Is upwork going down?

[e654d456]

Dear freelancers friends, 

Being even a plus member, and after applying to various jobs, and no response from clients, I have reached to the conclusion that upwork is now downwork. It's not only the wastage of money on connents, but feeling of being  rejected diminishes the spark we have had.

I feel upwork should revise it's policies, as freelancers are not servants begging for jobs. I feel like that. And clients as they are our bosses. The essence of freelancing is no more prevalent here. 

Upwork should look deep into it as I can see the coming days might be more tough for upwork. 

Either there should be lesser connents to send for jobs, giving attractions to freelancers to stay at upwork. Keep an eye on clients whi are posting a same job time snd again and not even responding to anyone even after 50+ proposals. And then repeating the post of the same job by same name or with other.

Asking to meet outside upwork especially at telegram and icassionaly by email.

Dear friends, please share your experiences also along with suggestions. 

Dr. Shahzad Waseem. 

An upwork well wisher freelancer. 

[adc8d914]

Well I am new to upwork and i havent landed any job here with free connects yet. I think its going to be hard since im not even sure if the jobs posted are legit or just posted to make people buy connects. Its so hard for starters like me. Well I will just keep hoping for someone to spot me here.

[pradeephele]

Hi Shahzad and Dave,

I am sorry to learn about your experience. I understand your frustration and we apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced. We take feedback from our users very seriously and we are always looking for ways to improve the Upwork experience. Please check out this course for more tips on staying safe on Upwork and please use the flag option found on each job post or message anytime you’d like to report a violation.

Meanwhile, I've pulled a few resources that may be helpful to you. Check out these articles to help you create a profile that stands out and improve your profile title and overview. For some great tips on writing proposals that win jobs, check out this article. Don’t hesitate to visit the  Academy and sign up for upcoming events and webinars to learn more about how you can boost your success on Upwork.

- Pradeep

[ae286d16]

Hello, Don't you think it would be a good idea for upwork to set up a policy where job  postings are automatically cancelled and freelancers given back their connects  if the client is unresponsive for a predefined amount of time, the amount of time it takes for upwork to close the job ofcourse will be reasonable for example 1 week or 2 weeks, so that in this way freelancers do not waste their connects on jobs, because it's really annoying when I go through my proposals and see that the client hasn't even chosen a freelancer and then the last viewed by client section could say "last viewed by client "2 days ago" and the job was posted 2 days ago so what it means is that the client just posted the job for freelancers to waste their connects and simply moved on, it makes me laugh and cry at the same time😂🥺😭.

Please if you work with upwork you could do us freelancers a favour by at least pitching the idea to the relevant authorities as I really believe that it does no harm but just good because I think that some of the clients who do this things either just forget about their job posting or are plain evil, I really hope that you consider my request 

Regards Nomso

[the-right-writer]

I'm not answering for Pradeep, but if Upwork did that, I would leave in a flash. The biggest problem Upwork has is too many unskilled freelancers, throwing connects to see if something sticks. You do not understand being self-employed. Upwork is not your employer. You are self-employed. If you can't afford connects, you will fail because self-employment requires money. If you have no marketable skills, you will fail. Fortunately, everyone complaining has an Internet connection, and can learn. There is no excuse for ignorance.

[e654d456]

Don't agree with respect 

[whitelens]

How can you just assume that everyone complaining here is "ignorant/unprofessional"?
The Upwork system here needs addressing - and not just for "newbies''.

see my comments below...

[ashcyp]

I see where you're coming from on some points.

Upwork is packed with freelancers who aren't that skilled. This not only makes it tough for the rest of us when applying for jobs but also drags the platform down. I've heard plenty of startup owners who used to hire on Upwork say they're leaving for good. More and more companies are noticing a dip in Upwork's quality. Some freelancers these days seem to apply just for the sake of it, without having the right skills. They end up doing a shoddy job, leaving the client both unhappy and out of pocket. And do they really worry about getting a bad rating from the client? I doubt it.

It's funny because it took me 2 years to get an account on Upwork. And that's with tons of solid credentials like writing 4 books and having a solid rep in Silicon Valley. Upwork still turned me down. But now? Anyone can set up an account in under a minute. Why? It seems they're after more people buying their premium features, like boosted proposals.

However, where I part ways with you is on the topic of refunds for connects. Upwork definitely needs to be more consistent about this. Like when the same job gets posted twice in a short span and neither get removed even if flagged. Most of the time, we don't get our connects back. That's not even touching on the countless "I'm just looking" job posts where clients post and then ghost. And that's leaving out the outright fake or "can you do it for free?" job posts.

[chrisbiz]

Why do I always see you commenting in the forums but you're not a mod? Let the mods answer, they are much more helpful and less demeaning. You're minimizing legitimate concerns from fellow UpWork community members which I fear is a sad representation of the new attitude at UpWork. 

[the-right-writer]

The moderators read everything. If a freelancer posts the correct information, and nothing else need be said, they often do not post.

Upwork says it values experienced freelancers in the forum. If they feel I am causing harm to freelancers, as you say, they would stop me.

In this case, I was expressing my opinion, and clearly stated it was not intended as a reply from Upwork. I can post my opinion, just like you and all other freelancers can. What if I don't like your posts? Shall I post and tell you? What silliness. When you use a public forum, you get to post, and so do others. 

I take every freelancer seriously. If they give me valid reasons not to, I respond accordingly.

You don't know me, you don't know anything about me, and you don't know why I am here.

Most adults look over things they don't like.

[tlsanders]

Actually, they usually provide cut and paste answers, and often they are not relevant to the question asked. You will get much more detailed and reliable information from experienced freelancers. 

[yofazza]

Community forum is a great way to cut costs on support. Larger internet services like AWS even forbid their paying clients from contacting them for support (unless the client add a payment for it). They provide docs and community forum instead.

So, stopping people from responding in a community forum is a little not in line with the policy, among other things.

-

Besides yours, there are also client's, and Upwork's POV. You should try to see the bigger picture.

[tlsanders]

That's a horrific idea, since a great many higher-end clients hire after three weeks or six or even a few months. 

And, of course, the 'last viwed" statistic is absolutely meaningless. I have no idea why Upwork even shows it when they obviously know that they bombard clients with emails when they get proposals, so returning to the post isn't necessary unless the client sees someone they're interested in.

[tgcodes]

I would suggest you keep re-inventing yourself on the platform, check out what others in your field (that are doing better) are doing that you can emulate, keep re-inventing and see how things turn out. 

[a1ebd38c]

🤣🤣🤣just keep reinventing yourself dude until you foget who you are and for that time platform will make you comply into paying them to send proposal to scam jobs platform posts for you 🤣 They even take your money and refund without any explaination, that is what you get from ignorant compliance and reinventing yourself 🤣

[2779bde0]

Read, and really understand what Jeanne is saying. If the barriers to entry were lowered, even more people would submit proposals, and drive clients out of here.  This site doesn't exist for your benefit, or the benefit of any freelancers.

Rather than having the hardcore, more-is-better approach, meaning more connects and more proposals are better, to "see what sticks" approach, take a different approach. Write better and fewer, higher quality proposals, and you your energy into your work examples.

Would you like to bid on jobs where 200 unqualified people, with weak proposals and weak or no work examples to show, are lining up to see what happens with their "bid." They have nothing to lose. There would be no barrier to entry.

It is very challenging for everyone right now.

[tlsanders]

When was that time? I wasn't aware that jobs ever dropped completely off your Upwork profile, but I can't find any on yours.

[a961425f]

You could try altering your physical location by placing yourself somewhere which might have a large amount of internet traffic or large amount of persons doing the type of work which "upwork" is so fondly proud of.

For example : local starbucks coffee spot (where people are traditionally or worse steroetypically doing tons of work) or better yet a very popular internet cafe (which might have a better data stream than your own traditional house hold)

[elisa_b]

People cannot find work here because 1) genuine clients are getting fewer and fewer; 2) competition is extremely high; 3) freelancers often have little to no marketable skills and/or bad profiles. Surely it is not a matter of IP,  bandwidth or working at Starbucks or not.

[a961425f]

okay thats quite unfortunate for those experiencing such difficulties.

Not sure what else one could say to encourage people in such a "competitive enviornment"

except for maybe "try harder" because winners win and losers lose 😉

[the-right-writer]

You don't need to worry about connects. Your profile needs a lot of work before you even apply. Currently, you are a target for scammers because, just like me, they can see you haven't read or don't follow the rules.

Read this post before you do anything. Follow every single link. If you want to freelance, you need to learn what that means and how the platform functions. Part of your responsibility as a freelancer is to pay for every single item, including connects. If you can't afford connects, or you aren't willing to use them, you will fail and should seek employment where everything is paid.

Follow the rules and you won't be scammed. Only apply for jobs you know you are highly qualified for and are one of the top two candidates. How do you know? Do you have every qualification in excess of requirements? Do you know the Terms and how to make sure you are paid? Do you exceed all the qualifications? Then and only then do you apply, and consider boosting.

Applying for jobs, out of desperation, never, ever, works. Oh, you might get a couple of low-paying crappy jobs, but that's where it ends. Upwork, nor any platform, is the place for people with no marketable skills. This is not how to get skills or how to cheat the client by pretending to have skills.

No one should apply just to get a job, because it doesn't work. Without skills, money, time, patience, and serious motivation, freelancers will fail.

So, it's up to the freelancer. Come here and whine and complain about connects and never get anywhere. Or, come here with marketable skills, learn the rules and follow them, and sensibly use connects.

[a961425f]

Since when are persons on "UpWork" being scammed, reason i asked is because clearly i must be new here, which is blatantly true.

I never once did know what the life of a freelancer would contain although in life there are very little things which are for free, not even freedom is free lol.

But seriously thanks, you've made valid points and your contribution to this thread and all others is duly noted.

Have a blessed day

[tlsanders]

Freelancers have been getting scammed right and left for at least the 7 years I've been here, but it's gotten a lot worse lately.

[e654d456]

What's the question for upwork to keep showing the same clients with same jobs and 50+ proposals which are not free and answering not a single one. Then repeating the same the next day. A huge scams going on man.

Please consider it to rehabilitate the position of upwork. 

Regards 

[whitelens]

This is all very concerning. I have been working on and off this platform for many years, and have only recently returned to see if the site has improved. I notice that so many low paying projects require 12 connects.

If I do the maths:
I spend 12 connects + pay Upwork 20% of my earnings + paypal fees + bank fees to convert currency = very little for my efforts
So, seems to me the only ones making money = Upwork
Previously the connects were maybe 2-5 per bid, nothing near 12 connects (for a $100 fixed fee project)!!

I do understand that the more it costs to pitch for work, the better skilled the freelancer applying for the work will be. However, not everyone can afford to pay in US dollars - keep that in mind when you criticise other freelancers trying to get a foot in the door.

For example - in my country 1USD = 19ZAR ( a lot to pay each month for a premium plan here, esp. when maybe 1 out of every 10 bid proposals results in a successful bid).

Another point to add: If you are critizing the skills of the freelancers new to this platform, try checking the validity and sincerity of so many of the "clients"! How on earth can anyone ask a professional designer to create a brand identity, with website design, bus. cards etc.., etc. for a measly $20- $30!!! Upwork should set minimum payments for clients wanting to pay peanuts for jobs that would require many, many hours of work and loads of expertise. Its such a waste of time scrolling through the junk projects that are on this site, from potential clients who have ZERO respect for the freelancers.

I would be more than happy to become a premium member if there were overwhelminly more decently paid projects available - unfortunately this is not the case.

Please UPWORK - screen your "clients" more thoroughly - have some respect for the professional freelancers that want to work for a fair price.

[whitelens]

Just adding here...
UPWORK should make it mandatory for everyone seeking to hire on this platform to pay a deposit upfront (unrefundable and verified). This should sort out those that are just "fishing" and wasting freelancers' connects which are paid for upfront. The "hirers" also need to be financially responsible when placing "work for hire" projects, and not only the freelancers who provide the work.

[tlsanders]

Sure...since the number of good clients has dramatically diminished, making sure the rest leave sounds like a GREAT idea.

[adc8d914]

Right on point madam. The math is just wrong with connects and bids. Then spending for prems is not balance. I am even a proffesional but I am new to upwork online freelancer. I did offline freelancing jobs. Well, all I can do now is to posts on forums since i dont have any connects. 

[48f850a0]

If Upwork is to improve and look like a matured site, you need to first flush out all these freelancers willing to work for 3$ per hour or the 5$,10$ freelancers

If a client will post a job for 5$ and write a long list of tasks and specify the price is not negotiable and still 20-50 freelancers apply.

What does that show? 

It shows the type of freelancers on upwork aren't high class, just **Edited for Community Guidelines** looking for little coins and the clients look down on you.

Freelancers should wisen up and stop applying to bull**bleep**, that is the only way the site will look like it has experts not servants.

[tlsanders]

Upwork doesn't need to flush them out--it could simply raise the minimum rates. But, it chooses not to do so, suggesting that it wants those low-wage freelancers to stay and low-paying clients to use the platform.

[jasonc_priacta]

Yes Upwork is dying. That's what happens when you are abusive of your relationship with your freelancers.
I've been on the platform for 12 years and have thousands of hours worked with a 100% job satisfaction rating.
It's been downhill for a long time, but it's worse than ever. It's also an extremely toxic environment.

There's no hope for Upwork anymore, IMO.

[tlsanders]

Upwork just ended the most profitable quarter in its history.

[iamkhatkar]

If this bidding war doesn't end, It is not gonna last long.

[tlsanders]

Where do you think the money is coming from?

[iamkhatkar]

Oh, That's proud. Good for you!!

[jasonc_priacta]

US. The freelancers.

The money is coming from US.

[tlsanders]

Right. From the "bidding war" the person I was responding to said would hurt Upwork.

[jasonc_priacta]

Right. Tiffany, you do realize that the person they're taking advantage of to get that kind of profit margin IS YOU, right? We are all the chumps that made that possible for them.

Might does not make right. Money also doesn't make right. Upwork's practices have become incredibly abusive and they aggressively cultivate an elitist and classist environment and community.

You recognize that there's a problem with the quantity/quality of clients, but don't seem to have realized that this is because all the quality clients are finding their freelancers somewhere else. (Because there are fewer and fewer quality freelancers left here)

Upwork might be more popular than ever, but it's also worse than ever. It's worse from my clients and it's worse for me as a freelancer.

That's why I'm leaving Upwork.

I'm ashamed I ever helped Upwork become profitable.

You seem almost proud?

[tlsanders]

I just understand how business works. Not sure why so many find that offensive. A company that consistently loses money for several years will make changes or go out of business. 

You didn't actually help Upwork become profitable, unless you've spend a fortune on connects over the last year or so. That, like it or not, is what made them profitable for the first time. 

My belief for some time has been that Upwork was turning away from a true freelancing marketplace to a sort of quasi-staffing operation. They've made quite a bit of the fact that they have stopped advertising for the type of clients high-end freelancers used to serve to focus on ongoing clients. 

I don't know what you do, but the type of clients who make hundreds of ongoing hires through Upwork are not the type who hire freelancers like me, to do a specialized thing for $135/hour. I expected two years ago or so that before long there would be no clients here for me. I still think that's true, but the sale of connects has been so wildly profitable that I'm no longer sure they'll phase out this side completely.

FWIW, I make my business decisions based on what's profitable for me. You should, too.

[jasonc_priacta]

"I just understand how business works." Lol.

Because people who understand how business works typically give up 20% of their working contracts to avoid doing business directly, right? Hahahaha
Bye, Tiffany.