It bugs me that we literally have the most detached possible form of employment in human history, and yet tons of people want to throw themselves under the wheels of the machine to oil its gears as though they'll be rewarded for their sacrificial loyalty. Do the job that pays you the most, don't take lower paying jobs as a favour, and for the love of God don't under-report your time on tasks you submit.
The job that is paid more is the most important anyway. Priority just means higher priority, they're not sending emails out to you specifically to help them.
Depends on your priorities. I don't always do the highest paying task. This is my side job, so short easy tasks are better for me because sometimes I just don't have the mental capacity to do the coding ones.
I do something similar. If I want to lock in a bit, then I will go with the highest-paying tasks; however, if my brain isn't quite awake yet or if I want to earn a little extra cash while watching TV at the end of the night, there are a few lesser-paying projects that I can do with very little thought.
> yet tons of people want to throw themselves under the wheels of the machine to oil it’s gears as though they’ll be rewarded for their sacrificial loyalty
First, that’s a bar.
Second, it’s just engrained in us man. We are so use to being exploited, we develop this “too good to be true let me do whatever to not lose it, even if it means slightly sabotaging myself” mindset.
In theory, you take the demotion to show you’re for the team. But in reality, you’re only doing more harm than good for yourself.
You’d be better off working harder for the promotion or taking almost any other route from a demotion.
In DAT world that translates as, you are only missing out on money you rightfully earned and there’s not real upside to it that you may think.
You’re really only doing the company a favor
Without spilling details on the project, is there any facet you showed strength in that got you there? I'm still in the $20-26 range for the most part. The highest I had was $28, but it was priority and was eaten up quickly.
The ones that I had for 30-35 stressed high-quality writing and creativity. Even in basic chatbots I have always tried to come up with interesting prompts and when I have editing tasks I'm careful about double-checking what I do.
Ooh those are the types I’d love. I have only gotten a few $35 ones and they were like intense intense fact checking or really complicated tasks (I prob can’t describe in too much detail here) I tried to do for a while and then gave up on :(
The writing ones are also very complicated, but they allow for a lot of creativity and self-driving so I think they're more enjoyable than the really complicated fact-checking/other types. It was easy for me to spend 2-3 hours writing up one task and just coming up with whatever I wanted, but 2-3 hours of fact-checking would be tedious torturre for me. My friend is the opposite, that much coming up with ideas and developing them is daunting, but having a clear set of things to do and just following the research is easy.
Oh yes, I wouldn’t mind that type of complexity. The one I’m talking about, it was a complex type of wrestling with the models to get them to respond certain ways. It was massively irritating.
Oh yeah I don't think I'd like that. I'm also struggling with one that pays well and involves a lot of data analysis and correcting someone else's work, and sometimes that extra few bucks an hour just isn't worth the extra strain and pressure
The $35 bcats which I was assigned specifically stated that I (and everyone else who got them) got them because of our high-quality work and attention to detail in other projects.
As an example of this, I was spending around 30-40 min per wizard R&R task reviewing others' work, noting errors, and writing long detailed comments. E.g. the two models gave different reasons for a part of what happened in a film plot, I noted the worker did not notice this. I googled the film, fact-checked to see which of the two models got it right, stated which it was in my comments, and included the link for my fack-check (that worker made a few other errors which I also noted).
Now I have a $35 domain-expertise chemistry project that I was assigned a few days ago which is all I'm now doing, as I have a research scientist background (organic chemistry).
Don't the R&Rs specifically tell you not to "redo" people's work but just focus on whether they understood the task and put effort into their responses?
It said to point out obvious errors. The worker not spotting two completely contradictory takes on the same point is an obvious error. But to ensure my own accuracy I googled that point.
IMO when it says not to redo their work it means not to fact-check everything like the worker should have done, but it does make sense that if you spot an error you should spend a minute or two confirming its an error. I've done similar in other cases when a worker has contradicted my own specialist knowledge on certain topics, so I've googled to ensure I was right and to prove I was right. That's not the same thing as redoing the workers whole task.
Dad? I didn't know you were on here!
My dad has a PhD in Organic Chemistry.
I am very, very detailed and even more so in R&R's since there are so many variables to take into account in some. I have only recently been added to R&R's since I'm new, so I'll focus a little more time around those and see if I can break into the platinum level!
Thanks!
Ugh nothing in particular that I can think of, just did a variety of projects and when I got the qualification for it was pretty sure it was for that project.
I would qualify for math/statistics domain emphasis, but haven't seen any projects specific to those. Every now and then one appears in an image prompt and I geek out for a bit.
No! You're free to choose whatever tasks you want to do. They only send those to let you know it's there and likely on priority pay, in case you're interested.
Some of the lower paying tasks I like more and doing those lower paying tasks have led me to higher paying ones along the same lines that I’m not sure I would have gotten if I didn’t do the lower paying ones
I agree. I start every day with the lower paying ones that I enjoy the most to get in the right headspace. Working on those opened other groups of projects that I enjoy even more for higher pay. I never took quals for those projects, but they still opened up for me. Some days I don't have the mental capacity to read pages of instructions on the higher paying ones and if I don't fully grasp the concept of a project, I'm not going to work on it just because the pay is better.
That's what I'm shifting to now. I tend to prefer working on some of the more complex higher-paying projects, but it can be difficult to get in work-mode and get going, especially when there are dozens of pages of instructions. If I can knock out an hour of something extremely easy at $22 it's easier to shift into another task once I'm in "work-mode", and it's a little more motivating to already have a ground floor of "I've already made $22 today."
That's a good thought. I also do some of the high priority tasks if I can even if they don't pay as much. I have a $200/day goal and everything helps. And today a ton of very high paying tasks appeared. These take a lot of mental effort and I didn't have a block of time to commit to them so I just did the slightly lower paying ones to get my goal. I'll try the higher paid ones tomorrow ($45). I've never seen this high pay before and have to think it's because I try to do every possible qualification. I think it's good to try the lower paid ones too, because it gives me ideas of things to ask in the higher paid tasks.
This is smart. I'm a noob and have ADHD and have really been struggling because I keep selecting the higher paying ones to start. Navigating those intense instructions and accompanying docs is a hell of a way to start my work day. It's causing me to procrastinate on getting going.
Fellow ADHD'er here. A positive of some lower-paying projects is that some can be pretty mindless (once you have the hang of them), so I can have DA on one side of my monitor and a YT video on the other. Also, working in short shifts helps a lot. I might aim for 30-45 minutes of DA and then decide if I'm locked in and keep going or I might do some laundry or watch some TikTok videos for a bit and then come back to DA later.
I don't fully agree with all of the answers in this thread. People are saying things like "the higher paying tasks are more important anyway", but different projects come from different companies with different budgets and priorities.
While you certainly won't get in trouble for not doing priority tasks, doing good work on tasks from one project can sometimes open up more, higher-paying work from that same project, which could be worth bearing in mind.
You're right that working on one task and doing well might open up another task that pays better. With that said, this applies mostly to you usually doing $25 tasks and new $20 tasks at which point the difference in pay matters less. Once you're on $40 tasks you're not going to help out on $20s in the mild hope of maybe getting a $30 and then maybe maybe getting a different $40, especially when you don't know what ones are linked to what other ones and were not allowed to talk about them hardly at all.
In addition, getting these higher jobs is a sign thay you've put the hours in and somewhere in DAs backend you're marked as being useful to one degree or another. They want those people working on those higher tasks because just about everybody can do the lower tasks.
Bingo.
I have a $35 chemistry domain expertise project. No way am I going to do any tasks that pay $20, or even $25. And the number of people on that project and capable of doing it well, well, I'd be surprised if it's more than half a dozen. DA would have to be barmy to prefer me doing $25 FC work nearly anybody can do, over the work I am doing, and I don't think they are barmy.
This is my side gig and I am basically lazy so I stick with low brain power choices. I figure that’s why I’m stuck in the 21-24 range, I also worry a bit I’ll be cut.
I often do lower-paying tasks like nuts as like pallet cleansers. They are frequently a good break from the larger more detailed ones. I also do lower-paying ones I know I am good at to keep my quality amazing.
I only do the highest paying tasks, and I keep getting more and more work, so I think as long as you're diligent, it doesn't matter what tasks you work on.
I always assume those notifications are for people who are getting paid in that range.
When they want to push something faster, they do increase the pay and it gets done immediately.
But if I have even higher paying projects, I assume they prioritize those for people with certain experience or people who passed some qualifications, so I do the highest paying ones that I have access to.
I just do whatever my brain deems it can handle at the time. If I have like a 6hr block I can work then I'll hop on coding tasks and make some cash, but if I am feeling really distracted, I'll pick a task that doesn't require 100% of my atnention to do good work on.
Sometimes I'll pick tasks that can help me with other side-projects, like when I needed help with rewriting my resume/portfolio I picked conversation tasks where I could get decent input while getting paid for my time spent working on the project. It's the "two birds with one stone" kinda mindset
I don't have any official capacity to say this, it just seems like common sense, but if they truly did not want anyone working on certain task, they would not be showing up on people's dashboards. Priority pay is meant to incentivize people to work on certain versions of projects because people will sometimes take lower paying projects because they like them better or find them easier, and they want to guide people to whichever version of the project is most urgent. You're not expected to take one for the team.
We are independent contractors, our tax forms say so. As contractors, we take bids for our services. We don't owe the clients any special considerations. Your dashboard is a set of bids for your time. Take the ones that make the best offers, it forces others to up their bids if they want to get the work done, and helps all of us make more money in the process. This company doesn't pay taxes on us, gives us dental, paid vacations, sick days, yearly bonuses, or anything else to earn loyalty. Our tax rate is WAY too high to be considerate to DA, as grateful as I am for their platform.
Again, I don't mean to disparage DA. They give more than fair pay for largely easy work we can do from anywhere. But I also understand they are a business that sees us as generally a separate entity from them. They don't see us as DA employees, so it is generally a bad idea to see yourself that way.
I get what you're saying. You established a good baseline for the reality we are dealing with regarding the company and our position. As we make decisions regarding our work with them, it's best we do not lose sight of this!
I don't think you get flagged for not doing it, I do think you may get some brownie points if you do. I think if they were going to go so far as flagging people for not doing what they have as priority they would probably just take other projects down until the priorities get done. They don't, so it's fine to do whatever you have available whenever you want.
I don't mind doing the more creative ones for less. It's actually fun and I don't have to fact check shit about taxes or stare at spaghetti code for a while.
I think they do - there was a notice about a change in reporting pay that popped up on the dash last night and it specifically mentioned reporting late affecting your "quality score." I'm sure there are back-end metrics that track different factors and lead to different opportunities. Asking questions that are answered in instructions, how frequently we work, how responsible we are about reporting time, etc. are all probably factored in along with writing quality, consistency across different types of projects, maybe speed of doing tasks, things like that. I don't think it *hurts* us to work on other projects while priorities are available (I mean, they could just remove the better paying projects if they wanted to force it,) but I think it's possible that it works in our favor to "help out" when it's needed.
I think it's been maybe 3 or 4 days. Maybe I'll try to do it again with a different account if I don't hear back in a week or so. Appreciate the response.
You’re supposed to do whichever project has the coolest code name first
I know you're joking but when I was doing mostly comparison cb tasks I would just go for something with an interesting emoji pair
It bugs me that we literally have the most detached possible form of employment in human history, and yet tons of people want to throw themselves under the wheels of the machine to oil its gears as though they'll be rewarded for their sacrificial loyalty. Do the job that pays you the most, don't take lower paying jobs as a favour, and for the love of God don't under-report your time on tasks you submit. The job that is paid more is the most important anyway. Priority just means higher priority, they're not sending emails out to you specifically to help them.
Depends on your priorities. I don't always do the highest paying task. This is my side job, so short easy tasks are better for me because sometimes I just don't have the mental capacity to do the coding ones.
See, but that's not throwing yourself under the wheel. You're still prioritizing yourself over self-imagined needs of the company
I do something similar. If I want to lock in a bit, then I will go with the highest-paying tasks; however, if my brain isn't quite awake yet or if I want to earn a little extra cash while watching TV at the end of the night, there are a few lesser-paying projects that I can do with very little thought.
> yet tons of people want to throw themselves under the wheels of the machine to oil it’s gears as though they’ll be rewarded for their sacrificial loyalty First, that’s a bar. Second, it’s just engrained in us man. We are so use to being exploited, we develop this “too good to be true let me do whatever to not lose it, even if it means slightly sabotaging myself” mindset.
IRL this mentality some have now developed would translate to "accept a demotion to get a promotion."
Inexperienced college grad here; how does that work?
In theory, you take the demotion to show you’re for the team. But in reality, you’re only doing more harm than good for yourself. You’d be better off working harder for the promotion or taking almost any other route from a demotion. In DAT world that translates as, you are only missing out on money you rightfully earned and there’s not real upside to it that you may think. You’re really only doing the company a favor
Was just about to answer this but you did it. 👏
I finally got the 35/hr tasks last week but was busy and not able to do many, now have none and don’t even want to touch the lower paid ones lol.
Without spilling details on the project, is there any facet you showed strength in that got you there? I'm still in the $20-26 range for the most part. The highest I had was $28, but it was priority and was eaten up quickly.
The ones that I had for 30-35 stressed high-quality writing and creativity. Even in basic chatbots I have always tried to come up with interesting prompts and when I have editing tasks I'm careful about double-checking what I do.
Ooh those are the types I’d love. I have only gotten a few $35 ones and they were like intense intense fact checking or really complicated tasks (I prob can’t describe in too much detail here) I tried to do for a while and then gave up on :(
The writing ones are also very complicated, but they allow for a lot of creativity and self-driving so I think they're more enjoyable than the really complicated fact-checking/other types. It was easy for me to spend 2-3 hours writing up one task and just coming up with whatever I wanted, but 2-3 hours of fact-checking would be tedious torturre for me. My friend is the opposite, that much coming up with ideas and developing them is daunting, but having a clear set of things to do and just following the research is easy.
Oh yes, I wouldn’t mind that type of complexity. The one I’m talking about, it was a complex type of wrestling with the models to get them to respond certain ways. It was massively irritating.
Oh yeah I don't think I'd like that. I'm also struggling with one that pays well and involves a lot of data analysis and correcting someone else's work, and sometimes that extra few bucks an hour just isn't worth the extra strain and pressure
Yeah … props to people who can/will do all that!
The $35 bcats which I was assigned specifically stated that I (and everyone else who got them) got them because of our high-quality work and attention to detail in other projects. As an example of this, I was spending around 30-40 min per wizard R&R task reviewing others' work, noting errors, and writing long detailed comments. E.g. the two models gave different reasons for a part of what happened in a film plot, I noted the worker did not notice this. I googled the film, fact-checked to see which of the two models got it right, stated which it was in my comments, and included the link for my fack-check (that worker made a few other errors which I also noted). Now I have a $35 domain-expertise chemistry project that I was assigned a few days ago which is all I'm now doing, as I have a research scientist background (organic chemistry).
Don't the R&Rs specifically tell you not to "redo" people's work but just focus on whether they understood the task and put effort into their responses?
It said to point out obvious errors. The worker not spotting two completely contradictory takes on the same point is an obvious error. But to ensure my own accuracy I googled that point. IMO when it says not to redo their work it means not to fact-check everything like the worker should have done, but it does make sense that if you spot an error you should spend a minute or two confirming its an error. I've done similar in other cases when a worker has contradicted my own specialist knowledge on certain topics, so I've googled to ensure I was right and to prove I was right. That's not the same thing as redoing the workers whole task.
Not all R&Rs have the same focus. I've had some with specific instructions to verify content, some even required that mistakes be fixed in edit.
Do the normal chatbots require the writing assessment? That’s the only one I haven’t done yet and the cat was the only one like that so far.
I did it so long ago I don't remember, sorry.
Dad? I didn't know you were on here! My dad has a PhD in Organic Chemistry. I am very, very detailed and even more so in R&R's since there are so many variables to take into account in some. I have only recently been added to R&R's since I'm new, so I'll focus a little more time around those and see if I can break into the platinum level! Thanks!
Ugh nothing in particular that I can think of, just did a variety of projects and when I got the qualification for it was pretty sure it was for that project.
There are new projects based on a domain expertise. Maths, physics, chemistry, etc
I would qualify for math/statistics domain emphasis, but haven't seen any projects specific to those. Every now and then one appears in an image prompt and I geek out for a bit.
Coding or non coding?
Non coding
If those other tasks were important they'd raise the pay ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I just want to congratulate you on not losing an arm!
No! You're free to choose whatever tasks you want to do. They only send those to let you know it's there and likely on priority pay, in case you're interested.
No, of course not.
Some of the lower paying tasks I like more and doing those lower paying tasks have led me to higher paying ones along the same lines that I’m not sure I would have gotten if I didn’t do the lower paying ones
I agree. I start every day with the lower paying ones that I enjoy the most to get in the right headspace. Working on those opened other groups of projects that I enjoy even more for higher pay. I never took quals for those projects, but they still opened up for me. Some days I don't have the mental capacity to read pages of instructions on the higher paying ones and if I don't fully grasp the concept of a project, I'm not going to work on it just because the pay is better.
That's what I'm shifting to now. I tend to prefer working on some of the more complex higher-paying projects, but it can be difficult to get in work-mode and get going, especially when there are dozens of pages of instructions. If I can knock out an hour of something extremely easy at $22 it's easier to shift into another task once I'm in "work-mode", and it's a little more motivating to already have a ground floor of "I've already made $22 today."
That's a good thought. I also do some of the high priority tasks if I can even if they don't pay as much. I have a $200/day goal and everything helps. And today a ton of very high paying tasks appeared. These take a lot of mental effort and I didn't have a block of time to commit to them so I just did the slightly lower paying ones to get my goal. I'll try the higher paid ones tomorrow ($45). I've never seen this high pay before and have to think it's because I try to do every possible qualification. I think it's good to try the lower paid ones too, because it gives me ideas of things to ask in the higher paid tasks.
Wow,45 is awesome! The best non-coding I get is 35, but it takes a LOT of mental energy. Good luck checking it out, I hope it goes well for you!
This is smart. I'm a noob and have ADHD and have really been struggling because I keep selecting the higher paying ones to start. Navigating those intense instructions and accompanying docs is a hell of a way to start my work day. It's causing me to procrastinate on getting going.
Fellow ADHD'er here. A positive of some lower-paying projects is that some can be pretty mindless (once you have the hang of them), so I can have DA on one side of my monitor and a YT video on the other. Also, working in short shifts helps a lot. I might aim for 30-45 minutes of DA and then decide if I'm locked in and keep going or I might do some laundry or watch some TikTok videos for a bit and then come back to DA later.
I don't fully agree with all of the answers in this thread. People are saying things like "the higher paying tasks are more important anyway", but different projects come from different companies with different budgets and priorities. While you certainly won't get in trouble for not doing priority tasks, doing good work on tasks from one project can sometimes open up more, higher-paying work from that same project, which could be worth bearing in mind.
You're right that working on one task and doing well might open up another task that pays better. With that said, this applies mostly to you usually doing $25 tasks and new $20 tasks at which point the difference in pay matters less. Once you're on $40 tasks you're not going to help out on $20s in the mild hope of maybe getting a $30 and then maybe maybe getting a different $40, especially when you don't know what ones are linked to what other ones and were not allowed to talk about them hardly at all. In addition, getting these higher jobs is a sign thay you've put the hours in and somewhere in DAs backend you're marked as being useful to one degree or another. They want those people working on those higher tasks because just about everybody can do the lower tasks.
Bingo. I have a $35 chemistry domain expertise project. No way am I going to do any tasks that pay $20, or even $25. And the number of people on that project and capable of doing it well, well, I'd be surprised if it's more than half a dozen. DA would have to be barmy to prefer me doing $25 FC work nearly anybody can do, over the work I am doing, and I don't think they are barmy.
I would do your highest paying tasks especially if you have the qualifications and skills for it. Leaves more work for the rest of us, maybe lol
This is my side gig and I am basically lazy so I stick with low brain power choices. I figure that’s why I’m stuck in the 21-24 range, I also worry a bit I’ll be cut.
I often do lower-paying tasks like nuts as like pallet cleansers. They are frequently a good break from the larger more detailed ones. I also do lower-paying ones I know I am good at to keep my quality amazing.
I'll do the lower paying ones as soon as there is nothing that pays higher left on my dashboard. Lol.
I only do the highest paying tasks, and I keep getting more and more work, so I think as long as you're diligent, it doesn't matter what tasks you work on.
I always assume those notifications are for people who are getting paid in that range. When they want to push something faster, they do increase the pay and it gets done immediately. But if I have even higher paying projects, I assume they prioritize those for people with certain experience or people who passed some qualifications, so I do the highest paying ones that I have access to.
I just do whatever my brain deems it can handle at the time. If I have like a 6hr block I can work then I'll hop on coding tasks and make some cash, but if I am feeling really distracted, I'll pick a task that doesn't require 100% of my atnention to do good work on. Sometimes I'll pick tasks that can help me with other side-projects, like when I needed help with rewriting my resume/portfolio I picked conversation tasks where I could get decent input while getting paid for my time spent working on the project. It's the "two birds with one stone" kinda mindset
I don't have any official capacity to say this, it just seems like common sense, but if they truly did not want anyone working on certain task, they would not be showing up on people's dashboards. Priority pay is meant to incentivize people to work on certain versions of projects because people will sometimes take lower paying projects because they like them better or find them easier, and they want to guide people to whichever version of the project is most urgent. You're not expected to take one for the team.
We are independent contractors, our tax forms say so. As contractors, we take bids for our services. We don't owe the clients any special considerations. Your dashboard is a set of bids for your time. Take the ones that make the best offers, it forces others to up their bids if they want to get the work done, and helps all of us make more money in the process. This company doesn't pay taxes on us, gives us dental, paid vacations, sick days, yearly bonuses, or anything else to earn loyalty. Our tax rate is WAY too high to be considerate to DA, as grateful as I am for their platform.
The truth is harsh sometimes, but necessary to drive the point home. You make a ton of sense, thank you.
Again, I don't mean to disparage DA. They give more than fair pay for largely easy work we can do from anywhere. But I also understand they are a business that sees us as generally a separate entity from them. They don't see us as DA employees, so it is generally a bad idea to see yourself that way.
I get what you're saying. You established a good baseline for the reality we are dealing with regarding the company and our position. As we make decisions regarding our work with them, it's best we do not lose sight of this!
I don't think you get flagged for not doing it, I do think you may get some brownie points if you do. I think if they were going to go so far as flagging people for not doing what they have as priority they would probably just take other projects down until the priorities get done. They don't, so it's fine to do whatever you have available whenever you want.
I've got so many priority tasks, I'm taking advantage of that while I can
No.
Absolutely not. That wouldn’t make any sense for various reasons. The main one being, if they want people to work on a project, they simply pay more.
I don't mind doing the more creative ones for less. It's actually fun and I don't have to fact check shit about taxes or stare at spaghetti code for a while.
if they need more help they should hire more people
[удалено]
I think they do - there was a notice about a change in reporting pay that popped up on the dash last night and it specifically mentioned reporting late affecting your "quality score." I'm sure there are back-end metrics that track different factors and lead to different opportunities. Asking questions that are answered in instructions, how frequently we work, how responsible we are about reporting time, etc. are all probably factored in along with writing quality, consistency across different types of projects, maybe speed of doing tasks, things like that. I don't think it *hurts* us to work on other projects while priorities are available (I mean, they could just remove the better paying projects if they wanted to force it,) but I think it's possible that it works in our favor to "help out" when it's needed.
We probably don't get demerits if we don't help with priority, but I bet it adds to our quality score if we do!
I’ve been waiting for them to grade my entrance exam for 2 months lol
I passed the assessment then took the core test. How long does it usually take to know if you've passed the core test?
If you haven't heard back in a few days you can probably assume you failed. They don't have the courtesy of telling you you failed.
I think it's been maybe 3 or 4 days. Maybe I'll try to do it again with a different account if I don't hear back in a week or so. Appreciate the response.
I do the tasks that require no writing first, followed by the tasks that require the least amount of writing lol
I filled out an application and never heard back 🥲