Life of a Data Labeler
scale.ai
Life of a Data Labeler
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Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#2Similar sort of thing with an autonomous food delivery startup from my university:
https://medium.com/kiwicampus/how-kiwi-empowers-students-in-...
Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#3I know nothing about this particular company. I also see no reason to assume it’s particularly bad (it could very well be above average). But I do see a lot of data around company engagement. There’s basically no chance this level of positivity is ubiquitous for them, especially when the target workforce appears to be people otherwise below the poverty line.
Although pointless tedium is not the most important factor in rating a job, I think data labeling could well be along the most pointlessly tedious jobs ever created.
Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#4I know nothing about this particular company. I also see no reason to assume it’s particularly bad (it could very well be above average). But I do see a lot of data around company engagement. There’s basically no chance this level of positivity is ubiquitous for them, especially when the target workforce appears to be people otherwise below the poverty line. Although pointless tedium is not the most important factor…
Mental tedium is a relative luxury: it's still clean indoor work with a predictable income, and thus far preferable compared to many other options like planting rice (literally backbreaking), working in a factory repeating exactly the same physical motion over and over, scavenging through garbage, etc.
The broader point, though, is while people in the West bemoan outsourcing to poor countries as exploitative etc (and it can be!), even these "shit" jobs can be transformational. BPO has propelled literally millions of people into the middle class in both India and the Philippines.
Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#5I know nothing about this particular company. I also see no reason to assume it’s particularly bad (it could very well be above average). But I do see a lot of data around company engagement. There’s basically no chance this level of positivity is ubiquitous for them, especially when the target workforce appears to be people otherwise below the poverty line. Although pointless tedium is not the most important factor…
Mental tedium is a relative luxury: it's still clean indoor work with a predictable income, and thus far preferable compared to many other options like planting rice (literally backbreaking), working in a factory repeating exactly the same physical motion over and over, scavenging through garbage, etc. The broader point, though, is while people in the West bemoan outsourcing to poor countries as exploitative etc (and…
RE: your first paragraph:
Yeah, I mean I sort of get it. But if I really had to choose between the mental tedium of labeling data (which I end up doing quite a bit of myself) vs. backbreaking outdoor work, or something like repetitive food service prep... I’d pick the latter every single time.
At least for me, data labeling is just brutally mind numbing and draining.
Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mental tedium is a relative luxury: it's still clean indoor work with a predictable income, and thus far preferable compared to many other options like planting rice (literally backbreaking), working in a factory repeating exactly the same physical motion over and over, scavenging through garbage, etc. The broader point, though, is while people in the West bemoan outsourcing to poor countries as exploitative etc (and…
RE: your first paragraph: Yeah, I mean I sort of get it. But if I really had to choose between the mental tedium of labeling data (which I end up doing quite a bit of myself) vs. backbreaking outdoor work, or something like repetitive food service prep... I’d pick the latter every single time. At least for me, data labeling is just brutally mind numbing and draining.
Have you ever spent a long time doing backbreaking work? I assume the real issue is after years when your body is trashed.
Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#7I don’t feel that the pat in the back is necessary when highlighting these realities of the world economic inequality. The whole article could have been published without the intense PR focus.
To clarify, there is no hard numbers around the quantity of people performing this task, for how long they are employed, their average working hours per day, the median satisfaction rating, the median pay per employee, etc. It feels as if only some happy examples were picked.
Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#8I don’t feel that the pat in the back is necessary when highlighting these realities of the world economic inequality. The whole article could have been published without the intense PR focus. To clarify, there is no hard numbers around the quantity of people performing this task, for how long they are employed, their average working hours per day, the median satisfaction rating, the median pay per employee, etc. It…
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Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#9I know nothing about this particular company. I also see no reason to assume it’s particularly bad (it could very well be above average). But I do see a lot of data around company engagement. There’s basically no chance this level of positivity is ubiquitous for them, especially when the target workforce appears to be people otherwise below the poverty line. Although pointless tedium is not the most important factor…
> the most pointlessly tedious jobs ever created
Are you saying that the tedium itself is engineered to be present? I mean, the work is definitely not pointless. It is as pointed as it gets, as significant as a miner in a mine, a farmer in the field. Monotonous, tedious, yes. Pointless? No.
Now, the idea that the tedium is engineered in would be interesting. That would suggest it could be engineered out. Which is very interesting. You solve that problem, I submit there are some HR folks who would like your contact info.
Re: Life of a Data Labeler
#10Do they hire them directly or through other platforms? Can't find any info on their website.