After one month in, Cambly is a big win for me
Pros
The total flexibility of hours worked is a big plus for me as a freelance writer with an irregular assignment and travel schedule. In a little over 30 days, I've talked with 365 people, many for multiple chats. Most of my callers have been from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, and India, but I've also talked with people from maybe two dozen other countries. The Cambly platform works well, especially given the huge throughput from many concurrent video two-way streams which the company also records. Support services respond with personal notes, usually within a day or two. I made a point of being specific about my background in both written and video introductions that student can view before choosing to speak with me. I'm have been and continue as an active tech writer for more than 30 years. Many callers tell me on our first call they chose me because my profile expresses my eagerness to talk about technology and business. Some calls are giggling teenagers, but the vast majority in my experience have been business or professional people or college or graduate students with an intermediate level of English proficiency. Most are in or preparing for new positions which require a higher level of English fluency. They are a determined group intent on improving. The conversations are fun and I'm learning a great deal about other cultures. I also get a sense that I'm representing our country, which is a nice feeling. Plus I'm pleased to hear about the high regard in which most people hold the U.S. A few hours on Cambly is a nice counterbalance to my usual work time hunched over a keyboard in my home office. You get exactly what's described on the Cambly site. Pay is $0.17 per minute and it's paid to your Paypal account each Monday. Some think that means $10.20 an hour, and it does, but only if every single minute of the hour is in conversations. My average minutes on calls is gradually rising, but after four full weeks, I'm averaging about $7.00 an hour.
Cons
The site's high bandwidth at times can make responses a bit slow. In general, it works well, but sometimes waiting for a response can make you double click unnecessarily when lengths response time further. The pay rate is low, but as is the case with many other tutors I've conversed with on Cambly Facebook groups, as a highly flexible part-time gig, it's fine if you're using it for date money or coffee money or, as in my case, to replace some outdated tech and office equipment. Some tutors report making their entire living with Cambly, but they usually live in in areas where the cost of living is much less than in the U.S.
