Specialized Profiles - Has Upwork worked out the kinks?

[wlyonsatl]

Does anyone have an opinion on whether setting up specialized profiles - whether from scratch or using an existing freelancer profile - is now easy to use and glitch-free? 

[analyticarts]

I gave up about a week ago and reverted back to a single profile. The skills section did not have the complete list for my categories, and my earnings showed zero on one of the tabs. I supposed the earnings breakdown was a design decision, but I don't really agree. 

I submitted a support request to fix the skills section and got a response that indicated that they didn't really read my request. Oh well. 

I would gladly trade all of that for having text formatting options in my profile, like:

1. this forum.  

[jackiepeeler]

I hope there's some more response to this, I'm about to try it, just because you can't add or delete anything from your exisiting portfoio anymore.  Or maybe you mean something different with Speciialized Profiles. I still have the same stuff I moved from Elance with and would really like to update. It's absolutely outrageous to be forced into the untried and the unknown this way, but whatever. 

Sorry I have nothing to add, this is in hopes of bumping this thread where it will be noticed. 

[richard_wein]

I haven't tried it yet, but from what I've read I believe the specialised profiles are in addition to your existing main profile, and you can go back to a single profile by deleting all your specialised profiles. It sounds like that's what John has done. However I'd like confirmation that it's a full return to the status quo ante, before I take a possibly irreversible step. 

It also sounds like you might be able to add a specialised profile, edit your portfolio, and then delete (or hide) the specialised profile. That could be a way to edit your portfolio without having a specialised profile. If anyone tries this, please let us know if it works.

[VladimirG]

Hi John,

Thanks for sharing your feedback. I checked your ticket and would like to ask you to specify the skills you weren't able to locate for the categories you mentioned in the ticket. I'd like to take a look and forward your suggestion to our team. Thank you.

[analyticarts]

Hi,  

Thank you for looking into this. 

I am unable to find most of the skills that I have in my general profile.

For example. If I create a specialized profile for "Database Administration", the list of skills associated with this is very limited. It does not include "MySQL Administration" as a skill. 

If I create a specialized profile for "Data Engineering, the list of skills to pick from is very, very short. It just doesn't list any popular skills in this field, such as anything in the Apache Hadoop ecosystem, or popular Amazon AWS skills like Redshift, 

But I wanted to also highlight that splitting my Total Earnings into each specialization is a deal breaker. I am struggling enough to gain clients due to my low JSS ( unfairly, in my opinion),  so my earnings are the only real attribute that demonstrates my credibility. 

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi All,

I'd like to address a few questions you shared on this thread.

We understand your concerns with the total earnings being split up between specialized profiles and we have some improvements on our roadmap that should address this issue. Currently, when a client searches for a specific specialty and your Specialized profile comes up in search, they'll see the total hours and earnings for contracts you added to that Specialized profile.

Generally, we are encouraging freelancers to create Specialized profiles. Our research shows that Specialized profiles better reflect the way clients search for freelancers they would like to hire and describe the work they need done when posting jobs. Specialized profiles will allow freelancers to better describe the work they do and showcase their skills, portfolio items and previous work experience in a format that helps clients find best freelancers for their specific projects. We are continuing to identify skills and services that are missing and will be adding more skills in the coming months

John, I'll share your observations with the team. Additionally, if you don't see your skill in the list, you'll have an option to suggest them. We're continuously working on improving the feature and expanding our categories and list of available skills.

[puda]

Valeria, no updates regarding my ticket? It still looks like Upwork is ONLY displaying my specialized profile that  I deleted yesterday. It still shows $0 and 0 jobs! It should show my general profile instead but this option is not even available when doing a search associated to my profile.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Lisa,

I checked and see that the issue with $0 total earnings showing in search is still being investigated by our engineers. I'm checking whether or not it's related to Specialized profiles though. I'll be following up with the team and we'll keep you updated via the ticket.

Thanks for your patience!

[analyticarts]

Hello Valeria, 

When you say "Our research shows that Specialized profiles better reflect the way clients search for freelancers ", I don't see how the search matches up to the specialty. 

There isn't a search or filter capability by "Specialty" for clients to use. So if I create a Specialized Profile and Select "Data Engineering" as my specialty, there is no way for the client to search or filter all people who have that specialty. In fact, the "Category" filters do not even list "Data Engineering" as an option. 

Does this imply that the "Data Engineering" is a common search term? If so, perhaps it should be a Category. 

As it stands, if you search for "Data Engineering" in my city, my profile is not detected. But if you search for "Data Engineer" it does show up. 

To be clear, I think it would be great if Upwork had a "Specialty" filter item, or somehow expanded the Categories. 

Thank you for your attention on this. 

[analyticarts]

Hi, have there been any updates for this. I would like to retry using specialized profiles. 

[kochubei_valeria]

John, Lisa and others,

I can confirm that the issue with total earnings showing incorrectly has been fixed. Earnings should be showing correctly in search but please let us know if you're still experiencing the issue.

The team will be updating the list of available skills for Specialized profiles. However, we can't provide ETA for when specific skills will be added.  

[analyticarts]

Thank for the update. I will give it another try.

[jackiepeeler]

Please let us know if you are successful. Or anyone who has done this with good results, pleae report. 

[petra_r]

---

Valeria K wrote:

John, Lisa and others,

I can confirm that the issue with total earnings showing incorrectly has been fixed. Earnings should be showing correctly in search but please let us know if you're still experiencing the issue.

---

Some are

[puda]

Exact same thing happened to me yesterday... (Created a specialized profile then deleted it) I wish I had known this earlier. When clients are looking for specific keywords associated to my specialized profile, it now shows that I have made $0. NO jobs are being displayed. Only my JSS. Looks like Upwork still sees my specialized profile instead of my general one and only uses this one!

Support told me they were well aware of the issue and working on it.

The earnings breakdown is really badly designed I think. Unless I missed something, how do you even add jobs to a specialized profile? It was showing 0 jobs when 95% of my jobs are related to this specialized profile.

[jackiepeeler]

I'm so grateful for this discussion. I think it's clear this isn't the time to go for this. Except for those willing to be the sacrificial lambs who will help Upwork figiure out how how this should work. 

[wlyonsatl]

I agree, Jacqueline.

Upwork often acts like Microsoft - introducing and encouraging users to use new services and features that are not yet ready for primetime, hoping at least some users will be volunteer guinea pigs providing free feedback on features that are not fully functionable or reliable.

I think I'll ask again in a couple of months.

[analyticarts]

Hi, have there been any updates for this? I would like to retry using specialized profiles.