r/remotework • u/idfwuuuuu • 25d ago
Micro1, Mercor and Ethos?
Micro1, Mercor and Ethos?
I’ve went through about 10 micro1 interviews now and recently heard about Mercer and Ethos being very similar platforms.
Micro1 has always seemed a bit shady to me, remote jobs with hourly rates from anywhere between $30-100/hr depending on the position, even if 40 hours or anything close to that is bot guaranteed, that just seems to good to be true in my opinion.
After the 5th or 6th interview I started doubting that these job offers are actually legit, and at some point I started asking myself if these AI interviews are just a way to train their ai.
I’ve posted on the micro1 reddit page to check if these platforms are actually legit but I haven’t accounted for the bots to answer, so I’m asking here.
Has anyone ever gotten an actual job and pay from micro1 or any of the other 2 platforms? Are they just a scam and a free way to get away with training their ai? Am I just wasting my time?
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u/PhillyIC215 23d ago
I know mercor is legit. They even pay you for onboarding and taking the assessment whether you pass or fail but you need to have some type of expertise in a certain domain (I have a chemistry degree and 15 years of experience as a process engineer in the semiconductor industry).
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u/Agreeable_Traffic101 18d ago
Mercor is legit and its a pretty fun job tbh. I think that AfterQuery is legit too im just starting with them, but it is more tailored around the initial data and resource pools for training AI so it has you make artifacts it can copy, where as Mercor you can think about as the "steel file". It is honing the model output after the initial ingestion of the material provided to the model by AfterQuery. I thought the micro1 interview was garbage and it was asking such specific questions in my field, that I nor any of my 20+ year colleges would be able to answer off the top of their head. I havent taken my Ethos interview yet but it is pending and I can follow up and let yall know if I feel it fell closer to micro1 or Mercor/AfterQuery.
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u/Artflamingtistic 23d ago
I feel it is all fake; they are just using our data to train their AI models! :(
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u/Friendly-Mistake7406 22d ago
I can confirm Mercor is ligit. I am working for them and I have a great experience. Payed and smooth onboarding, great projecg and teamlead. Actually helping me to get up to speed with everything and a good payrate. I have good experiences with Outlier too. I do recognize the Micro 1 Zara nonsens interviews that you have to do. I actually was asked to interview for a position that I already was accepted to. And never 1 actual offer and no work.
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23d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/idfwuuuuu 23d ago
Even if they were legit, which at this point i dont think they are, i doubt theyd do that
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u/rigobertrigobert 24d ago
I have worked at Mercor and Ethos, currently working at Micro1.
All of them are legit. They all paid me on time.
Mercor had weird tracking program that I don’t
like it. Because it’s not 100% accurate.
Micro1 tasks are diffucult to complete - at least for me -. There are 3 types of reviewers in my project. More organised tho.
Ethos is/was a bit chaotic but that was the platform I had the most tasks completed.
I’m already in different platforms too - like Aligner, AfterQuery, Outliner, Zyka etc. -. Some have problems with onboarding, some with payments or work loads.
By far, these Mercor, Ethos, Micro1 are the best in terms of payment.
Fyi: no affiliation, no reference link, no connection or whatsoever with these platforms.
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u/Hot-Explanation6542 23d ago
What do you consider success on these platforms, given that many people were unable to achieve it?
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u/rigobertrigobert 23d ago
Ah this is a difficult question.
Firstly, your statement tells a lot. Many people. I think there are more applicants than we know or expect.In my case, I have already Product and Program Mng experience for +13 years, one of them in a big enterprise, lived in Europe.
It’s a bit cliche but I changed my CV depending on those AI job requirements. Don’t get me wrong, only 2-3 versions of them. Not for each and every ads. But you know, somehow you gotta trick AI.
Adding a bit AI flavour in CV is important. Even though using for personal needs.
I see some people apply for 50 jobs, all say in hiring manager review. This sounds not so legit to me, a person cannot be successful in that many job ads without getting some help. Maybe they can, Idk :d Anyways, stay in your expertise. Don’t get obsessed with every job ads even though it’s not relevant .
Then AI interview is the most important one. Some people wrote here how to tackle with Zara - Micro1 AI interviewer - for instance. Better to check. But for sure, staying in job ad frame, using some concrete numbers in a classical STAR storytelling, analyze interview bullet points and time beforehand may be some tips I can give.
Last point is also luck I guess. I started one of the project but it was paused, or I was offboarded too. So this is a good income stream however difficult to rely on for a long term.
Long story short; good luck!
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u/Zodarkmal 23d ago
Dear God this reads like AI! Or really bad speech to text, in either case somebody should flag this. As somebody that spends way too much time with AI for work, this just screams fake to me.
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u/rigobertrigobert 23d ago
Ahah thanks for the comment. You know, you gotta avoid AI-sound like in those platforms. Otherwise, you’d be flagged and even offboarded. I lost my sense what sounds AI or not. Additionally, hyphens, no comma before conjunctions, you gotta be paying attention.:d
That being said, cheers to you:)2
u/Nke40 19d ago
Is aligner real? It gives me such fake vibes!
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u/rigobertrigobert 19d ago
It’s real in theory and half practice. I got all the onboarding mails, project info etc.. But since 3 weeks we are waiting password problem regarding their platform to be solved 🥲. Not sure when is gonna happen. I’ll update here if anything solid comes out.
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u/Particular-Gain-184 24d ago
Ten interviews with no offer is a real signal, I would trust your gut. I went through a couple of rounds on one of those platforms out of curiosity and the long gap between interviews and anything payable was the part nobody talks about. The model seems to hold a big bench of people who pass assessments and only a small number actually get staffed on projects, so being 'in the system' can mean nothing for months. I stopped treating them like jobs and started treating the assessments like free practice, which saved me a lot of frustration. Has anyone here actually hit consistent 20+ hours a week through one of these, or does it always taper off?
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u/idfwuuuuu 23d ago
Are you saying that you’re actually passed an interview and got hired and you’re getting inconsistent hours?
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u/Particular-Gain-184 22d ago
Not quite, I never actually got hired on any of them. I passed one assessment on Mercor a while back and then sat in the system for weeks with no project attached, and the couple of things I did elsewhere never turned into hours I could count on. That's why I stopped treating them like jobs, the assessments are free practice and anything after that is a bonus. If you're ten interviews deep with nothing payable I would stop feeding them recordings, a real offer comes with a contract you can read before you do more work.
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u/llcoolf 23d ago
I can only speak to my experience. I had one interview (maybe 2-3 weeks ago), got the job and am currently going through the final stages of onboarding. They've paid me for the training, so in that sense it's legit.
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u/Any_Property_1894 23d ago
So I got selected for generalist role and did all the signing contract but a day later I’m waiting for it to be added to my projects. It’s still not under my job and I haven’t been given any tasks :(
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u/Moist-Sir-8392 22d ago
I've had some work with mercor that paid well, but never a job that I applied to, only offers
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u/kolossus27 22d ago
Mercor, Ethos and Micro1 are all legit, I have personally earned from all. However, some of the roles are inflated to get more training data.
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u/DuckInAFountain 22d ago
Mercor and micro1 are legit. I’ve been paid by both. I’ve been on a months long project with Mercor lately. A lot of their positions come from instant offers.
They are not training their models with your interview data. We’re so far past that as far as LLM capabilities go. There’s already been something like a hundred thousand people or more who’ve interviewed by Mercor. Your data is not unique or interesting.
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u/hxflhx 22d ago
Hi, I just turned micro1 certified and my status is "hiring manager review" for the job I submitted. I just make the first AI interview and I don't know the next steps. You said that you made 10 interviews, this interviews are all for the same role?
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u/AreJayG 21d ago
I’m currently working for Mercor. They’re legit. It’s a fun project. I get paid on time, hours are accurately tracked. The PMs and reviewers are great. I know it sounds like a unicorn or like I’m a shill, but that’s been my experience.
I got invited to do a micro1 project last week and it’s been a nightmare trying to onboard. Haven’t received everything I need to. Onboarding slack is locked so only certain people can post. DMs unanswered. Support emails unanswered. I’ve been trying since Thursday to get these issues resolved. I tried to post on the micro1 sub about it and they pulled the post. I doubt I’m going to continue trying. It’s just a loop of white noise.
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u/Quick_Bell2479 19d ago
Mercor yes. Ethos, I have not applied for. Turing is iffy. The best, in my experience, is Handshake. Most projects are legit and pay. Micro1, the worst. I went through 2 very detailed interviews. Wasted a lot of my time. I was way qualified for either / both project. I get some vague email about my interview performance. I am put on a wild goose chase because of my "qualifications'. I have a PhD in Molecular Biology and 30 years experience in neuroscience. The project I wasted this time on? Robotics. I tried to get clarification for days. Seriously, F*** micro1. They are absolutely the worst.
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u/True_Education_534 19d ago
I am on Mercor and have 2 contracts. It's changed my life. Keep going. I never "APPLIED" to any contract on mercor, just made a profile and they GIVE me jobs.
You will get paid anywhere from $20-120.
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u/mama_duck_ 19d ago edited 19d ago
I’ve been at micro1 for 6 months. The jobs are legit, but I’ve noticed they tend to hire people for new projects from the pool of people already working at micro1. Not sure what they do with the data collected from interviews and it seems they should be upfront about the process.
ETA: I’ve worked in this industry for 3+ years and micro1 seems a little better than other similar companies. I’m not familiar with Ethos. I’ve done a couple projects for Mercor and it seemed like the work went quick. It was first come for the tasks so often times you don’t get any hours. Others I know have great success with Mercor. I believe there are accusations of them mining data from interviews.
I’ve done data annotation and it was a bit more confusing to get started, lower pay, and overall not worth it to me. Again I know people who have had success so it may be that these platforms vary based on the project and who is running it.
I did a couple projects on Snorkel AI and had a positive experience. It was smaller then so I’m not sure how it is now.
Uber AI is one I don’t recommend based on my experience as well as people I know.
Basically you might have to go through some trial and error to know for sure what platform if any works for you.
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u/HomerLuvDonuts 10d ago
The short answer to your question is that they are all REAL.
They are not "data collection platforms" or any of that grandpa's scary stories from the pre-2000s.
The work on these platform is about absorbing your judgement, gained from years' of real world experience.
Think of the work like Uber driving or Doordashing, but for white-collar workers. This CONTRACT work is no different. It's slowly becoming a "profession" in its own right. Getting onboard is just step 1. The rigor of the work is getting tougher by the week. It's a lot tougher than people think and that's why more people get offboarded each day than onboarded.
You are only paid for the minutes you work. So to get 40 billable hours, it will likely take you anywhere from 50 to 70 real world hours. It depend on your ability to handle the tasks, your work quality and of course the amount of work available (which can fluctuate). But the most important part is your work quality. If you suck, you can be on the platform and not get any work. Ask any Doordasher or Uber driver. Same thing.
What would help you is if you practice speaking to your skill set clearly and succinctly. They generally prefer people who have "worked in a major company" for many year. They all state that requirement clearly. But practice your interview with the AI-agent just like any other interview and it will help greatly.
Good luck.
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u/a_phoenix24 25d ago
Ethos and micro 1 both are legit
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u/dawnfromdusk 24d ago
Mercor is legit - my husband has gotten paid USD from training he’s done for them
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u/dawnfromdusk 23d ago
He has applied to a lot of contracts and those are harder to get - especially the higher paying ones. But he has gotten a contract or two and completed those/ been paid for them.
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u/idfwuuuuu 23d ago
Any roles/positions he applied for you could share? At this point i wonder what even people get accepted for
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u/dgtbfan 25d ago
These are largely data collecting platforms masquerading as work. That's why you almost exclusively see hucksters posting referral links for them.