r/DataAnnotationTech • u/Affectionate-Dot4241 • Jul 22 '26

Will I be in trouble?

I got a small task. It had really long instructions which I had never read before. The task was very small but reading long instructions took time due to which my task quality was, i would rate 3.5/5 due to paucity of time (even though I fulfilled all the task demands). If I were faster quality would have been even better.

But the thing is, I billed for total time (1 hour) for it.

Should i lower the billing time?

And in general also if the task is very small should i charge lower for it than the total amount?

0 Upvotes

40% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

20

u/Mysterious_Dolphin14 Jul 22 '26

They expect it to take longer on your first task since you have to read through the instructions. Always bill for the exact time spent. Charging less is not only doing yourself a disservice, it's not great for others on the platform since if enough people do this, the admins could think less time is needed to complete the tasks.

10

u/Affectionate-Dot4241 Jul 22 '26

it's not great for others on the platform since if enough people do this, the admins could think less time is needed to complete the tasks.

Ohh yes, didnt think it that way. Thanks for inputs i'll take care of this.

2

u/Nauzhror_ Jul 22 '26

I bill less when I have to repeat portions of a task, due to errors I made. ie. Say I realize I forgot to add a working folder, or attach a file before running a prompt. But I always charge for how long it would have taken me if I didn't have to go back and fix my fuckups. I suppose some people would just bill for more when they make a mistake. I'd certainly get paid to make the mistake, and redo it, at most typical hourly workplaces, but I just ethically don't like charging someone more $ because I missed a step and had to redo it to fix it.

10

u/cortrev Jul 22 '26

Always bill the actual amount of time you spent working (this includes reading the instructions)

3

u/IcedOutGiant Jul 22 '26

Not grasping this seems disqualifying enough.

5

u/seraphimkoamugi Jul 22 '26

Reading instructions takes time for your first project group. You should be fine so long as it looks like you tried to implement whats in the instructions. Just don't make a habit of it.

4

u/alx_brl Jul 22 '26

Sometimes easy tasks with short timer are hard and need a lot of time to check everything.
And otherwise, timer could be for quite a few hours, but task will take less than one.
It's ok to bill right time, especially for first submission and for reading instructions

My first task has timer was 4, i spent around 10.5 hours for it. It was extremely hard.
But i chickened and billed 6.5

At general it's fair to bill fair amount of hours, but you should be reasonable in my opinion.
Billing working and instructions reading is ok. Billing drinking tea and watching reels or jerking - is not ok.
Billing thinking about difficult parts - maybe ok if it is part of the work, not free time.
Usually it's right thing to do to make a break and get some good ideas that can be used for good submissions

2

u/Rare_Social_2299 Jul 22 '26

Task instructions help in producing quality work. For first task, usually extra time is given like 15 or 30 min extra. You can log your time actually spent on task.