oDesk Rolls Out Free Skills Testing for Software Developers

PALO ALTO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 7, 2006 -- Today oDesk (www.oDesk.com), an online marketplace and platform for managing remote work, announced the production rollout of oDesk Online Testing (www.oDesk.com/tests), a free skills testing service for programmers and hi-tech professionals. The new service offers over a hundred assessment tests for popular programming languages and technology skills such as Ajax, PHP, MySQL, .NET, Java, and XML. Launched in beta earlier this summer, the service is now available in production and will be highlighted at the Web 2.0 Conference this week in San Francisco.

oDesk Online Testing has been available in beta since August, and already more than four thousand skills tests have been taken by 1,400 oDesk service providers around the world. Test scores are recorded on a simple 1 to 5 scale, and are made available for public review on oDesk service provider profiles, along with a percentile score relative to the overall distribution of scores for any specific test. oDesk tests have been developed by experienced technical professionals according to ISO 9001-2000 specifications.

"To get the job done right, hi-tech project managers need access to a large, qualified pool of technical professionals," said Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk. "However, when we looked at other testing services, they all charged developers to take tests. We decided the best option for our customers would be to make oDesk Online Testing free, so any software developer in the world can show off their skills. Now oDesk makes it easy for companies to find experienced coders from among the thousands of tested, top-rated professionals available on our marketplace."

Recently tapped for an $8M investment by Benchmark Capital this past September, oDesk enables businesses of all sizes to access the worldwide market for technology expertise. The oDesk global network includes thousands of programmers, system administrators, web designers, technical writers, and QA engineers from countries around the world including Russia, Ukraine, India, and the US. Hiring managers can search online profiles of oDesk professionals using a variety of search criteria including technical skills, hourly rate, feedback scores, tests passed, previous work history, and geography.

About oDesk

oDesk (www.oDesk.com) is a global marketplace for programmers and technical talent that lets businesses build and manage remote teams. Hiring managers can search the oDesk network and choose from among thousands of tested, top-rated technology professionals in over 50 countries around the world. Using oDesk web-based collaboration tools, project managers can visually track and verify all work performed, both historically and in real-time. Everyday, oDesk helps people all over the world work together, as if they were seated in the same office. Founded in 2004, oDesk is located in Menlo Park, CA.