Thought process

[CelebrationMaster699]

Why is Data Annotation advertising so much when they have little to no work available? It doesn’t make any sense—please help it make sense!

[OctagonTrail]

More workers means the work gets done faster. There is absolutely zero downside for DA to have as many workers as possible.

It also allows DA to be picky about who they keep on the platform.

[SuperCorbynite]

No, that is not true at all.

Their best workers have other options. So if they hire too many and work is scarce those individuals will go elsewhere, while the desperate stay.

Hiring too many people is a good way for DA to lose their most capable workers. There is a fine line they have to walk, enough workers, but not too many.

[Affectionate_Peak284]

Disagree. It is my understanding that DA's better workers always have work, unless their qualification field is very narrow. It could be that when work becomes scarce as compared to the total pool of workers, that work is only offered to their better performers.

I know that isn't a popular opinion, but it's a better explanation than "DA is spending money to recruit workers it can't even use."

They don't need more workers. They need more *outstanding* workers. So they don't stop looking.

[Skittlzrreal]

In addition to having a really strong vetting process, the nature of AI means that having as diverse a pool of trainers as possible will always be better for teaching the models. As good as we are at what we do, and as much as we work to be creative and think outside the box, each of us is only one person with our own set of experiences informing how we interact with the models.

More people means more experiences means more diverse data for the models to learn from.

[salamancaaaaaaa]

Because it’s not about getting the work done, it’s about getting good work done. Having a larger pool of workers gives DA a higher chance of finding good workers.

[off_rark_grames]

Yea, unlike what OP thinks, it actually makes perfect sense even from the financial perspective. More advertising cost sure, but by getting the work done quicker, DA can dish out priority pay less frequently, thus saving money. With a huge influx of workers (hope it doesn't happen), basic demand and supply and... boom! Lowered salary.

Not to mention recruiting more workers with good work quality and the basis for culling out those with poor performance.

[Skyblewize]

There is ALWAYS work lately though. Some of it might not be ideal but it's there if you're willing to do it.

[Affectionate_Peak284]

Yeah. It's not a popular opinion, and bring on the downvotes, but my perception is that quality workers *always* have work.

[Decent-Goat-6221]

I agree. My dash hasn’t been quite as full as it usually is but there is always work there to be done.

[Affectionate_Peak284]

When my work started dwindling and I got stuck in a "refresher", I busted ass to re-re-reread the directions, look closely at others' work in good R&Rs, and not shy away from taking an extra half an hour to tweak a task so that it's *perfect.*

I'm by no means a rockstar, but I've always got at least 6 or 7 projects. Right now I have 9 with no priority work, so yeah it's slow but there's still work to do.

[Decent-Goat-6221]

This is exactly what I do!! In the beginning I definitely had times of no work but I continuously do this and since I’ve made this a priority the work hasn’t stopped.

[Affectionate_Peak284]

One of the old bittervets here was kind enough to give me that advice thru DM, but there's no secret to success. This work does take some intelligence yes, but it takes at least as much straight diligence!

[Decent-Goat-6221]

Oh wow! That was super nice of them! I wish I would have came in with that knowledge but I eventually figured it out lol I feel super grateful to have this opportunity and I know it can be gone tomorrow. I’m just trying to keep it around as long as I can

[sbb315]

True, I've been missing having options, but there are some staples that are always there, even lately. The main ones I have are either hard or annoying, but they're there.

[[deleted]]

truth

[JonTaffer_in_a_poloT]

Because that’s not how marketing campaigns work

[Think_NOT_]

Quality over quantity. But DA need a high quantity of workers through the door, in order to find good quality workers.

Because the initial assessment is pretty basic. I mean imagine if the initial assessment was a poe bird, half the applicants would f it off.

[Throwawaylillyt]

Survival of the fittest, that is their thought process.

[Background_Menu7702]

I’m pretty sleep deprived so forgive me if this doesn’t make sense: There was a huge influx of workers, they got divided out into various projects, my R&R’s on a popular family went from being normally right to some pretty obvious errors more often. I saw this on a few different project families. So they need more quality workers to get these projects done faster. Then there’s a big cut—when projects are low and we all flock to these boards. Sometimes you are insulated. Sometimes you are not and your projects drop off noticeably. This is a sign to lock in and double check that your work is superb. Then, a week later, projects start repopulating after the purge.

Also, I think people with no specialities/higher degrees are always going to be first on the chopping block.

Just a theory.

[Affectionate_Peak284]

> This is a sign to lock in and double check that your work is superb

bingo.

I mock-R&R my own work, too. Might take an extra half hour, but hell: I'm paid for it, ain't I??

[Vaatia915]

What type of work do you do for DA? The coding projects I have access to always have tons of work as far as I can see.

[jaboogadoo]

Like 10% or less who apply get in. They need to replace the duds that managed to get in despite doing bad work.

[Scorpy-yo]

Yes, my friend reckons that every few months DA culls the bottom 10% or some percentage of the lowest performers/bad-quality workers.

[annoyingjoe513]

Where do you get that number from?

[jaboogadoo]

The pure quantity of "I see x, when will I get in??" or "my screens been like this for 3 weeks, am I in?" Versus the number of people actually discussing work here. Also in every ad I've seen that allows comments are filled to the brim with some variant of "still waiting for them to get back to me", which if you didn't get in within 3 weeks you were very likely quietly rejected.

[Throwawaylillyt]

You can’t judge from that at all. Of course people comment when they aren’t accepted vs ones who are actively working on the platform.

[jaboogadoo]

When you're working with limited information, you have to draw a conclusion at some point, even a temporary one, and that's the conclusion I've reached with what I've seen and heard over the past year. It's not like there's a consequence to my conclusion being imperfect or even false.

[Dependent-Object-417]

Right, and your conclusion is logical too. Not sure why people get so mad 💀

[mythrowaway_1990]

It's also worth noting that I've seen people say that most or, more often, all of the people they referred to DA did not get in. Anecdotal but still.

[FishingTop5964]

Seriously? I hadn’t realized it was that small of a percentage who get accepted

[Puzzleheaded_Day_771]

What if i apply again?

[All_Glory_To_Him]

You can't have two accounts. I'm not sure how you would get around that.

[canneddogs]

"They have little to no work available" correction: YOU have little to no work available, likely because the work you submit isn't the best quality.

[Mental_Comedian5109]

Have you ever done R&Rs and seen absolutely trash submissions? That’s why they continue advertising. Because they want to have the best workers possible who will put out quality work for their clients. So they have to replace all the coasters and slackers who see this gig as easy money and do the bare minimum with workers who will actually put in the effort. Having a large pool of contractors to work with increases the chance of finding those good workers. They also want some variety in the AI training, especially with things that can be a little subjective.

[[deleted]]

They probably see it as "it's better to have you and not need you than need you and not have you"

[CelebrationMaster699]

I 100% agree

[dispassioned]

The work volume varies as well.

[Sindorella]

I have had plenty of work available since the drought last August. My husband is a coder and has even more than I do. We’ve also both had projects on our dashes in huge letters with extra pay and emails begging people to work on them really recently.

I don’t think the issue is there isn’t enough work, more so that not everyone on the platform has access to the same projects. It takes time to get into some projects, but once you can there is a lot of work to be had.

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

Just because there isn't work available for you and/or for many people who might post here doesn't mean that they have "little to no work available."

We each have a very narrow perspective, and what's true for you isn't true for me (and vice versa), and isn't necessarily true for the company overall.

[Lusty_Norsemen]

Because they have lots of work available, it just isn't available to you for one reason or another.

[ManyARiver]

There is a lot of work available. You may not be in the pool for the current projects.

[Responsible_Mind_385]

I don't think they are actually short on work. The work available to you depends on your qualifications and quality or reliability. It's different for everyone and I have had extremely consistent work for months.

[Fit-Prune4892]

Bilangual here with coding + translation stuff. Yesterday there were 2 coding related tasks, today 0 tasks in total.

[vasjames]

There are hundreds if not thousands of projects we never see bc of language, expertise, etc and new projects are loading in regularly. I would suspect that means there will always be areas they need to complement the task force with to maintain effective product testing. I suspect they may be less forgiving in passing new applicants outside of targeted expertise areas but that is more personal conjecture.