Upwork, how does it work for sysadmins?

Question

Freelance

Hello.
I want to ask a question, how does it work for system administrators on linux / unix on upwork?
I have the following story, I will immediately say not success.
Linux admin for 8 years, Solaris, scripts, networks, virtualization, but little highload, mostly typical tasks.
I like to write scripts, to some extent, a developer did not leave me at one time.
I'm trying for the third time on upwork.
The first two times a month during the holidays I tried to devote time, I earned a minuscule amount, I could not orient myself.
The third time the crisis pushed, I had to try, worked for three months, earned about $ 700 for the whole time and got some impression, about which I want to ask and tell.
Doesn't it seem to me that the administration on upwork, how should I say it ... is a thankless task or what?
80% of the tasks associated with raising a server from one of the administration panels (cpannel and others like them)
There is simply no desire to do this.
15% is some kind of tough thing that, apparently, regular system administrators could not do and they threw it on the exchange to do at least somehow.
The remaining 5% are scripts, which is what I did for the most part.
Sometimes, with a probability of less than a percent, work slips marked "command line only. Dont write if you can not use shell commands", which cuts off 90% of Indians, attracts top rated attention, and people like me can only write a super-detailed cover later and dream what they choose.
Having worked like this for 3 months, having completed 18 jobs and having worked 11 hours (about 3 jobs at an hourly rate), I had to look for a remote job to somehow make ends meet. The remote was found without problems.
My job success was 87%, the rate immediately put $20, 2 jobs without feedback, all 5, one job 4.7.
In general, the third time I could not gain a foothold.
I would like to ask, admins, is this true or is it my special case?

Answer 1

You just screwed up, there is a lot of difficult work on the upwork, what a kapets complicated, what a fuck-up for the admin,
look at the wponeb project, you can write to him, we refused him the other day due to the complexity of the project.
Yes, sometimes there is a routine, and it also needs to be done.

Answer 2

Who makes you take boring and cheap jobs?
By taking such - you are competing with 100,500 cheap workers.
Where do you even find such work, so that it is banal and penniless?
This is possible only on purpose, because of self-doubt, etc.
Now I have a job - the customer just like that, with joy, without any prior agreements and requests from my side - throws 300 bucks of bonus.
PS:
Are you expecting interesting and profitable jobs with a rate of 20?????????????????????????????????????????? ???????
I set the rate to 50 - IMMEDIATELY, while I still had no rating at all.

Answer 3

Now I have a job - the customer just like that, with joy, without any prior agreements and requests from my side - throws 300 bucks of bonus.

I can only congratulate you, this has not happened to me.
Well, I didn’t set such a rate from a lantern. It is much higher than that of the Indians and is approximately equal to the rate of European freelancers. If I set a rate of 50, which is taken by very experienced European freelancers, and even freelancers from the USA, I want to ask myself - why? I'm surprised that you managed to start working with such a number, I think this is more of an exception.
I can do something, I can’t do something, is it shameful not to be able to?
So it says in the fake, I'm not sure - don't take it. Of course, no one works like this.
I worked like this - I am more than 50% sure that I will do it - I undertake it.
Why would I upset the client by not being able to solve the problem?

Freelancing is not money on a silver platter.
Finding a job is a daily routine part of a freelancer's job.

Does anyone argue with this?
I have approximately the following statistics - for 5 cover-laters one is successful, i.e. they answer me and we can negotiate.
Spent time searching and negotiating - a wagon.
So I'm wondering, how do others work?

Answer 4

Doesn't it seem to me that the administration on upwork, how should I say it ... is a thankless task or what?
Rather, if you don’t work for a cool company, where else can you take on the tasks of deploying Kubernetes or Mesos.

80% of the tasks associated with raising a server from one of the administration panels (cpannel and others like them)
There is simply no desire to do this.

Don't. Leave it to the students.
So you can't solve complex problems that pay good money?

The remaining 5% are scripts, which is what I did for the most part.
Sometimes, with a probability of less than a percent, work slips marked "command line only. Dont write if you can not use shell commands", which cuts off 90% of Indians, attracts top rated attention, and people like me can only write a super-detailed cover later and dream what they choose.
Having worked like this for 3 months, having completed 18 jobs and having worked 11 hours (about 3 jobs at an hourly rate), I had to look for a remote job to somehow make ends meet. The remote was found without problems.
You have chosen this path for yourself.
Freelancing is not money on a silver platter.
Finding a job is a daily routine part of a freelancer's job.

Answer 5

Judging by the fact that you did not mention the "devops" part (quoted because of the ambiguity of the term) - docker, aws, CI / CD, configuration management and so on, you are just a bit of the wrong specialization. "Old school" system administrators are now not at all as in demand as they were 2-3 years ago. Technology is advancing and you need to catch up fast.
According to the same AWS on the upwork, it’s just wagons of work.

Answer 6

80% of the tasks associated with raising a server from one of the administration panels (cpannel and others like them)
There is simply no desire to do this.

And you start with such tasks, earn a top rate, and then take on other tasks. But if there is no desire, then there really is nothing to do on the upwork. There is no dough here and now, even in arbitration.
ps And it's still worth looking at AWS to understand that this is exactly the same as not hetzner.