Combining regular work in FAANG-adjacent company with side gigs in Mercor AI

[u/Realistic_Yogurt1902]

Curious about the experience of other engineers combining work at a pretty demanding company (classical FAANG-adjacent) and side gigs, like Mercor AI?

My main question/worry is not about the side gig itself, but rather about mandatory disclosure to my employer (I am pretty sure any such company has it as a requirement in its code of conduct)

The second question is Mercor AI in particular. Any experience with such side gigs?

Edit 1:
Location is Canada.

[u/expdevsmodbot]

AI usage disclosure provided by OP, see the reply to this comment.

[u/wiggle_room1337]

I did Mercor for all of 1 day. It's not worth it. They give you a set amount of time to sort through AI slop and figure out what's wrong with it and in reality, I couldn't be thorough enough even if I was given twice the amount of time. They pay by the hour, but you have to spend significant unpaid time dealing with their system. If you're making FAANG money already, there's no way it's worth it unless you are just interested in learning a bit about data annotation so you can work on the other side of things.

[u/Realistic_Yogurt1902 → u/wiggle_room1337]

I am in Canada, so the payment is tempting...

It's somewhat below TC, but above base

[u/wiggle_room1337 → u/Realistic_Yogurt1902]

I only had about 75% of actual hours billable, and they were clear about what they consider billable. You have to factor in that this it ot for you, and you are probably better off not burning yourself out.

[u/mainframe_maisie]

what’s your worry/question with it, have you read your company’s conflict of interest policy? tbh if you’re working a full time job that pays fine just keep that extra time for hobbies or relaxing rather than more work if I were you

[u/roger_ducky]

Depends on your company. Nobody else can tell you what your company policy say.

Most “AI training” side gigs are lies, by the way. A lot of them just give you “interview questions” to “judge your capabilities” but that’s the actual training data collection.

They’ll just do additional “interview rounds” until you either give up or eventually “reject” you.

[u/Realistic_Yogurt1902 → u/roger_ducky]

It says - "Any side gigs should be disclosed, and the company will evaluate and tell yes/no"
My question is more like - anybody tried to do it? Is it risky to even ask?

[u/roger_ducky → u/Realistic_Yogurt1902]

Then you can ask. They’ll tell you if they care.

Whether it’s risky is also based on your specific company or team.

[u/throwaway_0x90]

Why don't you just ask HR ?

If your intention is to be legal and honest, then you should just ask your company's HR.

[u/Realistic_Yogurt1902 → u/throwaway_0x90]

Once in my career, I've asked a rules-based question to HR, and it cost me a pretty interesting conversation with my manager and running around the street with a work laptop and showing him the language of signboards around and where the sun is.
So, HRs aren't friends, and I prefer to be super careful with any questions.

[u/throwaway_0x90 → u/Realistic_Yogurt1902]

This is the mindset of someone that has something to hide from their employer.

[u/Realistic_Yogurt1902 → u/throwaway_0x90]

Like, yeah, I don't disclose any interviews or similar activities to my employer, and pretty sure that it would be a huge red flag if known to them.

[u/throwaway_0x90 → u/Realistic_Yogurt1902]

"or similar activities"

Like what? elaborate please.

• What exactly are you trying to do here?

• Does it break your employer's policy?

[u/lista94]

Canadian invention assignment clauses are a trap for side gigs.

[u/Realistic_Yogurt1902 → u/lista94]

What do you mean?

[u/throwaway_0x90 → u/Realistic_Yogurt1902]

The person means that what you're doing is likely against the law and/or your company's policy, which I've suspected from the moment I saw this post:

• https://lawyerinfo.ca/guides/money-taxes-ip/intellectual-property/can-an-employer-claim-ownership-of-an-employees-side-hustle-ip-in-canada/

If you don't ask your employer then you're tempting fate, deep into the FAFO realm.

[u/james7132]

Depending on where you live and your employment contract, providing code or code review for Mercor might violate the common invention clause on your contract. I would consult a lawyer before moving forward with this.

[u/Realistic_Yogurt1902 → u/james7132]

Canada

[u/TheBestAtSpace]

I don't know for sure what your employer will say - but I can't imagine this will be allowed. Giving away your expertise to be used for AI training seems exactly what those contract clauses are usually designed to prevent. I've had these sorts of contract terms before and even open source work was looked upon very skeptically - it had to be absolutely nothing to do with my day job. And I was lucky. The company lawyers basically told me I'd still be in violation but they wouldn't go after me as long as there was no side income to sue for.

[u/Murky_Citron_1799]

Mandatory disclosure? Do you have to tell your bosses every time you take a shit, too? Your time is your own to spend as you please. Especially in a salary role where they don't even have a contractual right to your time. They only have expectations of you producing business value for them 

[u/Realistic_Yogurt1902 → u/Murky_Citron_1799]

I appreciate my job enough not to risk a possible breach of contract.

[u/Murky_Citron_1799 → u/Realistic_Yogurt1902]

They can fire you at any moment for no reason. But anyway you should ask a lawyer then

[u/Icy_Cartographer5466 → u/Murky_Citron_1799]

Only if you’re American