About 50% of my job applications were successful on Upwork. For many of them there were 30+ other applications.

Try to read these from the perspective of the client. What would you think and feel if you read these applications? I think this question is crucial when writing them.

The goal here is not to say that these were good projects to choose. The point is to give you examples of the style I used to get these jobs. You will hopefully get some insights and write even better applications than these.

(I’ve masked all user data except for sites that are already down since then.)

1. “Website redesign with SEO friendly and follows Google webmaster guidelines” (earned $821)

Job posting

Please read the carefully and understand what I am looking for before place your bid.

Web Host By: Go Daddy
Run: PHP Cake, Java, AJAX

My application

Hello {username}!

I’m David, a Hungarian programmer currently working from Australia.

I’ve gone through your doc. I’d be a happy freelancer if everyone wrote detailed specs like this.

All the listed changes seem reasonable, your specification is straightforward enough to work with and I generally like “clean up the issues and make it perfect” jobs.

I haven’t assigned a time for each change individually, but from what I saw in general I estimated a total of 25 hours for all the work.
As you didn’t mark the job urgent, I’d leave time for communication and testing, so I’ve set up a 1 week time frame.

Please take the time to consider me like I took the time to read through your list.

Thank you,

David

2. “HTML5/CSS3/Jquery Guru Needed to Edit and Organize Pages” (earned $131)

Job posting

I’m seeking a guru to cleanup and organize html5 code already coded up as well as ensure that the website looks the same across all major browsers. Right now, there are ie exceptions and it looks quite different on some browsers.

I am seeking an individual to go in and do the following:

  • Cleanup the HTML5 code ensuring there is no inline styling on the pages
  • Add in and organize any CSS code within the stylesheet
  • Ensure that the site functions the same in the following browsers: IE7+, Firefox 3.6+, Chrome, Opera 10+, Safari 4+
  • Edit the photoswipe.com plugin to ensure functionality works across all browsers above. You will have to rework the code to work with jquery.

The goldengridsystem.com was used in development of the site and will need to be editted. Current known issues with the code are as follows:

  • Site not fully centered when displayed on iphone
  • Photoswipe not working on Firefox 3.6, IE7 and IE8
  • The bottom image does not load correctly in opera on the index.html page.
  • The page should load above the fold fully without have to scroll down on any browsers since it’s a liquid layout.

We’re looking for a 48 hour turnaround time. Please display your work and experience with HTML5, Responsive Web Design and JQuery. If work is done efficiently and correctly, we will forward additional work to individual. A zip file will be sent over once you are chosen with all files (there’s about 7 static html5 pages most of the work will be done via the stylesheet). All pages will be tested via browsercam.com.

Thank you

My application

It seems like an annoying but rewarding job needing precision and persistence. I’m good at both, therefore I decided to apply for this.
Although I’m no designer, I’m a HTML5 expert as well as experienced with CSS2 and CSS3 and cross-browser compatibility, so I feel self-confident with this task.

Please send a screenshot/design plan too to ensure what exact result you expect to show in all browsers.

3. City Budget Alt (earned $789)

Job posting

We are looking for a company to develop a HTML5 web page and MYSQL Server back end to satisfy the description attached. This material is copyrited and owned exclusively by us and no rights are allowed to you or other third parties. For an example of the web page go to www.{censored-for-client-privacy}.com, enter the authorization code “User” and click on General Fund to see how the new columns with data folds out. See attached description for scope of work. Part of the work is for you to enter the first description and values which I will supply.

We expect the work to be completed in two milestones which I would like you to suggest. We will advance the first escrow milestone once we are comfortable you can do the job. Please describe how you plan to do the work, give me a timelines and tools you will be using. If you do not provide this timeline, etc, you will not be considered. Prior to doing the work we will need to talk on Skype and I expect to discuss progress every Friday.

My application

Hello there {username}!

I’m David, a Hungarian programmer currently working from Australia. I like your project and communication very much - I’d be a happy freelancer if everybody created such straightforward and detailed requirements’ documentation like yours.

Here is my brief opinion and plans:

I wouldn’t use any CMS or framework for this project because the pages are simple, and the data to display is completely custom. I would just use MySQL+PHP+JavaScript, and the same good quality HTML5+CSS that you have on your demo page.

I’ve broken down the project to several steps, and parted them to two logical milestones as you wanted. Here is a quick roadmap:

First stage: from zero to user-level (9 hours in total):

  • Understanding the project in all details, sketching (1h)
  • DB design (2h)
  • Dynamic pages populated from DB (2h)
  • Final user interface (2h)
  • Login, “Terms of Service”, “Privacy Policy” pages (1h)
  • Unexpected complications and testing (1h)

Second stage: the admin level and final touches (13.5 hours in total):

  • Add/remove/edit users (3h)
  • Add/remove/edit city and budgets (4h)
  • List email addresses of users - filtered if needed (1h)
  • Unexpected complications (1h)
  • Final testing, cross-browser testing, W3C validation, bug fixing (2h)
  • Project administration and communications (reports, Q&A) during the project (2h)

That’s a total of 24 hours, which makes it a total of $789 with Elance fee. I can work 6-8 productive hours every day this week, so if you make a quick decision and the communication is smooth, we should finish by the end of this week. If you hire me, I’ll try to do my best to adjust my hours to yours, meaning that I can be online in the timeframe of 8am-1pm EST (and after 7pm). (UPDATED - I miscalculated the time difference in my first application)

I’m happy to talk to you on Skype and to report at all times - I log my progress for myself anyway, and I don’t mind sending it over at all. I can also set up a test environment if you don’t have one, to share my progress continuously.

Please take the time to consider me as I took the time to apply.

Hoping to work with you,

David

4. Analysis of a Flashcard Algorithm (earned $819)

Job posting

We need to someone to help us to figure out the algorithm for a flashcard program that uses spaced repetition learning principles.

The final output should enable us to predict the behavior of the flashcard program.

The program is readily available to you to test inputs and see its output/behavior.

Because the level of complexity of the flashcard program is not yet fully known, an hourly rate with regular checkups every few hours is probably the best way to structure this job.

My application

Hello {username}!

I’m a Hungarian developer currently working from Australia (meaning that the time difference to Hong Kong is only 2 hours).

I’m a very experienced data miner as well as a trained engineer and a precise person, so I feel very capable of coming up with creative ideas to reverse engineer your algorithm.

Also, why I’m actually applying to your job is that I myself was working on a flashcard program (for language learning). I’m very familiar with the flashcard algorithms so I think I can solve it quicker than the average. I’d be very happy to work on your project.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thank you for your response in advance, and have a nice day :)

David

P.S.: The 40 hours I guessed is a maximum, I really should look more into the project to refine my estimate.