FieldEngineer.com is a website that facilitates the crowd funding and remote hiring of telecommunication engineers. The platform is based on similar crowd funding platforms such as Freelancer.com and Upwork and provides a marketplace where businesses can find field engineers that they can outsource their work to.
FieldEngineer.com was started by Malik Zakaria, a veteran of the telecom industry who wanted to provide a place where people studying telecommunications could hone their craft and earn some money on the side. In exchange for a percentage of the fees charged, FieldEngineer offers a marketplace where actual telecommunication professionals can bid on jobs, with the decision regarding who gets the job resting with the client.
In spite of comparisons with Freelancer.com and Upwork, Zakaria has stated that his company has more in common with Uber than anything else. He likens the site to a place where businesses can rent the services of a professional who can get them from point A to point B in their project, thereby shortening the overall duration of the project and increasing the efficiency with which the project is completed.
Praise for the Company
FieldEngineer has been met with a warm reception in the telecommunication community. Businesses and engineers alike have stated that the company has made it easier for them to maintain business relations and acquire steady sources of income and workflow. Some of the benefits that individuals using this service have quoted are:
Cost Effectiveness
The company provides a cost-effective solution for field engineering needs. Telecommunication is an industry that can be handled in a largely remote capacity, which means that hiring freelancers is more cost effective than paying someone a fixed salary and spending money paying for utilities and the like. This helps drive down prices for telecom services, which boosts business in the industry that manages to occur in spite of all the involved parties getting fair compensation for the work they have put in.
Convenient
Field engineers are generally not required to work in an office. Instead, they are required to set up at client locations, providing onsite support for the duration of the installation process. This makes it unnecessary to keep a dedicated workforce of field engineers. Instead, businesses can hire a team as and when required, allowing for a much more efficient work process.
Field engineering is a field that has a strict rulebook that must be followed, so if an individual is available on FieldEngineer, they are already qualified enough to do any job that the business might have in mind. Hence, telecom engineers can use this service to earn money without having to stick to a fixed work schedule, which would be extremely inconvenient.
Field engineers are required for projects during which they work long hours, but after the project is complete, they do not have any other task to do. Hence, by freelancing, field engineers can move from one project to the next, maximizing their earning potential and ensuring that they do not waste time just because their employer has no work for them.
Low Risk
Businesses will be scouting the marketplace for individuals who they believe are fully qualified to work on their projects. FieldEngineer conducts background checks and is very strict about the legitimacy of the information that has been provided. Hence, businesses can find the right field engineers with ease, allowing work to resume on projects uninterrupted. Since this is a freelancing portal, the field engineers on it would be working based on their reputation. As long as the business goes for the top-tier field engineers, the risk of something going wrong would be extremely minimized.
On the other hand, with employees, this can be a problem because the hiring process is time-consuming and often results in imperfect hires. Opting for freelancers is, therefore, a great deal more efficient and provides businesses with the most efficient way possible of getting the job done.
Aids Scalability
Without the presence of freelancers, businesses would have to invest significant funds into first hiring a workforce and then acquiring contracts. With freelancers, the process is simplified a great deal. The freelancers are hired as soon as a project is acquired and are paid after the project has been completed when the funds have been received by the business itself. This allows companies to acquire clients beforehand without having to invest a lot of money, thereby making growth a great deal easier than it would have been otherwise. Companies can generate regular cash flows with ease by using freelancers and use this cash flow to expand their operations in whatever way they see fit.
Offers Specialized Help
Sometimes, the presence of an expert is necessary in order to create a high-quality product. However, keeping a specialist on the payroll does not make any sense. These specialists are not required all of the time, and they can make a lot more money if they get hired as third-party contractors. The problem here is that this can prove to be very expensive for the companies in question as they would have to pay an upfront free. With FieldEngineer, a specialist can be hired as and when required and given the tools they need to get the job done. This would be extremely beneficial for the freelancers as well, as they would have the option of getting consistent work by getting contracts from different companies that need their service.
No Middle Man
Working out of an agency can be a bad prospect for both engineers and companies since there is a third party that needs to be paid, therefore driving the price up. With FieldEngineer, the middle man is cut out, enabling direct communication between engineers and companies that need their services. This drives prices down, enabling more commerce to occur in the industry which benefits everyone involved, be they businesses or engineers.
Global Opportunities
Field engineers are often too talented to be working in a particular economy and might earn a great deal more money abroad. Companies can take advantage of this by offering a higher rate for foreign engineers which would be lower than the market rate in the country that the company is established in. Such transactions would not have been possible prior to the presence of FieldEngineer, but the portal has made it possible for international commerce to be conducted which would level the playing field, increase competition and benefit the industry as a whole.