- You could only find jobs if you were ready to underbid everyone else.
- The disproportion between the amount of work and job-seekers was abysmal.
- The platform did nothing to protect the workers from untruthful or exploitative clients (from anecdotal evidence).
- Upwork attracts clients who can't find contractors any other way, mostly because of unrealistic compensation expectation, unreasonable requirements, or poor reputation. This leads to the average job being an underwhelming experience (to put it in generous terms).
Moreover, being on Upwork is a sign of desperation. You fear the day any of your regular clients notices and asks why are you there or just starts to doubt you.
The proposition of the service is very attractive, but I'm not sure if it brings more value than harm in practice. It's very hard to find clients nowadays, but I'm still fighting the urge to restore my account there.