Freelancers of RI community: How do you get consistent work? How did you build your pipeline of work? Currently I am looking for part-time software engineering contracts in the US. I have tried Upwork but then the quality of work (& pay) is usually low.

Following!!! I am also on the same boat. Upwork do show some relevant projects for my skillset, and I have applied to a few of them but I hardly hear it back from the client. Maybe I am not bidding the right way? Or need a portfolio of projects?

FWIW, in my experience of Upwork its a race to the bottom. If you're an agency it could be a great lead-gen tool I think but I'm not sure how good it is for getting good work.

Hmm, I agree. I have seen some projects which require considerable amount of time but are getting paid <$50 (sometimes even $10-$15). I am exploring other options too like toptal and codementor. I have done a few one-time gigs from Codementor and the pay was good (this is 2 years back). You can explore these too.

I have read good things about https://contra.com I don’t have any experience with it though. In case you want to checkout.

On Upwork, it’s a race to the bottom if you participate in one. Set a reasonable price (a little higher than the average market price), shortlist projects you can deliver on, write proposals from scratch, talk more about the client’s problem and less about what you’ve done in the past. Also, if Upwork is bad, there are very few other good places. The situation outside Upwork is better for developers if you can get yourself into the top x% ecosystem.

A good recommendation I got from a video was to try to go to your locality in google maps and figure out what businesses are there. then try to reach out to them and sell them your product / services. This way you can test your product / service viability as well as get clients. You don’t have to rely on freelancer or upwork because now you have a direct connection with the client.