freelancing work online

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Hello,

I'm posting here because I have been trying to find freelancing work online, and I am having difficulties. I would like to know whether others here have experience of working on freelancing websites and can recommend some.

The kind of work I am thinking about is anything where the customer can send you the work over the Internet via the website, then you do the work on your computer, you send it back to the customer via the Internet, and they pay you.

I am aware of some online platforms where this approach to work happens, and I have registered on some of them; I have even had a little bit of work, although not enough, on some of these platforms - and, on others, I am either having issues because of the way the platform operates, or I have registered but never been offered any work.

I was thinking that some others here may be interested in this approach too, because it can let autistic people work without having to leave home: many of us have problems coping with workplaces, but not with working as such. The kind of work I am thinking of is anything that I can do online, such as data entry, web research, proofreading, translation (I am bilingual in English and French)...

So, my first question is: has anybody worked on one or more freelancing websites that they can recommend? Ideally, I would be looking for a site where you can take tests in the fields of work you are interested in, and, if you pass, the sites bring the work to you (you don't have to apply for each job), they give you a sufficient amount of work regularly, and they handle the payments from the customers and pass them on to you so you don't have to deal with payments yourself. Does anybody know of such websites? If a freelancing website doesn't work exactly like that but someone has a good experience of working there, I would also still like to know.

Additionally, I have heard of websites that have been set up for autistic people, or for disabled people in general, to advertise their services as a self-employed person. Does anybody know of such websites?

None that I can recommend currently.

There used to be a website called Elance that my boyfriend and I used (we work as a team of programmers). However, it ended up getting bought out and then swallowed up by a website called Upwork, which we don't think is nearly as good as Elance was (we sometimes call it "Upchuck").

I have a longterm vision of organizing autistic work-at-home programmers and other work-at-home professionals into small teams and consulting firms. See An alternative employment model for autistic programmers?.

What kind of work do you do (or aim to do)?

I've heard of some people who are expert AI and Machine Learning practitioners who make their living entirely on Upwork. You basically have to offer a service that's in high demand but there's a limited supply of. Yeah, this is economics 101, not rocket science but when you're online, you're competing with potentially millions of others with your same skillset including many in third world countries who are willing to be paid peanuts. Conversely, if you're in a market where demand exceeds supply, than imbalance is also multiplied in an online marketplace as you have clients from the entire world competing for a limited set of people with those skills.

This is just my theory about online work..