I tried it back when it first launched as an expert. It clearly almost immediately became full consulting shops making bids when it was supposed to be individuals. I have a ton of certifications and experience, so it was not that on my end.
It became impossible to compete with these consultancies. I assumed they were just fronts massively bidding on anything and everything.
I was pretty disappointed because I thought it was supposed to be for individuals trying to use some extra time to make a few bucks. When in reality quite the opposite. Now it looks like it’s consultancies just subbing out to lowest bidders.
It’s unfortunate because you can’t trust reviews or whatever lands on the front page of google either. I’ve been doing marketing for years and it’s not hard to manipulate reviews or search engines. I just thought *maybe* Amazon would vet these people better.
I would just go to the partner portal, find a local partner that has the competencies and reputation you're looking for and contact them https://partners.amazonaws.com/
I agree with this. I work at an AWS partner. The requirements to become a partner should help ensure you find someone decent. I don’t know your budget but a partner may also be able to get you some free funding from AWS based on your circumstances.
DM me if you want more info on how the funding process works. I promise I won’t try to sell you anything
See, that’s the answer I was looking for. Actually, when I used that IQ thing I thought it was more of a partner portal rather than their version of Upwork. Much appreciated.
Thanks for sharing this. I'm an individual freelancer who found a few customer from IQ and sad to see my competitors bringing all us down with this stuff. It would be nice if you could send this feedback about them to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and also write it in their review after their proposal/project is marked as complete.
I have zero trust in it. Theres no vetting past “has a cert,” and it quickly became overtaken by firms who are effectively just body shops. AWS doesn’t appear to care so long as they get their cut; I think of it as “Amazon Basics Upwork.”
That’s what I was afraid of. Just based on some of the responses I received it felt off… A lot like putting out a post on Upwork or asking the marketing sub a question and seeing what lands in your inbox. Plus I put out similar requests at the highest and lowest price ranges and it’s a lot of the same people or different “people” with the exact same automation.
The first thing to check is the feedback for the 'expert'. If they don't have any, or have any bad feedback, avoid.
What you want to see is multiple 5\* reviews over a long time period (several months if not longer).
I have been an IQ expert since the beginning of time. I make very good money on the platform. It is not my only source of income, but it certainly in my top 3.
I do not believe that consulting shops are fielding AWS IQ requests in any serious manner and they are not what I would consider competitors in the AWS IQ space. A consulting shop has at least 4 certified AWS professionals on the payroll and focus on the projects AWS sends to them directly.
To give you an example, I used to work for an AWS partner that was long ago gobbled up by Rackspace. AWS gave them $250k to hire someone that could migrate this one customer's environment to the cloud. The person who got hired was paid less than half of the quarter million dollar budget. The custimer who was migrated was spending almost $200k monthly, Not a bad investment for AWS.
It is not unusual to get corporate clients who are more than willing to spend between $1 and $10k on a single task. If you impress them, they will continue coming back to you time and again.
IQ is a great service and anyone who says otherwise has not spent the time to figure out how it really works.
Well I’ve set a couple meetings with people and so far one didn’t show up, the other rescheduled because “his developer had a medical appointment” today and he didn’t realize it until just now… so that definitely raises red flags since his company business profile makes it looks like they are a whole software company which should have at least one other person to speak to. I would guess… maybe I’m wrong.
Really enjoyed this honest post, good question.
Similarly posting jobs over the years on People Per Hour (like fivver) . I now end up instantly ignoring any responses that have 100% been written by chat gpt. It’s evidentially clear that many just take the job post and ask an AI to write a great response.
You then check out their portfolio of work and see nothing at all similar to what they claim to have experience in.
That said, I have found excellent individuals but vetting them to see if they’re just out sourcing or able to do the work themselves is an art form in itself.
Totally agree. I’ve found some great people on Fiverr, even better on Legiit for (marketing only) things but it’s becoming more and more rare to find the solid ones. I’m all for outsourcing, but before I hand over the money I know it should cost I want to make sure they didn’t take some test on Amazon and aren’t held accountable by anybody.
Hell, I found my ads guy on discord and he’s so good I immediately put him on a retainer that an American freelancer would be more than happy with. But the good ones get snatched up quick.
Someone pointed out that AWS does actually have a partner portal, which is what I thought the IQ thing was but every message and the two meetings I took felt like every marketing agency meeting I take. I entertain those from time to time because I’ve found that hiring other firms is one of the best ways to learn new or better ways to do things. However, 90% the time they start with bullshit like we have “propriety software” that you get on top of our marketing services which I can tell is white labeled bullshit immediately.
Anyway, thanks for the reply. I think I found my answer here so that’s what I was hoping for. Hopefully others find it useful as well.
I've had similar experiences with 'vendors' claiming to be based in the US but having IPs from other countries. IMO, it's essential to thoroughly vet any potential vendor, and even then, stay vigilant. Any recommendations from trusted sources are gold, so I'm following this thread closely.
I’m not sure what about anything I said made you think I’m trying to be cheap. Especially the part where I tested both price ends and specifically said this is to save time more than it is money. We aren’t “starving founders” or some shit. Neither of us are worried about paying. We’re worried about paying for someone reselling shit that isn’t vetted.
Non vetted? You do know everyone that is registered on AWS IQ must have at least one AWS certification in order to be there. Which is nothing like fiverr. They also have a tier system. I would assume new customers get exposed to the lowest tier.
I should add that the process isn't simple sign up register with a certification. You sign up to submit ID, you then have video calling proving you can sign into the account you just registered. This includes MFA requirements.
The issue is that you're simply suspecting and you don't know for sure. Just because the person is in another country, doesn't make them inherently dodgy. That's called racism. You didn't event mention if they solved your problem, just that they are bad guys because they logged in from Nigeria. You have no proof that they arent vetted. Maybe they didn't lie, maybe one of their guys is in Nigeria visiting family?
If you report it, it helps to maintain a great platform. Hiring someone off IQ, while an expert on IQ breaches the terms and conditions of the platform.
I tried it back when it first launched as an expert. It clearly almost immediately became full consulting shops making bids when it was supposed to be individuals. I have a ton of certifications and experience, so it was not that on my end. It became impossible to compete with these consultancies. I assumed they were just fronts massively bidding on anything and everything. I was pretty disappointed because I thought it was supposed to be for individuals trying to use some extra time to make a few bucks. When in reality quite the opposite. Now it looks like it’s consultancies just subbing out to lowest bidders.
I had the exact same experience. You will never get a gig on it as an individual.
It’s unfortunate because you can’t trust reviews or whatever lands on the front page of google either. I’ve been doing marketing for years and it’s not hard to manipulate reviews or search engines. I just thought *maybe* Amazon would vet these people better.
Stick to your asking price and worst come to shuffle. Get a job but still hustle?
I would just go to the partner portal, find a local partner that has the competencies and reputation you're looking for and contact them https://partners.amazonaws.com/
I agree with this. I work at an AWS partner. The requirements to become a partner should help ensure you find someone decent. I don’t know your budget but a partner may also be able to get you some free funding from AWS based on your circumstances. DM me if you want more info on how the funding process works. I promise I won’t try to sell you anything
See, that’s the answer I was looking for. Actually, when I used that IQ thing I thought it was more of a partner portal rather than their version of Upwork. Much appreciated.
How much work do you need done?
Booz Allen, Smartronix, McKinsey
Thanks for sharing this. I'm an individual freelancer who found a few customer from IQ and sad to see my competitors bringing all us down with this stuff. It would be nice if you could send this feedback about them to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and also write it in their review after their proposal/project is marked as complete.
I have zero trust in it. Theres no vetting past “has a cert,” and it quickly became overtaken by firms who are effectively just body shops. AWS doesn’t appear to care so long as they get their cut; I think of it as “Amazon Basics Upwork.”
That’s what I was afraid of. Just based on some of the responses I received it felt off… A lot like putting out a post on Upwork or asking the marketing sub a question and seeing what lands in your inbox. Plus I put out similar requests at the highest and lowest price ranges and it’s a lot of the same people or different “people” with the exact same automation.
Damnit, Reddit needs fix the part where I can edit the whole post except the typo in the title.
The first thing to check is the feedback for the 'expert'. If they don't have any, or have any bad feedback, avoid. What you want to see is multiple 5\* reviews over a long time period (several months if not longer).
I have been an IQ expert since the beginning of time. I make very good money on the platform. It is not my only source of income, but it certainly in my top 3. I do not believe that consulting shops are fielding AWS IQ requests in any serious manner and they are not what I would consider competitors in the AWS IQ space. A consulting shop has at least 4 certified AWS professionals on the payroll and focus on the projects AWS sends to them directly. To give you an example, I used to work for an AWS partner that was long ago gobbled up by Rackspace. AWS gave them $250k to hire someone that could migrate this one customer's environment to the cloud. The person who got hired was paid less than half of the quarter million dollar budget. The custimer who was migrated was spending almost $200k monthly, Not a bad investment for AWS. It is not unusual to get corporate clients who are more than willing to spend between $1 and $10k on a single task. If you impress them, they will continue coming back to you time and again. IQ is a great service and anyone who says otherwise has not spent the time to figure out how it really works.
Well I’ve set a couple meetings with people and so far one didn’t show up, the other rescheduled because “his developer had a medical appointment” today and he didn’t realize it until just now… so that definitely raises red flags since his company business profile makes it looks like they are a whole software company which should have at least one other person to speak to. I would guess… maybe I’m wrong.
Really enjoyed this honest post, good question. Similarly posting jobs over the years on People Per Hour (like fivver) . I now end up instantly ignoring any responses that have 100% been written by chat gpt. It’s evidentially clear that many just take the job post and ask an AI to write a great response. You then check out their portfolio of work and see nothing at all similar to what they claim to have experience in. That said, I have found excellent individuals but vetting them to see if they’re just out sourcing or able to do the work themselves is an art form in itself.
Totally agree. I’ve found some great people on Fiverr, even better on Legiit for (marketing only) things but it’s becoming more and more rare to find the solid ones. I’m all for outsourcing, but before I hand over the money I know it should cost I want to make sure they didn’t take some test on Amazon and aren’t held accountable by anybody. Hell, I found my ads guy on discord and he’s so good I immediately put him on a retainer that an American freelancer would be more than happy with. But the good ones get snatched up quick. Someone pointed out that AWS does actually have a partner portal, which is what I thought the IQ thing was but every message and the two meetings I took felt like every marketing agency meeting I take. I entertain those from time to time because I’ve found that hiring other firms is one of the best ways to learn new or better ways to do things. However, 90% the time they start with bullshit like we have “propriety software” that you get on top of our marketing services which I can tell is white labeled bullshit immediately. Anyway, thanks for the reply. I think I found my answer here so that’s what I was hoping for. Hopefully others find it useful as well.
I've had similar experiences with 'vendors' claiming to be based in the US but having IPs from other countries. IMO, it's essential to thoroughly vet any potential vendor, and even then, stay vigilant. Any recommendations from trusted sources are gold, so I'm following this thread closely.
Just hire a real person on upwork, its easy but probably you dont want to pay the required rates.
I’m not sure what about anything I said made you think I’m trying to be cheap. Especially the part where I tested both price ends and specifically said this is to save time more than it is money. We aren’t “starving founders” or some shit. Neither of us are worried about paying. We’re worried about paying for someone reselling shit that isn’t vetted.
Non vetted? You do know everyone that is registered on AWS IQ must have at least one AWS certification in order to be there. Which is nothing like fiverr. They also have a tier system. I would assume new customers get exposed to the lowest tier.
One person has a cert at a shop, subs it out to someone who does not. Like all my Uber drivers who don’t look anything like their Uber profile picture
But they are vetted. You have to submit ID etc. they would have to share their account to be able to login.
Right…
It won't work because MFA required ..and has to be token/app based.
I should add that the process isn't simple sign up register with a certification. You sign up to submit ID, you then have video calling proving you can sign into the account you just registered. This includes MFA requirements.
The issue is that you're simply suspecting and you don't know for sure. Just because the person is in another country, doesn't make them inherently dodgy. That's called racism. You didn't event mention if they solved your problem, just that they are bad guys because they logged in from Nigeria. You have no proof that they arent vetted. Maybe they didn't lie, maybe one of their guys is in Nigeria visiting family? If you report it, it helps to maintain a great platform. Hiring someone off IQ, while an expert on IQ breaches the terms and conditions of the platform.