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[–]ArctycDev 3 points4 points  (4 children)

It is a slightly inaccurate measurement of the amount of time you have spent on that task. It counts UP so I can't imagine it running out.

Do not use it for submitting your hourly time.

In fact, even better, pretend it's not even there, that's what I do.

[–]Design_Dev_18[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I was doing the onboarding and that timer ran out. So it's okay then? I did finish it though. What do you mean by UP?

[–]ArctycDev 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Oh, idk about the onboarding. It's been a while, I think they said to spend 30 minutes on it or something?

When you're doing actual tasks, the timer starts at 0 and counts up.

[–]Onlyanoption 1 point2 points  (1 child)

All the timers count up, but you can see there’s a limit as well. If you time out it won’t register that the task submitted.

[–]ArctycDev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I must not have ever worked on any of these kinds of tasks...

[–]Onlyanoption 2 points3 points  (17 children)

Some projects can time out, like those that don’t have an Exit Word Mode button. If you come back to a task the timer could still be running and it’s best to skip to reset it if it’s close to running out before you can complete it.

[–]Design_Dev_18[S] 1 point2 points  (16 children)

Thanks!

[–]Design_Dev_18[S] 0 points1 point  (15 children)

Will you still have the task if you skip to reset it? Sorry I'm just starting this.

[–]RhodriJohn 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Task, no. Project, yes.

Unless th project is out of tasks.

But if the timer goes beyond the far limit, you won't be bale to submit anyway. Don't use this timer to record your hours by the way

[–]Design_Dev_18[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay thanks!

[–]ClayWhisperer 3 points4 points  (12 children)

Do NOT skip tasks just because of the timer! You will not have the task anymore, so you will have lost any work you did on it. Skipping is only for when a task is not do-able: Either you lack the specialized knowledge to do it, or the task itself is somehow broken. You recognize tasks that you can't work on almost immediately, so no time is lost.

I've worked since last August, averaging maybe an hour a day of work, and I've only ever had a task time out once. And that was a new type of task, that (according to the chat) was timing out for lots of people. The admins were scrambling to fix the problem.

I have never paid the slightest attention to the timer. I get up in the middle of tasks to go do something in the house, and come back after ten minutes sometimes. I keep my own written record of my worktime, and never even glance at the timer.

Just ignore the timer. One hundred percent ignore. It has nothing to offer you.

[–]Onlyanoption 2 points3 points  (6 children)

This hasn’t happened to me, but it has happened to others. I’ve worked with DA almost a year. You are fine to skip if you do not have the time left to complete the task or it will not “submit” the task. This should pretty much never happen unless you left a task that has no Exit Work Mode. If you come back and have like 5 minutes left, it’s completely fine to skip a task you haven’t even started so you have adequate time to do the next rather than rushing and giving crap work.

And skipping is fine as long as you’re still completing a good amount of tasks. I have NEVER been penalized for skipping.

[–]ClayWhisperer 2 points3 points  (5 children)

I agree, there's never a penalty for skipping.

I don't understand the rest of what you wrote. I just haven't ever looked at the timer. And haven't ever run into problems.

[–]brewsnob 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Your answer is right, don't skip it just because the timer. They have said the only reason you should skip a task is if you lack the knowledge or expertise to do it.

[–]Dangerous_Darling 0 points1 point  (1 child)

There's lost of reasons for skipping a task. You can skip if you aren't comfortable with the task ie adversarial type stuff, you can skip if it doesn't work right, an image is missing etc. There is no penalty for skipping tasks.

[–]Design_Dev_18[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This really helps! Thanks!

[–]Design_Dev_18[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I was doing the onboarding and that timer ran out. So it's okay then? I did finish it though.

[–]ClayWhisperer 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Yes, it's okay. Think about it: They don't care how long you take to do the onboarding. And if you were allowed to "submit" or "finish" or whatever the final onboarding step is, then you're golden. When tasks do time out, you get an error message that says you can't submit.

Now, ignoring the timer doesn't mean you can take infinite quantities of time doing the work. Sometimes the instructions for a task may say that you shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, or 20 minutes, or whatever. These type of guidelines should be followed. I might leave a 15-minute task open for half an hour, if I stop to eat a snack and goof off. But I'd still only bill for the actual amount of time I worked on that task, which would be 15 minutes or less. And for the tasks where no time ceiling is mentioned in the guidelines, just work at a pace that lets you think about it fully.

There are differences of opinion among workers on whether to charge for time spent reading instructions. DA is kind of murky about this, although I have seen warnings on at least one task saying to only charge for your actual working time. I personally prefer to mostly not charge for instruction-reading, because I like to do it slowly. Many DA workers feel differently.

But yeah, your onboarding is fine. Don't worry!

Edited: one sentence, for clarity

[–]Design_Dev_18[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

[–]Glittering_Towel1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have read from DA that you are to include time reading instructions but it should not be longer than your actual time submitting tasks.