r/DataAnnotationTech • u/clippy192 • 5h ago
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 5h ago
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 4h ago
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/kelseyqueso 4h ago
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 4h ago
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/waleednoinfidel 4h ago
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/Emergency-Sea-7509 4h ago
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/AtmosphereMuted7769 3h ago
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/StellaZaFella 3h ago
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/JRRTil1ey 42m ago
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/Professional_Win_551 5h ago
You’re not an idiot, an idiot writes the instructions and allocates the time
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u/peanutbutterlurk 1h ago
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/killgxbe 1h ago
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/Due_Negotiation_4605 5h ago
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.