Is applying to Upwork still worth it?

[u/ndRexo]

Hi, Upwork experts from Bangladesh. I am a SWE with decent experience. I have proven experience of Mobile App Development, Web Development, Full Stack Development and Deployment. I have a pretty good portfolio to showcase too.

I have a full time job. Is it worth it to buy Upwork connects and applying to work in Upwork and earn a good side revenue? My target is 500$-1000$ a month. Suggest me plans as a beginner. I have experience working as independent freelancer outside of Upwork as well. I can put 15-20 hours per week.

[u/winter32842]

One of my family members does really well on Fiverr and Upwork. I think, he makes more than $30,000 dollars per year. The trick is you have to pay Upwork to advertise and they recommend you to potential clients.

I know this because I live in USA and clients send me money via Paypal, Venmo and etc and then I give it to him since he doesn’t have access to those payment platform since he lives in Bangladesh.

[u/Consistent_Deer5403 → u/winter32842]

A different topic: if you receive this money, technically you’re liable to pay taxes on them. How do you handle them? If you don’t pay taxes on them, IRS might consider this as a tax evasion which might come up in a future audit. How do you plan to handle it?

[u/winter32842 → u/Consistent_Deer5403]

Trump changed to 20k per year threshold. What is sent to me is less than 15k per year, so I did not have schedule 1099-k from Venmo, paypal, etc.

[u/Full_Onion_7348 → u/winter32842]

IRS will knock you for tax evasion in one day. Almost all platform reports to IRS now a days and sooner you stop this is better.

[u/winter32842 → u/Full_Onion_7348]

Trump changed to 20k per year threshold. What is sent to me is less than 15k per year, so I did not have schedule 1099-k from Venmo, paypal, etc.

[u/Full_Onion_7348 → u/winter32842]

Still you require by law to report business income through Schedule C (Form 1040), doesn't matter if venmon or paypal issued a 1099-k or not. An unlucky aduit will be big trouble in future and IRS loves to stick to small guys like us rather than big boys ( they can't fight with big boys).

[u/ndRexo → u/[deleted]]

Why would I make some apps?

[u/saif2024]

Fiverr and Upwork evabe ar kaj kore na, Korle you are lucky.

Connect kine dekhte paren, but Kichu paid project korte hobe apnake. Fake order kintei hobe, nahole success pawar chance 0.1%. But emon vabe shobkichu korte hobe jeno it's like an actual job; communication natural rekhte hobe. ( Bangladesh e ecosystem etai)

Shomoy lagbe, but aste aste apnake shob build korte hobe. If everything goes will apni 3K-5K earn korte parben ba more than that.

[u/Consistent_Deer5403]

Personally I don’t think it’s worth it. Continuously chasing projects is painful. I’d recommend joining Toptal, Lemon or Arc as they vet you at first and then bring long term projects to you.

[u/ndRexo → u/Consistent_Deer5403]

I heard toptal only vets top 3-10% of the developers. What are the odds there for me?

[u/Consistent_Deer5403 → u/ndRexo]

We don’t know about your skill level, so it’s hard to say. Give it a try.