Are these clients out of touch with reality?
Or is this reality?
Because the job post already has 20-50 proposals, with even someone bidding lower than the measly budget of $1,000. (this is not Upwork's fault of course)
$1,000 for a fully functional car rental website that can be used as a template for other websites. You kidding me?
RULE*
I don't mind spending 300 Connects on a proposal.
Even if they hire someone else, fine. My proposal or profile wasn't good enough, no problem. I take full responsibility, cut my loss and move on.
Ghost posts with 1000s of Connects spent from freelancers, which then never hire... that's a problem.
It's not fair imo. Jobs should have an expiry date. If nobody gets hired, freelancers should get their Connects back, or part of it at least.
I brought this up with Upwork Support and they even replied to it, mentioning that these ideas are all collected and taken into consideration.
So if you are a freelancer on Upwork with some influence, try tomake this suggestion to Upwork support.
If enough freelancers suggest it, there is a small chance they will implement it, as a cost to keep freelancers around and satisfied.
Trying to upgrade, but keep getting this message, no matter what payment option I choose.
Job posting:
We are a fully remote engineering team supporting a global humanitarian network, and we are looking for a highly autonomous Full-Stack Developer to join us long-term.
This role is for builders who can take problems from idea to production with minimal supervision. You will work across frontend, backend, CI/CD, and production debugging to deliver reliable, production-ready solutions within an established ecosystem.
This is not an entry-level role. We need someone who ramps up quickly, works independently, and ships outcomes.
My proposal:
I can read requirements, and this job fits my background EXACTLY. The humanitarian mission behind this is a genuine plus IMO!
Some relevant background: Over the years I've taken multiple platforms from 'git init' to production... designing the architecture, building the full stack, setting up the git pipelines and CI/CD, and handling deployment + server configuration. I can absolutely own the whole thing.
I've also stepped into multiple legacy and partially-built Laravel codebases and refactored them into maintainable systems without breaking existing behavior. On the infrastructure side, I've set up and managed AWS environments (EC2, RDS, S3, CloudFront, Redis), CI/CD pipelines via GitLab, and Docker-based workflows. I've also handled OAuth/OIDC integrations and know where auth flows tend to fail.
My workflow is usually TDD: Think, write tests, then build. It keeps things moving fast without creating a mess that slows you down later.
I work autonomously, communicate directly, and don't need hand-holding to stay unblocked!
Happy to do a small task first so you can see how I work in practice. Feel free to reach out here for a chat or a call.
More details in the answers below.
All the best,
EDIT: Also in the job post: • Start your proposal with "I can read requirements"