The poster is 100% correct but kind of missing the point of the platform. Upwork is essentially a platform for US people to hire cheap, interchangeable labor in low-wage countries. Anything else that happens on Upwork (like someone actually making a fair wage) is just a happy accident.
For companies who need a random jobs done like data entry or data cleaning, it's an amazing service where an army of freelancers will fight over your meager $200 budget. They put the cheap labor through hell because they know they can - all in an effort to make the hiring experience better than hiring local help. The person hiring has 110% of the power. The first clue is that the hiring person literally gets to spy on your screen 100% of the time which is insane and not a working condition you should accept form a real job.
If you are a US/UK/other expensive place developer, you should not be using Upwork to find work unless you literally have no contacts and no experience. It's the very bottom of the barrel of consulting. You should be building your own client relationships in your own market. If you can do that, you can easily earn 5x - 10x what you can earn on a commodity platform like Upwork. But if you are in the Phillipines and you can make double a local wage helping someone far away clean up a spreadsheet, that might make more sense.
To be transparent, I have used Upwork in the past and would use it again as a client.
What he's saying is pretty spot on. ANY market place that's wide spread/large enough is an efficiency system that goes to fair market value.
Is there a fix that I could provide? No, because what he's complaining about, someone in India is praising. The Indian designer can get discovered. Pumps out good, solid work at 94% success and makes way more money than he ever could staying local to his/her area.
It is outsourcing and the article writer might have more skills, completely possible, but in a market place that turns skills into commodities you need to stand out. Relates to the clients better w/ background, stronger portfolio, bigger named contracts. There are expensive designers on Upwork for sure, and they deserve it, but they didn't get there out of the gate.
If I had a friend who was a designer in a first world country that asked about Upwork, I'd say avoid it. Make friends with local companies, upsell into bigger ones, and shun Upwork.
It's sweatshop work in India as well. Many are highly educated and they want to be hired locally, by international corporations like Oracle, and have a decent life not phoning Western clients during the night and coding. They'll complain about russian/Ukrainian and Polish working even cheaper.
It’s not necessarily about “fair market value”. It’s “lowest possible price” but that doesn’t account for quality, communication and cultural barriers, etc. particularly in a market where the customer typically doesn’t know enough to judge quality up front.
"Upwork also doesn’t give a shit about how can we charge VAT for our EU clients — which is a legal requirement for EU based freelancers like me"
If there is ONE THING governments hate it is companies not paying taxes. But this is a problem for EU clients as well. They need complete invoices too.
I've personally had different experiences on upwork (though I could've just been lucky) - I was doing backend development jobs for various clients on the platform, and got 4 decently paid jobs within 2-3 weeks of signing up or so after which I sought a different opportunity and left. Admittedly, my first job on it was from a friend who needed some help, so that undoubtedly helped!
Just a general question about upwork: do most people find a job by looking at the jobs posted, then submitting a proposal? Or do they optimize their profile and hope a client sends them a request?
For companies who need a random jobs done like data entry or data cleaning, it's an amazing service where an army of freelancers will fight over your meager $200 budget. They put the cheap labor through hell because they know they can - all in an effort to make the hiring experience better than hiring local help. The person hiring has 110% of the power. The first clue is that the hiring person literally gets to spy on your screen 100% of the time which is insane and not a working condition you should accept form a real job.
If you are a US/UK/other expensive place developer, you should not be using Upwork to find work unless you literally have no contacts and no experience. It's the very bottom of the barrel of consulting. You should be building your own client relationships in your own market. If you can do that, you can easily earn 5x - 10x what you can earn on a commodity platform like Upwork. But if you are in the Phillipines and you can make double a local wage helping someone far away clean up a spreadsheet, that might make more sense.