What is your opinion about UpWork?

For the past few weeks, I have been actively searching for Freelance Work.  I have good experience in PHP web development and Software Testing as explained here. As I have a significant number of LinkedIn connections, initially I thought I could find freelance work through LinkedIn. But practically LinkedIn didn't help me much to get freelance work though I posted on various groups. Even I tried contacting Connections individually. Then I tried finding freelance work using Reddit. I actively watched various subreddits related to freelance work. I got a few projects through Reddit. But they were very small projects requiring 1 or 2 hours only. However, I had to spend many number of unpaid hours learning the requirement details for those projects. Therefore it was very ineffective. So I thought of using the freelancing site UpWork. But I came to know that I need to spend significant money on getting projects there. Before spending money with UpWork I would like to know whether it is really worth spending money with UpWork, particularly as a beginner without reviews/ratings. Share your UpWork experience through the comments section.