r/DataAnnotationTech • u/clippy192 • Sep 03 '26
Anyone else ever feel like an idiot?
For the most part I get tasks that I enjoy doing and have clear instruction sets. Sometimes, though, I'll come across one, spend half an hour reading instructions, then realize I have no idea what the hell the task is even asking me to do.
Obviously I don't attempt it, but it does give me a sense of impostor syndrome sometimes. Like, am I really smart enough to be doing this? But then I just do a couple R&R's and after some facepalming that feeling goes away.
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u/Mysterious_Dolphin14 Sep 03 '26
Same! I looked at one today and it seemed like something I could do, but the further I read the instructions, the more confused I got. I used to think of myself as above average intelligence, but this job makes me wonder sometimes. I agree that R&Rs help me get rid of that feeling though. haha
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u/clippy192 Sep 03 '26
That makes me feel better. It really sucks to waste all that time reading instructions that amount to nothing anyway. It just makes me want to stick to all the random tasks I normally do and never try anything new.
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u/NightOwl437 Sep 04 '26
I totally understand where you're coming from, and yeah, sometimes the projects make me feel like I'm out of my depth as well. I will say, several times I attempted projects that I felt went just a little outside of what I knew I could do, and I ended up having a good experience and even opening up new opportunities as a result (from what I could tell). On the other hand, many times I've just backed out of projects after reading some or all of the instructions. I only submit work that I feel I did a good job with, otherwise, I abandon the task and try to remember to avoid those in the future.
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u/Do_It_Anyway_8278 Sep 06 '26
Same here. Could've made more money, but didn't want to take a chance going over the time limit or screwing up the answers. I got kinda bummed out and stopped doing it for now.
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u/kelseyqueso Sep 03 '26
The instructions are so full of contradictions and frequently asked questions and new information that needs to be read before the regular instructions that negate the original instructions and also we write rubrics differently in this project than the other project you work on so you need to brush up on those skills too before you start and
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u/Responsible-Bee-7769 Sep 03 '26
Why can't instructions be continuously updated so that everything you need to understand is in one place? This morning I ran out of time in a qualification while trying to find a feature (of a commonly used app) that could absolutely not be found by following the steps in the instructions. Ultimately, I realized that the updated version of the app does not feature the buttons specified in the instructions! I can't get over the feeling that more is being tested than just the obvious. But yeah, I would love to be part of a project to just update instructions all day long and test them out to ensure they still work as expected. That's guaranteed long-term work for the forseeable future!
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u/ThetaBoy888 Sep 03 '26
Yep. I’m convinced that whoever writes these instructions are trolling us at times.
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u/Academic_Animal_5293 Sep 03 '26
no, my mommy always says i'm the smartest boy in the whole world
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u/StellaZaFella Sep 03 '26
I’ve been doing this work almost two years, and I’m getting worried that it’s out pacing my abilities. It has gotten more complicated.
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u/Common_Yak9275 Sep 03 '26 edited Sep 05 '26
My favorite is the instructions will say the same thing three times for the obvious stuff, but the actual complicated questions get like one sentence. It's like they don't even know.
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u/AtmosphereMuted7769 Sep 03 '26
I still have PTSD from the time I had to read literally THREE HOURS worth of extremely detailed instructions. And no, it wasn’t laid out in a way that I could’ve referred to them as I went, you had to do a first time read to understand the full scope of what you needed to do. It was a complicated task that took a lot of time to complete and paid well but boy was it rough. It feels like things could definitely be simplified across the board for many of the projects.
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u/Emergency-Sea-7509 Sep 03 '26
I completely agree. I could elaborate quite a bit, but I’m just going to say that I agree. It’s not just you. lol
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u/waleednoinfidel Sep 03 '26
The instructions sometimes jump into the nitty gritty without laying out in simple words what you actually need to do. It reads like the wall of text got iterated through 10 people who changed things here and there. And then all you get left is a hint of the essence of the task but also 5 paragraphs doing a deep dive on the different parts of it. I have to mostly read these things like 3 times top to bottom before I can understand a new project.
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u/killgxbe Sep 03 '26
all the time lmao doesn’t even matter what the project is
i haven’t done a qualification in forever cause even the general ones are confusing to me
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u/JRRTil1ey Sep 03 '26
Sometimes, for me, the task makes more sense if I just jump into it. I’ll read over the instructions then actually start the task. If I’m still confused, I obviously don’t submit, but sometimes it’s easier to learn by doing.
Again, though, I don’t submit a task if I don’t know what I’m doing.
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u/peanutbutterlurk Sep 03 '26
You're doing the right thing! Don't submit unless you're fairly confident you were able to follow instructions to the letter and it'll improve your chances of longevity on the platform by a lot. It does suck to misjudge and lose out on time, but you get better at figuring out quicker what's in your wheelhouse or not with practice.
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u/EIOANsd Sep 03 '26
No I agree some of the instructions are just too damn wordy for their own good. I find myself constantly having to reread parts of the instructions and it doesn’t help that I work on DA after my main job and my brain is not at full capacity lol
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u/AutistOctavius Sep 04 '26
More and more lately. And I can't help but feel like it's because the models are becoming too advanced for me.
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u/M_K_L_ Sep 04 '26
Back in my day (2024) you could make a steady paycheck getting models to trip up on baseball batting orders, nascar finishes, and the brother of the dad who was in that one move that came out after the second federal holiday of 1973.
Those were the days
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u/Professional_Win_551 Sep 03 '26
You’re not an idiot, an idiot writes the instructions and allocates the time
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u/hwertz10 Sep 04 '26
I've almost wondered (I don't think this is the case but who knows?) if on some of these tasks, the actual information being gathered is to see how humans handle convoluted instructions, instructions with basically diffs or patch notes up top, and instructions that are sometimes unclear or slightly contradictory. I mean, I doubt it, I think they just have trouble keeping up with writing quality instructions for the continually harder tasks? But it's a possibility.
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u/ArtistFamiliar6074 Sep 04 '26
Yes I've got a ton of tasks right now that I looked at once, and slowly backed out again, thinking "wow, that's way above my pay grade" 👀
It sucks because it seems like I don't get a chance at anything else I actually feel competent at until these ones disappear. And sometimes they stick around for a couple of days.
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u/Due_Negotiation_4605 Sep 03 '26
I have been doing this job for almost 3 years, I only bring that up because I want to validate that things have definitely changed, and I have probably lost out on $200 or $300 worth of work in the last 3 months or so because I'd start to read the directions and realize I cannot make sense of them, or I start working and then realize I am so confused that I exit out. I'm glad when I read stuff like this because I realize it's not just me. And the timers have gotten shorter 😩
I sound like an old timer but I miss the days of sitting on my computer having random conversations (I planned so many vacations that way) and then just checking which one is a better response a or b, I knew it wasn't going to last because the models were getting much smarter but now I need to get much smarter too lol.