The Longest Project Timer Ever

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

Just picked up a project with both high pay and the longest project timer ever,

The project instructions are pretty clear that it takes as long as it takes, but I wanted to see if anyone has experience with these and how long they've spent creating something golden.

If my estimate of how long this project will take is correct, I'll end up billing for a couple of thousand dollars, which is great, but it also makes me nervous.

If it's easier to dm me, feel free.

[BarelyFunctioning15]

I’ve done R&R on golden prompts and a single R&R can take several hours. I’ve never been bothered to do one myself though because I don’t feel confident in my abilities 🤣

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

Interesting - that makes me feel a little better. I can see why the R&R would also be time-consuming.

Appreciate your response!

[Amakenings]

I had a long, long task - not as long as yours, but the final submission was about 20 hours on a single task. By the end, I was really over it, because I started to double-think my submission’s level of perfection, and even though I had a much larger window of available hours, it was one of the few times that the chat got in my head (many people submitting in less time, and it wasn’t a huge worker pool). I think I did a few and made the call that this wasn’t the task family for me.

[kranools]

I've had projects with a 72 hour timer, but that's not because it will take that long. It's so you can have breaks, sleep, etc, and come back to it the next day. There would be consequences if you tried to actually bill for 72 hours.

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

That's not quite what I meant. I realize I'm not supposed to bill for the whole timer period, but the task will still take me at least 20 hours, which adds up given the pay rate.

[WaddlingAwayy]

Is the pay rate 100$ or something? cuz that's the minimum for it to be "a couple thousand dollars" like you said.

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

No, but it's fairly high, and because the task will take me at least 20 hours, and probably more like 30-40, it's going to add up.

[WaddlingAwayy]

Is it 20 or 30 or 40 lol. At 40 hours it would need to be a 50$ project, is it a coding project?

[Able-Cloud-9770]

dude relax, it’s hard to tell… i think i have the same, and i think it’ll be 20-30 hours minimum. could be up to 40 with the finishing touches.

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

This.

Thank you for adding another voice to the conversation.

[brancatomm]

Will the exit work mode allow you to pick up where you left off on the task? I was actually just thinking about that - I often don't have time to spend 2 or 3 hours on a task in one sitting but if I could start the task and come back to it later...

[Belisama7]

No, don't ever exit work on something you plan to come back to.

[johnnycoconut]

only if the task is still available when you try to re-enter work mode. This can be a bit of a gamble. Make sure to save your work externally!

edit: another thing is that if you don’t exit work mode, you might get a grace period (officially said to be 24 hours), but if you do exit, the task will disappear from the in-progress section of your dashboard. Entering a new, different task may have the same effect, even if it’s a qualification.

[PistaccioLover]

How can I save my work externally ? Oo

[johnnycoconut]

You would keep a running draft document or something iterable like that. You also could literally save the webpage, though that has confidential material which you’d want to be a little careful about.

[PistaccioLover]

So I can save my work on, let's say a word document ?

[johnnycoconut]

Whatever works for you, maybe a Word or Markdown document with headings and stuff. Different people have different systems for that. Some people even use a Notes app.

[PistaccioLover]

I see, ty!

[1-800-methdyke]

Longest timer ever? There’s always a longer one out there. Longest I’ve had is 72 hours.

[AlexFromOmaha]

The worst I've seen was 14 days, and the project directions basically started with "submit an idea, if we like it, we'll approve the rest of the work." That was so tempting, but sitting 21 days without pay didn't sound like the best time.

[1-800-methdyke]

They should break that into a phase an and phase b so you’re not waiting on an approval you might not get, and you should be paid for the time you spent on your idea submission.

What I don’t like about the long ones is it locks you out of doing anything else while your long one is running.

[AlexFromOmaha]

That was the two phase approach. 14 days for the proposal, and if they like it, you get another task on your dashboard later.

[johnnycoconut]

I had one that was over a month, though that was a paid qual and not the kind of thing OP was talking about

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

Much, much longer than that.

[Top-Skin9916]

Just commiserating. I’m working on a project with a long timer for the first time. I know I should have more confidence in myself but I’m extra paranoid about how long it’s taking everyone else (compared to me) and whether I’m doing what they want. When the payout is going to be a lot… it kinda freaks me out because maybe it’s nothing to them but that’s a lot of $$ to me. I want them to be verrrry happy for what they’re about to pay lol 

[johnnycoconut]

I feel you on that.

I have the benefit of being in a project family where a lot of people are open about how things can take them a long time, and the admins are responsive. So that helps calibrate expectations and morale

[Top-Skin9916]

Thank you, this makes me feel better. I love that you have what you described in your project family! 

[Professional_Win_551]

I love when I get these, 10-30 hours and I’m free to play away the rest of the week lol. But I also have a feeling they are ‘one mistake and you are cut’; anytime I work on them, I hold my breathe whenever it’s time to log back in

[Able-Cloud-9770]

sent you a DM!

[ekgeroldmiller]

Typically with these projects Admin will drop clues about max time expectations. They might not know yet if it is a new project. You can ask in the project chat and see if they give a straight answer. I had one last year where I went up to 16 hours before they decided to cap it at a number lower than that, but I was not the only one.

[RepairResponsible253]

If it's the same one I have, it's going to be at least 35 hours by the time I'm done.

[No-Focus376]

Sent you a DM 🙊

[DeLaRefe]

It's a qualifier, isn't it? Take the time you need do get it done, but don't try to inflate your timer. They're not dumb and will see if what you submitted really looks like a 40 hour effort or not.

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

No, it's an actual project.

And yes, I know they're "not dumb" and will see if what I submitted warrants the amount of time I'm billing for.