I don’t know if I’m missing the true picture, but a random skim shows a lot of developers getting between $25-$40 an hour or so. Are these rates/gigs harder to come by than it looks? I’ve heard bad things about Upwork in general.
What kind of bad things?
I have been checking into Upwork and, to your question, I found:
… yes people can make $25 - $40 /hour working on Upwork
… yes it is hard, but it can be done, many people do succeed
The successful ones share common traits:
… you have to build a strong profile over time
… you must be consistently very good at what you do
… just a few poor feedback’s can really hurt your profile and ability to win bids
… you must be professional at all times, hold to deadlines, meet milestones
… you must not violate terms of work ( Upwork will kick you out )
… you must pick and choose your jobs carefully ( there are scams, jobs with a poor fit to your skills )
… successful freelancers usually have feedback saying they are a joy to work with, and have really good communication skills
The marketplace is very competitive, but I think if you are careful, dedicated, and have the coding chops to get the job done well and on time, you can make good money there.
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Often times you are competing against people in countries with much lower costs of living than in the USA (India, Philippines, etc) so I would say don’t plan on trying to make a living off of just Upwork. Have other sources of income.
Anyone here working in Upwork? Can I join?
I need to enhance my programming skills via real world scenario and also need extra income.