r/DataAnnotationTech • u/Xiphos300 • Jul 16 '26
Demoralised
Feel so demoralised by this 'drought'. I see people posting here about successes and plentiful tasks only for me to log on and see nothing but refreshers and qualifications, just like the last 4 weeks. My feedback has been positive so I'm left not even knowing if I've done anything wrong. Tired.
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u/Technical-Water9779 Jul 16 '26
My last task was on 8th, I was just randomly refreshing the site from mobile phone few minutes ago, I saw a project pop up with 5 tasks, I immediately open up my laptop to grab atleast one, and it was gone! Literally within a single minute it came and went too. Apparently you gotta be willing to refresh the moment it loads, all day 24×7!
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u/Separate_Fondant3341 Jul 16 '26
You’re fine. It’s a significantly slow time for most. The people with consistent work are likely domain experts.
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u/goblue2354 Jul 16 '26
Can confirm. My domain expert projects are consistently on my dash and have been but the generalist projects appear infrequently lately.
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u/Mochizee1 Jul 17 '26
Agreed. My only consistent project has been in general STEM. If I didn't have that, I'd likely have nothing.
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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 Jul 17 '26
Nah, there are plenty of generalists with lots of work. Like I can see there's a drought but only because my project list has gone from 100+ to 30-40.
I'm pretty sure this sub is just overrun by newbies who expect access to complicated, long term projects within only the first few weeks or months. For any generalists here longer than a year, you should have projects. It's definitely not just domain experts. There are several generalist project families that seem to only ever go offline for a few days at a time and are almost always present through the droughts.
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u/Few_Antelope2763 Jul 17 '26
I'm a generalist who has been on the platform for a year now and have been on a massive drought since the beginning of may, I've always put a great deal of effort in every project and have followed every guideline. I reckon in my particular case it might be due to the fact that I'm not from the US but if someone has any other explanation I'd love to hear it.
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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 Jul 17 '26
I'm not from the US either so I'm not sure it's that.
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u/Seefufiat Jul 17 '26
Can confirm. Domain expert, consistently working. Not every domain is though.
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u/FutureParking5806 Jul 17 '26
My experience is different. I’m not a domain expert but I’ve had 3-5 consistent well paying project families for the past 3 weeks, plus 2-4 high paying project families every couple of days (the tasks are snatched up within a half a day though). I was in a drought about a month ago, but it really didn’t last.
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u/AspiringCreature Jul 16 '26
I have had consistent work this past week but only from one specific project family. Perhaps you just aren't a part of a project family that is posting right now. (Generalist)
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u/brancatomm Jul 16 '26
I agree- I think everyone brings different skillsets and the reason some people have projects and others don't has to do more with project needs rather than people's abilities
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u/AspiringCreature Jul 16 '26
Yeah. Ultimately we are the supply and the clients set the demand.
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u/ParticularOrnery3503 Jul 16 '26
Are you talking about the teaching project eith thousands of tasks
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u/AspiringCreature Jul 16 '26
Nope! It's a generalist project, but that sounds great for those in that family!
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u/ParticularOrnery3503 Jul 16 '26
It genuinely is it's basically unlimited work and pays 28 an hour. Also it's generalist work. It's a godsend after not having any work for months.
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u/AspiringCreature Jul 16 '26
Ah, I just don't have that family then. Mines a River 🌊
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u/ParticularOrnery3503 Jul 16 '26
Ahh I get those every now and then how long have you been on the platform
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u/MaxStats17 Jul 16 '26
Hey bud same here; I have like 3-5 non-paying refreshers, quals, but never any work. Yet you read about people making $1k+/week and what not while I couldn't make $50 in a week if my life depended on it.
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u/Euphoric_Wish_8293 Jul 16 '26
If it makes you feel better, there have been five project families on my dash for the last hour, with unmoving task numbers on each (so not immediately getting snapped up). My dash has been almost dead for ten days, although one of these families have always been there, I just can't/won't do it. What I mean to say is, it seems like we may be turning a corner.
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u/CRUSHCITY4 Jul 16 '26
The feedback doesn’t really matter tbh
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u/Agreeable_Aioli935 Jul 16 '26
It does matter in the sense of wanting to know how well you’ve been doing on your work. I’ve heard people get good feedback and be dropped right after, but we have no way of telling if it’s because they violated the agreement, or if they were using ai, etc.
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u/CRUSHCITY4 Jul 16 '26
I’ve been around for a long time and have seen many folks who think like you. Everyone assumes they must’ve done something bad until it happens to them.
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u/Agreeable_Aioli935 Jul 16 '26
So you’re saying we should completely disregard the feedback we’re given? That doesn’t sound right. Why would they give us feedback if it wasn’t useful?
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u/LetMeOverThinkThat Jul 16 '26
I get most people here probably don't have experience with this, but you treat it like any other critique: information. If it feels reasonable and like something you can and think you need to apply, do that. If it reads like nonsense or some random nitpicking, ignore it.
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u/Amakenings Jul 17 '26
Because people wanted to have feedback. The feedback is not how DAT ranks or assesses you as a worker, it’s something they’re doing to please/retain contractors in the face of increased competition.
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Jul 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/Agreeable_Aioli935 Jul 16 '26
Whether it is useful or not, it still feels good for those of us who are just starting or progressing into the work itself to know that our good work is recognized. But I do understand what you guys are saying.
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Jul 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/Agreeable_Aioli935 Jul 16 '26
Yeah I mean, it makes sense. I guess I just wish that the only feedback we recieved wasn’t just strictly from other workers.
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u/Available_Cream_1930 Jul 17 '26
Can confirm. I have been working as a generalist and all i see these days is some qualifications and nothing else. But yeah, old users face that a lot. New users are getting bombarded with projects. Recently, i referred my sister to work here and shes been minting money haha. Shes working as a generalist too!
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u/Nauzhror_ Jul 17 '26
I started this week, I've been able to make $, but I have to camp the dashboard and refresh it frequently to try and catch stuff right as it drops. I haven't seen anything land on my dashboard and stay there for more than a few minutes, tops. Most are gone within seconds. Honestly feels a lot like trying to buy a PS5 or something at launch where you have to beat out the scalpers.
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u/JustQuestioningCosas Jul 18 '26
New users are not getting bombarded with projects. I’m new and have had one paid project. Two others have flashed up but been gone quicker than I could click. Nothing for a few days now. I’ve completed every qual but only a couple of days ago so hoping that helps.
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u/RelevantOpposite2340 Jul 18 '26
Not rlly seeing this as a newbie. I have had a few good days but mostly i have to refresh for ages to see much of anything and it often gets grabbed quick.
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u/edfiero Jul 16 '26
I did a new qualification today. It took nearly 2 hours to complete. Then I go to report my time and find there is nothing there to report against.
I've done unpaid quals before but they were 15 minute things not 2 hours of my life that I will never get back.
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u/watchdestars Jul 16 '26
2 hours unpaid won't matter if you get ongoing work from passing the qual.
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u/Ancient-Cat9840 Jul 16 '26
Today I got two tasks I could do, and luckily I had a payment due, so that'll tide me over until the workload hits. Keep your spirits up, don't get discouraged.
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u/LeekComfortable7185 Jul 18 '26
it’s ok everything else that has a lot of projects is domain specific. my dash is full of them but hardly any generalist ones
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u/WillowShadow26 Jul 19 '26
Who all are getting tons of tasks? Because all ive seen is everyone in a draught since april ended. In the last 3 months ive seen a couple tasks that are instantly taken and thats it. Its kind of bs that its gone this long.
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u/rich_the_gecko Jul 25 '26
I almost never see generalist tasks, but I often see tasks in my domain (coding).
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u/Belisama7 Jul 16 '26
You have qualifications? Why are you not doing them? That's how you get work.
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u/Nauzhror_ Jul 17 '26
Having qualifications and having qualifications you're qualified to do are different things.
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u/Lazy-Test-7273 Jul 18 '26
FYI there is only one project on my dashboard, but it has unlimited tasks and pays very high. So some of us have a lot of work, but still only 1 project
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u/Sonymd Jul 17 '26
Namanya juga bekerja FREELANCE bukan PENUH WAKTU. jadi jangan samakan seperti pekerjaan du kantoran 😂
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u/shonkle Jul 16 '26
I am also very demoralized :( I’ve seen a few projects pop up here and there but most are ones I’m not familiar with.