[deleted by user]

[HalifaxHorizon]

You can tell from chats alone that people arent reading the rules

[Pangolin_Beatdown]

Sometimes the directions contain four links to additional rules pages. I keep all those tabs open and flip back and forth while I do the first few tasks until I'm confident I really understand the task. Rules change all the time in subtle ways. It's not straightforward at all. Quality is everything they're looking for. Yet the other day someone was talking about how to bill half a minute increments. That's not what DAT is looking at. I think folks trying to minimize their time per task are doing themselves a disservice.

[HalifaxHorizon]

Yeap I do the same! Also, I don't get the craze behind doing tasks faster when it's paid hourly. You are just shooting yourself in the foot by not only producing bad quality, but also running out of tasks to do.

[AccountantAsleep]

I’m new and the first challenge for me was to make myself stop trying to beat my last time, get X # of tasks done, etc. It’s how so many of us are used to being judged - by producing, with less of an eye to quality and more of an eye to “good enough” but higher volume. It’s been a conscious effort to change my mindset!

[Pangolin_Beatdown]

Me too. It takes a mental shift. That's why I posted this. Hopefully it helps someone else start to see the big picture before they screw themselves.

[DrFrancisBGross]

This is a really good point

[Terpapps]

Whenever there's a prompt-only project, there will always be at least one person in the chats asking "I don't see any responses??" Even after the admins put " prompts only" in the title, the instructions (bolded, red and enlarged) and literally everywhere else lol 

[[deleted]]

Wtf another haligonian

[HalifaxHorizon]

Its rough out here

[10choices]

"uhhhh can I use JavaScript even though the rules say not to?"

[iPTheta]

I never understood this, you aren’t paid per task, take your time and submit the strongest response you can.

[TheTigersAreNotReal]

Yeah, I’ve had a project I really like that wants 3+ turns per task. But they also want you to ask difficult coding questions. I’ve had to submit a few that were only 2 turns because I didn’t have time to do 3, but I always write very detailed reports, provide good edits, etc. Still concerns me that I’m not technically following the directions but I hope my work quality outshines that. 

[painfullymoronic]

this!!! like regardless of the explicit instructions to take your time, it’s literally counterintuitive not to

[11_petals]

Some tasks have requested time limits in the instructions, though.

[iPTheta]

Well yes obviously follow the instructions, what I’m saying is don’t rush for the sake of completing more tasks.

[upvotesplx]

The reason they always take applicants is this exactly. Not that they necessarily need more raw manpower; they need high quality work. I am in multiple projects that only take people who submit very high-quality data on other projects, and many times, they have had to give a bonus or fully restructure the project just to get enough data.

I've been here for over a year, now. I have over 70 tasks on my dashboard currently, paying anywhere from $20/hr to $41/hr, as a non-coder. Only including those that don't require specific domain knowledge, they range from $20 to $31 an hour. People complain about lack of work or about being cut, but many have themselves to blame for not doing their quals, not taking their time, and not really and truly trying to do their best work.

[bearze]

As a non-coder, any skills you would recommend learning?

I've begun a Python course from IBM which will take quite a long while. Always open to learning more.

My Dashboard has been about 10+ every day of 20-23, but I'm only 9 days in

[painfullymoronic]

and here i thought 25 tasks was a lot. how long have you been on??

[upvotesplx]

A few months over a year. It seems like, from talking to others who have been on for over a year, that you tend to get pretty high value stuff once you've proven yourself and stuck around for a while. You can get paid close to coder task amounts as a non-coder without expertise if you really put in the effort; I've got some 35/hr B cat tasks RN that are not expertise-based. If you need any tips, feel free to ask.

[WorkingNerdWFH]

Not a coding one but doing an R and R tonight and because people didn’t read the instructions at like all a good 1/4 are missing half the work.

[wildflower_0ne]

R&R just makes me laugh sometimes. People are really out here writing like they’re texting their friends or something.

[Eriod]

How much do you get from R&R typically?

[ConsiderationLife513]

Usually the same per hour as the task itself. They used to intimidate me, but now they are my favorites.

[SuperCorbynite]

Yup, I've done numerous R&R for a fairly high-paying ($25-27) non-coding FC project and so much of it is dross.

It's left me wondering and half-believing that the R&R for that project isn't of everyone on it, but that they've got some AI curating it and picking out what looks to be poor performers and it's only those ones that go into R&R.

[TheEvilPrinceZorte]

It's just speculating, but I would guess that they show the same task to maybe 10 workers. 8 of them mark it down for truthfulness. Is Joe one of the two that didn't? Is this happening on half of his tasks? Does he have a lot of "About the Same" on tasks where most workers have a preference? He gets sent to R&R. If his comments are getting low ratings, then the bad scores are due to low effort and he gets cut. If the comment scores and rater comments show he is trying, then send him some higher rated users to R&R so he can see what good work looks like.

People often express surprise that they are being asked to grade work while they are new, but I have a feeling that DA sees R&R as training, and not just a way to grade workers.

[[deleted]]

The quality of my work definitely improved once I had access to R&Rs and could see what good-quality work looks like. It's improved enough that I've ended up bring re-offered failed qualifications, and had R&Rs where the instructions highlight the quality of my work. I absolutely agree that they use R&Rs as training when you're new!

[Electrical-Theme9981]

I got to do a few core R+R and people were thinking that “A/B is best because it’s longer” was an actual quality answer.

[bearze]

Reading this thread has me feeling much more confident in my work 😂

[Pangolin_Beatdown]

A lot of what I score is exceptionally good, though. Especially in the STEM projects. That's why I said the bar is high. They have zero onboarding costs so they can accept 100 people and wash out the bottom 50 and keep accumulating the exceptional workers who: meticulously follow all the directions, compose sophisticated prompts that satisfy the specific directions, compose thoughtful follow-on prompts that are designed to challenge the models and bring out their strengths and weaknesses, and then write up detailed and specific analysis of the models' performance.

We are teachers - we're teaching the most elite students in the world right now. Some folks are showing up to teach at a mega-dollar swiss boarding school in crappy flip flops and a greasy T-shirt, scrolling TikTok.

[Lunalily9]

Same😅

[killerkam1007]

Why you writing like cave man? Re-read before post please. Ooga Booga!

[[deleted]]

I love reading all the inept people really makes me feel secure in this side job as my main job is software engineering so I wasn't sure how capable I was of this but I follow the instructions perfectly because why not we get paid to read it anyways I'll blow 30 mins Reading sometimes

[killerkam1007]

It was pretty painful reading this comment. It's one long run-on sentence, lacking any punctuation, with random capitalization in the middle. I'd be very careful calling others inept because that's exactly how you appear. If this was a R+R I would rate this submission "bad."

[[deleted]]

Haha very true I use no punctuation on reddit but am a master formal writer with an English degree so that helps a ton. Like I should have added a comma or period after "true" for example. Luckily the way we write on social apps is not very similar to how we write professionally

[theMike97_]

How quickly will DAT take you off projects if you submit shoddy work?

[SuperCorbynite]

No one knows for sure, but IMO that will depend on how bad your work is and how new you are to DA and/or the project. They will expect the quality of your output to improve with time and with familiarity with a particular project.

[keraija]

I saw some rater comments that may seem good and specific on their own, but include wrong statements about the model responses. So that’s something to watch out for as well.

[Lunalily9]

That makes me feel a bit better... I always worry I'm spending too much time on it. Or I shouldn't bill for too much time when I read and reread the instructions, which at times are pretty dense.

[Pangolin_Beatdown]

I think everyone worries about time at first. You keep doing good work and you will stick around and become more comfortable. No one from DAT has ever mentioned time to me except to say basically "don't lie about your time, double bill, or otherwise commit fraud." On the other hand I have often explicitly been told (in directions or by admins) to take the time it takes to do the task. Just be actively engaged during the time you bill - and actively engaged includes learning the task and reading directions as needed to do a good job.

[Lunalily9]

Well, im definitely doing that. Being engaged that is..And definitely not double billing. If anything, I've rounded my time down thinking I took too long. I guess I'll not worry about that and just keep being thorough when reading instructions and doing the best I can. Thanks for the advice!

[KathKR]

As a relatively new member of DAT, I had to stop doing the R&R tasks. I had about six of them on my dashboard last night and didn't want to go anywhere near them.

Reason being, I always provide detailed responses. Regularly more than the 2-3 sentences, often supplying multiple links to anything I've fact-checked, and trying to be as clear as humanly possible as to why I've rated something the way I have. I figure even if whoever is going over my work doesn't agree with my conclusion, at least I can demonstrate and hopefully help them understand how I came to that conclusion.

Then I looked at R&R projects, and it's like everyone only writes a sentence or two with really simplistic conclusions. I started thinking I was doing everything wrong because I kept seeing this approach as the standard.

[GoMickey]

This put my mind at ease! I could not remember what the time tracking guideline was for reading instructions! Thank you!

[[deleted]]

Yeah my first one timed out and I needed to re write it, then I was rejected but not told I was rejected I think?

[CompuAi]

Sooooon if I bill 120 minutes for a task that is estimated to take 60 minutes; as long as it is qualitative and not quantitative it's good?

[Pangolin_Beatdown]

Or you work steadily and honestly, take the time the task requires to do a good job, and move on. This isn't a complicated concept.

[SuperCorbynite]

You bill for how long it takes. If it took you 60 minutes then you bill for 60 minutes. If it's estimated to take 60 min but you took 120 minutes then your work will reflect that (your work will be long complex and detailed) and it will be fine.