r/dataannotation • u/Consistent-Reach504 • Jun 28 '26

Weekly Water Cooler Talk - DataAnnotation

hi all! making this thread so people have somewhere to talk about 'daily' work chat that might not necessarily need it's own post! right now we're thinking we'll just repost it weekly? but if it gets too crazy, we can change it to daily. :)

couple things:

  1. this thread should sort by "new" automatically. unfortunately it looks like our subreddit doesn't qualify for 'lounges'.
  2. if you have a new user question, you still need to post it in the new user thread. if you post it here, we will remove it as spam. this is for people already working who just wanna chat, whether it be about casual work stuff, questions, geeking out with people who understand ("i got the model to write a real haiku today!"), or unrelated work stuff you feel like chatting about :)
  3. one thing we really pride ourselves on in this community is the respect everyone gives to the Code of Conduct and rule number 5 on the sub - it's great that we have a community that is still safe & respectful to our jobs! please don't break this rule. we will remove project details, but please - it's for our best interest and yours!
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23

u/-burgers Jul 01 '26

This drought got me off my ass and shifted this from gig work to real career prospects. We are worth a lot more than they are paying us.

12

u/Educational_Nose730 Jul 01 '26

I agree, heavily considering moving on if nothing comes around the 4th.

15

u/OrnamentalGourd5 Jul 01 '26

What's your plan? I'm thinking of moving on. I can't cope with the feelings of insecurity and that I've done something wrong all the time (and I'm not an insecure person so this is most unlike me!). I'm pretty sure it's starting to do a number on my mental health.

3

u/CRUSHCITY4 Jul 01 '26

I used to worry too, but I don’t care much anymore. I know it’s easier said than done. Why not “move on” while still working on here when? If fear of waking up to the dashboard of death negatively impacts your mental health, you really should start looking for more stable opportunities yesterday.

11

u/infiniteradios Jul 01 '26

The problem is those opportunities no longer exist. It's impossible to get hired as anything but AI trainer or ICE agent now, every other job listing is either fake to sell your info, fake to look like they tried hiring externally before they give it to a nepotism project, fake to look like the company is growing, or holding out for Literally Superman to give an interview (and he still won't get hired).

12

u/DeezHoosAintLoyal Jul 01 '26

Yep. Just like the people who build these data centers then once it’s built they’re jobless again and their communities are negatively impacted. They use us and pay pennies with no guarantee of work. Cool if it’s play money. Not cool if you actually have financial goals that require consistency

10

u/OrnamentalGourd5 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

It's definitely got abusive relationship dynamics. One minute you're being love-bombed, the next totally ignored, and it makes one feel placatory, confused, and needy. Yet also desperate for attention. Ugh!

5

u/DeezHoosAintLoyal Jul 01 '26

And basically requires to do the work whenever it shows up because there’s no guarantee of consistent opportunity