview process, I have no qualms with that. But if they make someone like me go through a multi-day job laboring away at a pointless project, they should make absolutely clear what criteria is used to score the submission. This is not a transparent process. It sounded to me like the whims of someone waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

If you decide to waste your life going through their vetting process, just be warned that it’s a highly arbitrary process. I’ve lost 25 or so hours and learned nothing but to stay away from them. Good riddance though because there are greater platforms for freelance like Upwork with much more clients to choose from.

I like Arc, great platform!

Arc is an indispensable platform for remote engineers like me. The Arc team is very professional & communicative, payments are always handled seamlessly & on time, and there is a good range of interesting work from very professional clients.

I have been part of the Arc platform for quite some time now, and I really can say that it's an amazing platform for software engineers. From the initial interview through to connecting with the clients - everything is very professional.

Great platform, very efficient communication, smooth and fast payments (using Transferwise which provides one of the best conversion rates).
Also I've had very specific requests in payments area which where addressed almost immediately. Thanks for that! Highly recommended!

Great remote work platform. Totally recommended

Amazing platform for Remote Developers, the team make the whole process of contracts to payments a breeze.
Would highly recommend it if you are looking to start a career in remote or looking for vetted skilled developers.

I have been with Arc for the past 4 months, it's definitely a better platform for freelancers. Payments and the Arc team availability are really smooth. They have set up standard high for a developer to be part of the Arc team, which essentially aids a way to work with high profile clients. Being in Arc, one thing that I would expect is to have many more opportunities coming in, you might need to be quite patiently available for the opportunity.

i tried their service and found mostly asian developers, you can find these developers on freelance sites for 15-20 dollars an hour.

I don't see the point in paying a huge premium for these developers.

I've working with Arc for almost three years, and my experience could not be better. The applying process was very quick and fair, with some interviews and tests/project that covered almost everything I think it's essential for a good software engineer. There were always lots of job offers to apply in different categories and the process is very transparent and fast. Never had a problem with a client, which makes me think they are very careful choosing and accepting clients for the platform. When I had any doubt or issue to solve, there were always someone (Arc team and/or devs community) available to help. If you're looking for a part-time project to earn extra money or improve different skills, or if you're seeking for a new full-time project, you should apply to Arc. The flexibility to work remote is also a plus, and depending on the client, the working hours can be flexible too, which for me it's essential.

I am member of Arc platform since September 2019. Vetting process was complex, but that complexity is necessary because Arc is offering it's clients top vetted developers and they need to evaluate our skills very carefully.
After getting on Arc platform, I started job search. Process is very simple, you need to demonstrate why you are best fit for the role. That helps both parties - clients know what they're buying and developers improve their communication skills.
After several attempts I got hired on very interesting project, with my preferred hourly rate. Communication with Arc team has been very easy - I'm being regularly updated about my reviews from the client and support is always helpful
Payout system is clear and stable. I know when I am getting paid, fees are very low and I receive funds in my account within minutes.

Overall, I would give Arc 4.9 points out from 5. That 0.1 point would be ability to work as a team - that would be really cool feature to offer small teams

Generally very helpful and efficient and with very good back-end systems (really appreciate the Toggle upload!). I have had a couple of issues with the rate on a contract not being as agreed with the client (in both directions!). Interactions are courteous and supportive. Using Arc reduces my gig-search and administrative load.

I've been doing part-time freelancing through Arc for 5 months now. Arc took care of the paperwork with my clients, and getting the payment through to me, and it's been stellar at that, thanks to their helpful and friendly staff. The quanity of available roles definetly needs to grow, but everything else has been perfect.

It's also worth mentioning that to join Arc you must go through a screening process which is quite intensive, but also respectful of your time.

Arc got me the best engineer we can hope for. Was honestly surprised. Their payment processing through the site is dope too.

Big waste of time.

They have consultants do a "short" 2.5 hour test, and there's 3 more steps to the interview process. It's similar in effort to applying to a full-time job, but just for the ability to bid on projects that generally pay below-market rates.

Or, at least, I think it'd be similar in effort to a full-time role. Whoever I was supposed to have an interview with ghosted me.

They also have an unhealthy obsession with hourly rates in an industry where clients want to pay for results.

Professional outfit with great focus on the customer. The account manager found the right developer quickly - and understands the differences in developer skillsets. The developer is amazing - clearly understands the needs and requirements of the project and implements extremely well, bringing not only great code but new solutions to the table. All parties communicate effectively and often, making this project a breeze. Really exceeded expectations in every way.