Update on Designer for Hire Page

Hey Shapie designers,

Over the next few weeks we'll be making some improvements on the designer for hire page. We are basically looking to clean this page up, gain some insights into the designer experience, and improve the overall functionality of the page further down the line.

If you are currently listed on the page, please be on the lookout for a survey in your e-mail inbox arriving on Monday 6/29. In order to improve your experience with this tool, it is vital that you respond to the survey within two weeks. We are also looking to make sure that our designers for hire are active - so if you do not respond, please note that you may be taken down from the Designer for Hire page.

If you are not currently on the page and would like to be included as a designer, you can apply here. We will be going through applications thoroughly to ensure that our most qualified designers make it onto the page.

Thanks everyone!

I'm filling out the form for the Designer for Hire thing but I'm confused with the part where you list experience with a URL. Most of my work is under NDA so I can't actually say what I did but even the ones where I can don't really have a URL just for that one thing.

Hi Kat, just looking round the new/improved Forums, and your first problem with improving the "designer for hire" page is that it isn't called that anymore. Instead, it has the ambiguous new name of "3D jobs board". (I thought for a moment it was where SW recruits new staff...)

You're looking at the wrong place

This is the designers for hire page she's referencing: https://www.shapeways.com/hire/designer

Never got the survey. Did it go out? Is there somewhere I need to go to take it?

Thanks Christopher - I hadn't even noticed that page! But my comment about the new name for the old "Designer for Hire" forum now being "3D Jobs Board" still stands - it sounds like a recruitment forum for new SW employees instead of a place for designers to tout their availability. Still wrapping my brain around the new look...

Noted. We'll look into finding a better name for this

So, I haven't received this survey (mostly because I just entered the fray) but here are some things that I would like to see in the Designer for Hire option.

How do we the designers collect payment from customers that want files from us for them to resell on their own? Should there be a sort of agreement form that they fill out for this sort of file?

What about wasting our time, building models for customers that just never follow through with the order? It's sort of a gamble, and I'd hate to ask for $$ up front, but it's slowly coming to that point so I'm not wasting time and earning nothing.

My last thought...
When I go on vacation, I'd like an "On Vacation" sign to be able to throw up instead of just taking my profile down every time I won't be near a computer to handle a request.

There are a lot of 'designer for hire' posts in the 'design requests' section now, can you move these back on the right topic?

I get the feeling they combined both the "designer for hire" and "3D design request boards" into one forum since both those threads are "sticky" now at the top. This was a BIG mistake in my opinion and has been a big PITA for designers looking to help others out with their requests. It is extremely annoying to sort through all the posts of people advertising their services to try to find the ones who are looking to provide payment for services. That, along with the constant, almost automatic, spamming of every "help wanted" post by certain designers who often haven't even read the requester's posts are why I have rarely bothered to check this forum in the last year or so, despite being fairly active on it in the past. I really wish they would separate the 2 forums again, as I get some requests through the designer for hire page, but not anywhere near as much work as before.

They did, they posted in the announcement section about a month ago.
I also vote for separating them again.

I love this website and I also vote for separating them again.

Thank you.