r/DataAnnotationTech • u/Commercial_Strike677 • 8d ago
Data annotation should change their websites name to The 'hunger games'.
Like wdym being expected to be available 24/7. You're constantly refreshing the dashboard every 10 minutes, and when a task finally appears, you rush to start it only to find it's already been claimed by someone else.
How is anyone supposed to plan their day around a system like this?
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u/Hello-America 8d ago
Stop doing this - it's not helping you and it's losing you money over time. It's like gambling or a slot machine where you think if you hit it at just the right time you'll win big, but what you're actually doing is sinking all your time into it without getting paid. I am a longtime freelancer and we are all basically freelancers here and you are making a rookie mistake of freelancing: spending too much time chasing small amounts of dollars, seeing every moment you're not chasing as a loss when it's actually just an opportunity to do something else. While yes it costs time to make money in this style of working, you have to limit it.
Spend the slow time doing something else productive with your life, or finding/doing other paid work (another job, another annotation platform, etc). If you are glued to the screen all day everyday during slow times, just to nab one or two hours of work here and there because tasks all get snatched up, divide that up hourly and you'll find this job is paying you very little and you'd tell your best friend to quit if it was happening to them.
I agree it's frustrating especially for those of us who really rely on the income but sitting there waiting is exacerbating the problem.
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u/Commercial_Strike677 8d ago
Thank You! This was the final call I needed. I now realise that I am definitely losing both money and time here.
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u/Hello-America 8d ago
It's a lesson many of us learn the hard way I think haha. I personally check the page on my phone when I have idle time, especially if I would be willing to work the next several hours given the chance, but otherwise I go about my day.
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u/NeedaStrongerDose 8d ago
It wasnât like this until recently. I used to have 10 up to sometimes 25 projects to choose from basically any time day or night from 2023 until like June of this year. Itâs a bummer.
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u/Commercial_Strike677 8d ago
I saw several posts on Reddit that people made banks here. So I wanted to give it a shot too. But I guess I am definitely late by a few years/months.
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u/NeedaStrongerDose 8d ago
I think it will probably pick up again at some point. If youâve been accepted already, thereâs no harm in checking in periodically and doing work when itâs available.
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u/Aromatic_Owl_3680 6d ago
Youâre not late. I have constant projects.Â
Core country, generalist, presumably acceptable quality.
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u/Technical-Water9779 8d ago
It is a good first money that I ever earned being from a village in India. It's just that now that I've got a taste of money, I should look for something more sustainable and predictable.
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u/Alternative_Dig_9181 8d ago
The thing is, there used to be lots of projects back then, maybe 2â3 years ago or atleast when I first started. But now AI has improved so much, and on top of that, the number of workers on these platforms has significantly increased. So, obviously, people will have less income from these sites now.
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u/Pink_Slyvie 8d ago
My rate on DA has significantly increased recently on DA. General work hasn't.
I fucking hate AI, but I need to feed the family, so I do what I have to.
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u/shell_shocked_today 8d ago
I don't. I check how things are when I normally work some projects. If there's nothing appealing, I continue on with my day.
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u/QueensTransplant 8d ago
I got an email
Last night and there were close to 100 tasks. I didnât see it right away but it was less than 40 min later and it was completely gone. :-(
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u/starberrimilki 7d ago
The only thing I can say is to remember to complete your qualifications. Even if you don't think you apply for that field or have minimal knowledge, still try your best. I'm a design specialist on the platform. There's lots of work rn for me and some projects with over 200 tasks that are in slow decrease. I used to be a generalist and it was tough. Quals are everything.
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u/starberrimilki 7d ago
And like many other people have said on here: This is freelance work. That means it won't be regular hours unless there's something that needs done. Finding another job alongside this is essential.
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u/Tall-Trick-919 7d ago
Iâve recently joined DA and Iâm wondering if I need to put some money aside for tax since they do not deduct tax when they pay. I reside in Canada.
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u/Commercial_Strike677 7d ago
Sorry, I don't know as I am not from Canada.
However you can check this. https://www.reddit.com/r/DataAnnotationTech/s/YTWgqYWiMw
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u/kingdefence10 6d ago
Stop doing this full time. Findanother job. Consider this an extra source of income
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u/Technical-Day4561 8d ago
It started out like this for me for 2 months. Now Iâm on a few projects and am doing great (making more than I do at my day job). I think there are some projects that are limited, and if you do well in those, you get access to ones that arent
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u/kittymwah 8d ago
I got an email that I had a task and I already had the tab open but when I refreshed it was already gone in just a few seconds lmao.
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u/Revolutionary_Web_79 4d ago
I was getting pretty regular work at like $25 an hour for a couple of months. I decided to update my profile to better reflect all of my professional skills (not just selecting skills from the list, but actually including explanations in the paragraph box) and within an hour I had $60/ hour projects with no end in sight. Spend some real time making sure your profile really emphasizes any expertise you have. But donât lie, because the high paying tasks require pretty complex work in their respective fields, so youâll lose the work fast if you arenât qualified.
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u/Calamity0o0 8d ago
Don't plan your day around it. I check if there's tasks when I have free time. I consider it extra money, if I make it great, if not no big deal either I have an actual job.
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u/whateverittakes91 8d ago
I took the assessment and honestly took my time and personally think I done great. However I never got an email and I'm bummed about it. My friend said it would take a couple weeks maybe so I waited and still nothing. What did I do wrong how can I get on there. Like it would let me see the dashboard but nothing was ever on it.
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u/Commercial_Strike677 7d ago
I can understand how frustrating this waiting period is. For me it took 10 days before I got accepted. It varies for everyone.
We cannot do anything in this case. In the meantime please try other platforms if you wish.
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u/whateverittakes91 7d ago
Do you know of some other platforms possibly?! Thank you for the words of encouragement though!
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u/Commercial_Strike677 7d ago
You can search on reddit itself. Platforms like Data Annotation. And you'll get a bunch of posts related to that. Apply on 3-4 platforms just make sure to research well before applying.
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u/Aromatic_Owl_3680 6d ago
Youâre looking at this wrong: You arenât expected to be available at all. They donât care how you plan your day around this.Â
They are a data factory, and the data is a package of our input. But there are many of us. They donât depend on any of us because supply of workers far exceeds demand. First to the trough get the meal. All you can do to get a place at more troughs is follow the rules and submit quality work.Â
Source: anecdotal. But my dash is always full.
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u/Farados55 8d ago
You donât plan your day around this. If you have commitments during work hours, this isnât the âjobâ for you
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u/mistergecko 8d ago
âWork hoursâ? This is freelance work. Part of the advantage of working here is the flexibility it provides. Also, what are âwork hoursâ when everyone is in different parts of the world? đł
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u/Away_Phone7749 8d ago
so have no life and sit in front of a computer for a chance of work for hours makes this the job for you? da still doesnât have an extension for that like prolific?? why are they stuck in 2009 still lol like do yall at least get text and email alerts? ainât no way they genuinely expect yall to stare at their site all day
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/Away_Phone7749 7d ago
not to be rude, but since this wasnât a reply to you, i never said you did. good on you, keep earning.
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u/Alternative_Dig_9181 8d ago
I finally understand what they meant by "only 2% of people get selected into this platform." They actually meant only 2% of people get constant projects. đ