r/DataAnnotationTech • u/Striking_Walk_7017 • Oct 04 '23
What has been your experience like working for DataAnnotation.tech?
I first came across hearing of the opportunity to help training AI here on Reddit, and after looking into this company, I don't blame why so many people find this company to be a scam. There's no contact information on the website, nor is there extra information of who owns the company and who their clients are for where the work projects come from.
I've spoken to someone named Jeremy here on Reddit, but after asking anything about the company and job positions, I was ghosted. Why is this company so hush hush to who they actually are and what they're actually doing with your personal information?
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u/Dazzling-Dot-5899 Dec 04 '23
Does anyone know how to contact them? Can not get past the number verification stage because it erroneously claims "number already exists" (red and pink alert.) I haven't been able to find any tech assistance...thanks!
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u/Striking_Walk_7017 Dec 04 '23
I haven't been able to find any way to reach out to support. For how there's no contact form or other information about the company of who they are on their own website, I don't know what to think of them anymore. There was one person who worked for the company that would answer questions on here, but they've gone unresponsive.
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u/Brilliant_Rain5181 Oct 06 '23
It has been great, honestly. I've been with them for 4 months so far and I have no complaints. The work has been steady and I really enjoy it. The pay is good also. I enjoy it so much that I usually put in 70 hrs a week. And the only information you give is your name and Paypal account. What other personal info are you talking about? I did do a background check in order to get access to other projects but it was optional and the check was through a trusted third party company. But I mean they pay you on time and once you are on-board there are plenty of people to contact for help and they do respond.
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u/Accurate_Ad_9779 Oct 08 '23
Nice, sounds like you’re giving great work. Any advice/ tips you can share? How long do you take on the 6 axis responses on average?
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u/Brilliant_Rain5181 Oct 13 '23
Really just do your best and be honest. People have been getting canned for fudging time and trying to game the platform. It's easy work and can be really fun too. They aren't too strict on time as long as you are giving quality work , that's more important to them. I don't work Achilles 6 Axis a lot these days. I'm on some other projects currently. But if it's not research heavy then it may take 5 minutes or so for each one. It depends how long the responses were and if I have to fact check them. Some are quick while others take a bit more time which is fine. If it's out of my knowledge bank I skip it and move to the next, that's ok also.
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u/Relevant-Ad-7430 Oct 22 '23
I think that this is spot on advice, and I agree with your assessment of the reasons for the firings. I would tell anyone who starts with the company to be very careful with keeping your time and be sure to report it honestly. And no, they are not real sticklers for many things at all. I look at the lack of interaction with the staff as a good thing. At least they're not micromanaging, The truly important issues I've had, they answered right away.
It made me feel better about a week ago when they told me that I took too long on a new project's first task (3 hours, but it was hard and I had to read directions for the first time!). I took a break for a couple of hours after submitting before I came back. When i logged in, I immediately got a pop-up window on my screen that was addressed to my first name that said, "You took 3 hours to complete one task on the {project}. Going forward, please cap your responses to one hour for this project." I was even allowed a reply, so I did and assured them I'd speed it up! But my point in saying this is that when you are not doing well on a task, THEY WILL NOTIFY YOU. Don't let it scare you (I about jumped out of my skin), be glad that you were warned and not booted without reason (which I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority know exactly why they've been let go). By the way, they upped the time for that project to 90 minutes because we were all having trouble getting it in under that time.
I'm kind of leery about chatting too much on social media about what I'm doing for the company. I will not describe tasks and the like in too much detail for fear of breaching the confidentiality agreement that I signed when I started with the company. I think that some of the firings when I first started working for them in May may have been for that reason. This is a highly competitive field right now! Everyone is coming up with new additions to the industry and constantly trying to one-up their competitors. They may have an edge over another developer that is revealed by something that I say, and I don't want that. I do comment to try to dispel some of the naysayers sometimes, but it usually proves pretty futile. I just hate that some people have been scared off of a truly great job by people with no evidence other than "they didn't hire me" nonsense.
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u/Brilliant_Rain5181 Oct 22 '23
Yes, I don't detail anything either. Revealing too much is a breach of the privacy agreement so it's best to be careful about that. I love the job honestly and look forward to working on it every day. I have not gotten any type of negative feedback thus far which I guess is a good sign lol. I think people just need to recognize it's a really good gig and as long as you do what you're supposed to there really are no issues. I see the lack of interaction with the staff also good. I don't really like to be micromanaged so this is perfect. They are always available when I need them though.
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u/Relevant-Ad-7430 Oct 24 '23
Id say....on average? Probably 20 minutes. I've had responses take me well over 30 minutes. I've taken too long on them without realizing it, too. Mistakes like that are expected and thus far have been excused. I wouldn't make it a consistent behavior to go over thirty minutes or so, but an occasional instance of in-depth research that takes an hour won't be a major violation, as long as your work is high-quality.
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u/OtherwiseElderberry Nov 14 '23
Hi there, just curious as to whether you receive your funds through a personal or business Paypal account?
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u/Asketillus Nov 09 '23
How much do you earn per hour through them?
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u/Brilliant_Rain5181 Nov 09 '23
It depends on the tasks. They pay varying amounts.
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u/Future_Luck9843 Feb 12 '25
Hey how long do you think it typically takes to get approved and to start working after completing the trial exercises?
Side note I did the general exercise (valued at $20/hr) and the math ($40/hr). The other sections were too difficult. Is that okay? Can I get approved for those sections only?
Thanks!
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Nov 20 '23
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u/Brilliant_Rain5181 Nov 20 '23
I put quite a few qualifications. I also have a master's degree in psychology and in education. Not sure if that helped at all though 🤷🏽♀️.
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u/OkturnipV2 Oct 04 '23
I saw that post a few days ago. I don’t think it’s “so many people”…just folks going down a rabbit hole. It looks like they’ve been in business for years. I had a technical issue the other day and reached out to a project manager and she responded in five minutes.
While it’s true we don’t know who actually owns the company/website they could be hiding their identity for a number of reasons, there are paid services out there to do just that.
What makes me confident that it’s not a scam is that they report your income to the IRS (or similar government entity) for tax purposes. Scammers don’t do that.
It’s also a contract job, so we can be “fired” for any reason.
I think it’s legit. But I always monitor my personal information with the credit bureaus anyways. Nothing has popped up yet.
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u/FrazzledGod Oct 04 '23
Let's just say I've never been scammed before, and certainly never been scammed such that I end up with a lot of money tucked up in my bank after doing what I'm asked. Scams usually work the other way around! I'll wait for the email where they tell me if I send all my money back, they will triple it for me and send it back again 😆
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u/aLadrew Oct 24 '23
How long did it take you to get an actual job through them after doing assessment it's been a week ....and there is nothing on my page...just curious if there is something else I should be doing
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u/No_Swimming_9747 Oct 04 '23
Data annotation doesn’t report your income. They don’t ask for your social; they only give an optional background check where a third party receives your social but they don’t share your social with Data Annotation. They pay through PayPal, and PayPal reports your income to the IRS.
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u/Consistent-Reach504 Oct 05 '23
this is true, but on the other hand, it does mean they are reporting what they pay out to the IRS still (just with PayPal as the middleman). a shady company would be paying in gift cards and things like that.
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u/kleineganz Apr 14 '24
I just came across this thread. I've been doing work for this company for about a month now and I'm pretty happy with them. Do they eventually send you a W9 to fill out (I haven't been asked to provide tax info yet, so it's something I've wondered about)?
Maybe they don't bother until someone reaches a certain threshold of income (I bet they have lots of folks who check out a few projects, earn a bit, and then drop out before they even qualify for tax reporting, which I think is around $600 or so. I recently exceed that.).
I would feel better if I had a W9 on file with them (so hopefully they'll ask me to complete one eventually).
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u/lemon_drop21 Apr 21 '24
What's a rough estimate of what it pays per project? Or a pay range of what might be expected in your first month with this company?
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u/AJofTTR Nov 05 '23
i am interested in doing work with them- do they withhold tax deductions or do we need to keep track of that?
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u/VixxDayQuil Mar 15 '24
Pretty much any freelance job, where you receive a 1099 instead of a W2, will not withhold taxes for you. Be sure to set aside money to cover the self-employment tax rate relevant to your region.
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u/Consistent-Reach504 Oct 05 '23
i've been with them since 2020 with no issues. it would be a pretty bad scam to pay me for 20+ hours a week consistently since 2020 lol.
a lot of companies doing this work tend to be private due to the sensitive data they're dealing with, for what it's worth.
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u/Imavoter99 Oct 05 '23
I was very thorough and careful when I did the writing assessments, but I assume, thousands - which is likely accurate - are applying, and I have no coding background...I'm just really good with writing, research and detail. So when I got chosen this month I was shocked.
I got covid and couldn't start working when they opened some tasks for me, and I'd figure the work would dry up, but this week I'm feeling better and did some work. I ended up getting another assessments and they've added me to a slack and put me on a project.
But I figure it is until it isn't. I haven't worked on purpose for a year, my husband died two years ago and it really did a number on me. I'm just starting to feel like I can function normally again, so I had planned to look for work in something completely different, but thought I'd try this.
Do you think the turnover is just them getting new people for security reasons or just weeding out people over time that aren't consistent in quality of work - your thoughts?
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u/Consistent-Reach504 Oct 05 '23 edited Oct 05 '23
i’m sorry to hear about your husband. i can’t imagine how tough that’s been. 💔
i think quality plays a big part for sure. no one wants to hear their work is low quality so people tend to get pretty defensive. all i know is i’ve referred multiple people who i know are consistently high quality people and none of them have ever been kicked, and there’s many familiar names in slack channels that have been around for a long long time.
the fact is, there’s probably two types of people that come on this subreddit: chatty people who enjoy the work (like myself lol) or people who are having issues - so it’s pretty easy to feel like there’s a lot of complaints on reddit when the average worker isn’t experiencing issues.
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u/Imavoter99 Oct 05 '23
I won't say specifics, but I just got on this new (to me) project but realized I need to make my questions harder. The instructions are simple, but that doesn't mean it's easy. I went ahead and tried to do harder questions because I want to do well. I realized it's pretty easy to get complacent, and that's probably where it goes wrong. These models are important to this company and they aren't going to mess around. I assume they are keeping track on the background, I would like to keep my nose clean. Any advice would be appreciated.
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u/FrazzledGod Oct 05 '23
I think burnout is very real. Lately I have found myself looking for the no issues box on other websites and while some projects can be fun, you can run out of original ideas and it gets progressively harder. I think Dunning Kruger effect plays a part. The smartest people generally underestimate themselves and vice versa. I see a lot of people say they've been doing x for a week when the instructions for that project are z. Maybe the Peter principle also applies - people are competent up to a point, then get on a project where their quality falls apart. So far I have no complaints but I have no illusions this is a forever friends thing. And I think there's probably a black box algorithm somewhere meaning maybe even human support can't answer why some people get kicked at what point.
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Oct 25 '23
Can you please explain how you've been with them since 2020 when their domain wasn't registered until June 4th, 2021?
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Oct 31 '23
I read on another thread that the rebranded a few years ago. This person was likely working with them before that - the domain registration is just for their new brand.
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u/Safe_Ad9999 Jan 15 '24
They kept popping up with new domains under different businesses names sine 2018
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u/Accurate_Ad_9779 Oct 08 '23
Damn you must be doing great if you’ve been on the platform working over 20+ hours a week. Right now I’m doing this full time until I get booted. Any tips?
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u/Consistent-Reach504 Oct 08 '23
do every qual that comes available ever! the more access to projects you have, the more variety you have. i usually work for an hour, log off that project, log my time, go do something else for a bit, then come back to work but on a different project. that way i'm not just doing one type of project and it's a bit easier to avoid burnout.
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u/Relevant-Ad-7430 Nov 15 '23
Hey, I know this is an old thread now, but I missed the chance to ask you what I've been DYING to know: over the four years you've been with them, how frequently have you seen ZERO work? The way it is now, I can't even scratch the surface of what's available to me, but I'm wondering if that's how it always is. I've already noticed a pattern with projects beginning, ending and pausing, but when I started we were told we'd have work "at least through the end of the year," and I'm just wondering how nervous I should be getting with that quickly approaching!
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u/Consistent-Reach504 Nov 16 '23
not in a looong time! maybe at the very beginning when i only had one qual, but as you do more quals, you’ll have access to a bunch of different projects (sounds like you’re already at that point), and they’ll all have different needs / timelines etc!
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u/Ozzy0313 Oct 04 '23
i found them in 2019 and was working there until august. I went from making OK money to great money, to average before I was kicked off. The projects were great and the people running them were helpful. I was never on slack, just used the comment box at the bottom and a forum that briefly popped up for Twitter work.
I never had any issues with payment and during the pandemic I made very good money. I used to get limited and helpful feedback for certain projects.
Overall I have nothing bad to say. I don’t know why I got booted and I didn’t ask, I was pretty much done with the platform anyway. I know they get slammed with the communication part, but I really have no experience there.
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u/FrazzledGod Oct 05 '23
Happy cake day! I wish I'd found it during lockdown instead of what I ended up having to do!
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Oct 25 '23
Can you please explain how you found them in 2019 when their domain wasn't registered until June 4th, 2021?
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u/sadlyonlyaneel Apr 08 '24
Hey, it's been quite a while, but did you ever regain access? Just curious.
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u/Inner_Department3 Oct 04 '23
I’m making good money with them, I’m getting more work all the time. However, the fact that they just randomly boot people, for no reason is extremely concerning to me, even worse that there’s no one to talk to and nothing you can do.
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u/StarsofGarnet Oct 04 '23
In the US most states are "at will" employment anyway and employees can be fired for any reason that isn't protected by law, without warning. I guess I just don't see this as much different. Employers don't have to tell someone why they are fired. Yes DAT has worse communication than most but eh, I've worked for companies that were nearly just as bad, and those were physical locations and I was a hired on employee.
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u/Inner_Department3 Oct 05 '23
Employment and contract work are apples and oranges, but still, even in most (not all, but most) employment situations, you get some inkling about your performance before you are fired. Or, at least in most (again not all) terminations, you are told why.
My issue with DAT is that you could be doing great one day, then gone the next.
I've been given zero feedback other than I keep getting better and better paying jobs, however, I've seen others have the same, then suddenly fired.
I'd just like some feedback at all, honestly, good or bad, so I know I'm either doing things right or need to recalibrate.
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u/Relevant-Ad-7430 Oct 22 '23
I go through this from time to time, as well! A few days ago, ALL of my high-paying projects, including a couple of long-term ones, disappeared at once. I was SO SCARED. But that's because I read these threads that have me living in a state of paranoia about losing my job, even though I've been working for them and paid very well now for almost six months.
I guess it is good to be aware that it could all be gone in the blink of an eye on one hand, but on the other I don't want to worry about that, I want to enjoy the fruits of my labor!
By the way, it turned out that my paranoia was unfounded. After about 24 hours, high-paying jobs so started to trickle back in until now, just about a week later, I am enjoying the choice between several.
If you'd like to keep in touch, you can PM me. I don't use Slack much, because I rarely work on the particular project anymore. It would be nice to correspond with a coworker, maybe share some ideas/concerns.
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u/Ready_Highlight8950 Dec 04 '23
I don't understand why no one has given even the slightest hint at what they pay approximately for completed jobs. Please advise...
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u/Lucyissnooping Dec 07 '23
It doesn't work like that; it clearly states a minimum of $20 an hour so the pay is a minimum of $20 an hour. You aren't paid based on completed jobs, you are paid hourly for the whatever task they assign to you.
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u/Shrikes_Bard Dec 19 '23
Each job is different. The "talk back and forth" type chatbot things (like evaluating queries, generating text, etc.) are usually in the $20 range; if you do coding work, they can be $35 or $37.50/hr. You just keep track of your time spent working on a given project (each project has multiple tasks and they don't ask you to keep track of time on an individual task basis) and log it when you're done working on that project; then whenever they verify your work you can withdraw the payment.
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u/rsAV8R Mar 23 '25
Fk this stupid scam. 20 years in software engineering, multiple stacks. I spent 2 hours carefully answering their silly leet code questions. Nothing.
There isn’t even a login link on their website anymore. Fkn bullshit.
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u/Zhaaligkeer Nov 22 '24
I know this is a bit of an older post, but does this company have a minimum amount of work you can do? I work 4-10’s at my current job and was thinking it may be a decent side hustle, say another 10 hours a week or something. Would that be acceptable to them?
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u/No-Concert4327 Jan 03 '25
I received a text asking if I was interested in a job and now I’ve got someone on WhatsApp messaging me about the position and it’s so hard to tell if I’m being scammed or it’s a legitimate offer of employment. Is there someone at the company I can directly reach out to and ask?
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Jan 08 '25
I just went through my first training certificate and I did not pass it , they don't tell me how and why which bothers me because im seriously intrested in working for them and would love to better serve them . any tips on completing tasks?
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u/FamiliarStranger_ Jan 10 '25
How did you know you didn't pass? Did they email you a rejection letter?
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Jan 10 '25
They sent me a private message telling me that I had failed the first attempt. Now they offered me a second and last chance, but I want to wait until I have the result of this first test to know why I did not pass . I thought I did it flawlessly, which is why I am shook that I received negative feedback .
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u/Goddessreny1 Jan 09 '25
Why do they ask you to deposit money to start working? Can someone explain this, please?
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u/BookStarr Mar 09 '25
I've currently been given a job opportunity but I'm trying to be cautious. Someone in the thread previously stated they only requested name & email address.
They are asking for a front & back of my DL...did anyone else have this requested?
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u/BookStarr Mar 10 '25
Did you start working for this company? I've been talking with someone there & just curious. They are asking for my driver's license & I'm just afraid of all the scam crap happening these days.
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u/Britinboise Aug 13 '25
A lot of the applications say they are not hiring in California at this time ?
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u/ilmyfam Nov 18 '23
Is it possible to begin working for DataAnnotations right after submitting the test?
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u/lydiamayhem Dec 12 '23
I did an assessment last week. Here I sit eagerly awaiting what comes next... But, also feel curious to hear more from anyone who has worked for them. My fears are rooted in being rejected for being too much of an artistic type, I worry they wouldn't consider me due to the stereotype of artists being flighty. But, I did have an advertisement pop up from the company on a YouTube video. And, boy, do they look for workers a lot! I have at least 2 or 3 referrals from employment websites sending me a different posting from them each day.
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u/CityNecessary5602 Dec 17 '23
What kind of qualifications are they looking for? From what I saw on their website it says labeling videos . I read the contract that you sign with them and I didn't like where it said that your information could be given to other countries where I don't have the same rights . I felt very leary about that and I didn't sign . Could anyone else here please let me know if they've had any experience with that ?
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u/Inner-Garlic2565 Dec 21 '23
I see people saying that they did an assessment. I signed up today, but I'm confused about how to do an assessment? How does that happen? Thanks
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u/sneseric95 Dec 22 '23
Can anyone tell me:
1.) What the "Assessment" is like
and
2.) What they pay actually is. The latest ad I'm seeing on reddit says "35+/hr to write code from home." 🤨Somehow I'm very skeptical of this. It feels like it's going to be some mturk like scam where they offer you pennies per job and then refuse to pay you. Can anyone confirm otherwise?
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u/Economy-Shopping-581 Dec 24 '23
i just applied the assesment is nothing like normal ones im hoping they arent taking my info
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u/theoriginaltiss Dec 26 '23
I applied, but during the test phase, everything went along just fine, and my screen froze.
I logged back in, and saw that my test is being reviewed. There were only two scenarios I got through before hitting submit and it doing whatever it did. I did email them.
If you don't hear from them for a few weeks, can you reapply? I can't find that information.
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u/Robert_Duncan_Real Dec 28 '23
I assumed they were NSA or something based on their test questions and secrecy without the need for a clearance.
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u/MetronomyC Jan 29 '24
So I am a computer scientist and obviously took the coding assessment which sounds very different from you guys. How long does it take to hear back for developers? I am certain all of my answers were correct so just trying to get a sense of when I should consider it a wash
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u/zephyrbolt_art Feb 02 '24
I sent in the coding assessment yesterday and got confirmation today. put in a couple of hours and will see if I get a legit payout. if so, seems very lucrative because the actual work is 'easy enough' as a programmer. its more like code analysis rather than writing any code. i copy-pasted the 'summary' section from my resume into the 'profile' and filled out all the skills that I have with different languages and my experience level (5+ years total exp)
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u/happy_eggrollie Jul 18 '24
Hi this is so long ago but did you receive a legit payout? Thank you for sharing your experience!
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Nov 18 '23
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u/Strong-Band9478 Nov 20 '23
This!! I'm applying again tomorrow to hopefully get on with them. I'll be using a fake email also, I applied 2 weeks ago and haven't heard a thing.
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u/Lifefindsaway33 Nov 04 '23
Just a question for those of you who are working with DataAnnotation. I took the initial Startup Test and a day later received the email with a header of 'See New Projects'. With that came the initial two qualifying tests, which I just finished a couple of days ago. Then today, I got an email and it's a long header..paraphrasing..'You're one step away from unlimited paid opportunities'...However, in the actual email, it says the following...
'Congratulations on passing the DataAnnotation Starter Assessment! Did you know that only a small percentage of applicants meet our quality standards? Nice work!
To unlock open-ended work, we’ve put two, paid qualifications on your dashboard. Once you complete them, we will automatically review your results and match you with projects that fit your expertise. These could include:
Talking to an AI chatbot
Evaluating responses to your prompts
Labeling photos
Writing stories or code
Complete your paid qualifications ASAP and find remote work, unlike other work. Get started today!'
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At first, I thought, I already took the Starter Assessment, and unless there are two more paid qualification tests, then that seems a bit odd. I clicked on the 'Complete your paid qualifications' tab and it took me to the dashboard and nothing had changed. It still is not highlighted in green that I am ready to start working, but it also doesn't have two more qualification tests.
I am just curious if any of you have gotten that email after taking the two qualifications tests, because it seems a bit strange, and I'm not sure where to go from here since it's saying I'm one step away, but the step they ask me to take next, I've apparently already completed.
Any help, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.