I checked it out years ago, and then poked my head back in recently when I was looking for some extra income options, and their quality control tools have really improved. There's a really high volume of international (read: mostly in India) fly-by-night code shops that try to jump on every pitch, but there's a HUGE volume of projects coming and going, and you can tailor your own personal job feed to tell you at a really quick rate when something comes in that's in your expertise areas. Job pitches also come with ebay-like seller ratings, so you can see how much the site has vetted the user has paid out in job funds already. I ended up picking up some overtime instead, so I haven't tried to grab anything coming through, but it's definitely worth signing up and tailoring your profile. Probably 10-20 minutes worth of work.
Making money?
I would recommend learning how to make Mobile Applications, if you know how to code in C++ and have dabbled using Game API's then you will find Mobile programming easy as. You wouldn't believe how many small businesses want an app about their business, usually its nothing tricky or complex but just something that is an advertising mechanism, almost a mobile version of their website. They mostly care about the look and a feature that allows them to send users updates and information about their business. But they always want it to work on iOS and Android(sometimes Windows Mobile aswell) so its good to learn a Cross-Platform Mobile API like Mosync(which is in C++). That API was young when I used it, and compiling & distributing to iOS was intensly difficult but the API has matured and its a con I am willing to deal with if I can write one app that works on multiple platforms.
If you were to create flyers that say "I can make your small business a Smart Phone App thats looks great, is Cross-Platform and customisable" and distribute those flyers to small businesses around your area or in business parks I guarantee you will get people calling you up and you will be able to charge in the order of thosands of dollars for the app development, whereas online freelance sites you have people out for something that will take the user to Mars and only costs a couple of hundred dollars.
Distribute your flyers to cafes, clothing distributers, small trading firms, etc. I guarantee that you will get someone who has been thinking about making an app for their business but haven't acted on it yet, and most of the time the app functionality is superficial, ie nothing complex but just a good looking, interactive advertisement. I would go down this path rather than online freelance sites because you are competing with Indian Programming Firms that bid very low and IMO are produced by code monkeys. You are also dealing with people who give you a vague description of what they want, dont want to liase and meet(Skype) because they are busy and just want it done. Whereas by contacting local small businesses you can meet with them, understand what they want and build relationships where they may want you to make other programs for them(like inventory management applications). Also look into paid internships, in Australia we have something called the Australian Computing Society that advertises paid internships but they are looking for people who are currently doing university in a IT degree so if ur in high school that may not work.
Well around net you can find a lot of job offerings for programmers in mobile enviroment as many companies are entering that (crowded) area due to huge smartphone market growth.
remember to choose something and focus, as divided focus is biggest enemy to efficiency.
