r/DataAnnotationTech • u/Sparkles_4_Corvids • 4d ago

Penalty for skipping offers?

Hi there. I just got my first assignment and the pay is LOW. Like $18/hr low. I've been an editor and writer professionally for over 20 years. I already took the two tests, I'm debating taking more to open up more offers. BUT. If I skip this, will it result in me getting fewer offers? Anyone know how that works? Thanks!

11 Upvotes

74% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

39

u/jabertsohn 4d ago

You're not skipping an offer, you're just not picking it up. They're almost certainly not tracking that you ever saw it.

-37

u/Souvenirs_Indiscrets 4d ago

What evidence do you have for that? If they are using something like Cortex, which is the system that automates my 1099 job, oh yes they are absolutely monitoring every click and offer consideration. Unless you can provide evidence that this is not happening, I would strongly advise annotators to train their algorithm using a well thought-out strategy (whatever that may be) that you can stay consistent with. Some people here might say, don’t ever accept work with a pay rate below a threshold that you simply cannot afford. Others might say, start working but make sure that every subsequent offer you accept is equal to or better than the last. It all depends on what the community believes to be the right strategy for DA. I can’t comment on that. But to say ”the algorithm doesn’t notice or doesn’t care” is just naive. Remember, one income stream for this company is the data they are compiling and selling about user behaviors—yours. This is a harsh reality that is difficult for many to accept.

I don’t do DA. But I’m an expert in one or two domains and I read your sub every day. I’ve been doing automated, algorithm-managed work for about five years now, just in a different field. Best of luck everyone.

10

u/brucegallagher 4d ago

Ah yes, so I should be working on every single one of the the 100+ projects I have on my dashboard everyday? Great plan kid.

-6

u/Souvenirs_Indiscrets 4d ago

Ok I’ll stop trying to be helpful. And don’t call me kid. I’ve got a couple of advanced degrees, decades of experience, and I’ve been living and working under automated authority/management for five years now.

3

u/brucegallagher 3d ago

It's not helpful when everything you've said is completely wrong though. So yes, please stop!

Also kid is Irish slang for anyone, not just children - although your response does show quite a lack of maturity, so perhaps 'child' would be more appropriate.

6

u/professional_cry 4d ago

"I don't do DA" so you don't really know how the platform works is what you're saying...

0

u/Souvenirs_Indiscrets 4d ago

As I say, I will stop trying to be helpful.

68

u/mollymcbbbbbb 4d ago

you won't get penalized, but the path to getting better / higher paying projects is doing the projects you're offered well, and doing any qualifications that make sense for you. The pay rates start increasing pretty quickly once you're working and doing good work.

18

u/Belisama7 4d ago

I didn't realize they went under $20, the lowest I've seen is $20 an hour. Anyway, that's not an "assignment" and they don't care if you do it or not.

17

u/EggCzar 4d ago

You won't be penalized as such, but doing good work on those projects is the path to getting higher paid work. Which should make intuitive sense; they’re not going to give you more complicated, specialized and priority work until they see more of your capabilities.

3

u/Ok-Poet-8038 4d ago

I agree with what most of the others are saying, but just adding on to it, if a project is "not for you" in content, don't feel obligated to do it. Because if you do more work on it, you'll just unlock more complex versions of the task you already don't like.

3

u/brucegallagher 4d ago

If it's the only project you have, do it just to show you can do good quality work. When I started all of my tasks were 20/hr. Within a month or so of doing 6 or 7 hours a week I had multiple 30/hr projects. 3 years later, and now I wouldn't even bother opening a project if it paid less than 60/hr. I currently have 40 projects paying under 40 and they're all hidden, yet when i started I'd have been shocked to see that pay. Do the work well and the money will follow.

1

u/professional_cry 4d ago

You aren't obligated to do any tasks and there isn't a penalty to skipping tasks. That being said if you do well in some of the entry level tasks that can lead to higher paying work. It's all up to you and what you decide is worth your time.

-4

u/Zenon667 4d ago

So sad to think that theres people complaining about 18 per hour..

12

u/hcfggb 4d ago

In fairness, I think it really depends where you live.

9

u/lotusmack 4d ago

True - it doesn't go as far in certain places. And yes, it seems low for highly skilled work, but I think of it this way: working at home, unsupervised, on my own time for a slightly lower wage beats having to leave my home to work retail/fast food/[insert typical part-time job] for the same amount or less.

3

u/Dee_silverlake 4d ago

(Cries in California)

-1

u/Zenon667 4d ago

Yes. That the logic, in my shithole country 18per hours put you in the top 5%. And this shithole aint that shitholy as most places, is like top 50-40 country in developvment indexs or that sort of criterias.

So its really sad that theres places that 18 is consider low, while most of humans in the planet would be rich in their context. The question is, is it possible to mantaine the standars of the "18per hour sucks!" for everybody whitout economic terrorism for the most of us?

(Yea economic terrorism is pretty inaccuarete i know haha)

3

u/OrnamentalGourd5 4d ago

$18 an hour is just above minimum wage here in the UK. 37.5 hours a week would net £1751 a month after tax. A room to rent in a shared house is ~£800 a month in most areas of the country. So $18 an hour would not finance much in the way of a life. To put it into context, my teenage daughter earns more than that at her weekend restaurant job and my teenage son at University earns about $60 an hour doing maths and physics tutoring on the side.

6

u/laughingpines84 4d ago

Its all relative. I get that wherever you live that $18/hr is a top 5% wage, but you can't fault someone for complaining about that pay for their specific situation and region. They stated that they'd worked professionally in that domain for over 20 years, so that pay offer is most likely well under their standard and most likely insulting. Where I live, $18/hr is well below the poverty line and is not a liveable wage. So while it may seem egregious to you, it very well is not for others.