project manager

engineer

data collector

researcher

independent contractor

Appen

Don't put all your eggs into the Appen basket. Over the past few years or so, this company has gone from "OK" to "Oh, really now??" Overall, I would suggest you look elsewhere. The projects are generally easy and get boring/repetitive very quickly - you can definitely get away with working other jobs (on a different device) or watching Netflix/YouTube at the same time LOL. The linguistics projects pay the best at $19-22/hr, but honestly, you don't need a linguistics degree for those so don't feel intimidated. The only issue is that those projects tend to be very short-term. Everything else is much lower in the $10-12/hr range. What's worse is that many of their projects used to pay $1-2/hr MORE, but DURING THE PANDEMIC they sneakily migrated raters to "new" projects, which were really just carbon copies of the "old" projects and then LOWERED the pay thinking raters wouldn't notice *face palm*. $10-12/hr for this work is something instead of nothing, but it's also now less than the minimum wage of many states. Make of that what you will. You have to be on top of tracking the hours you worked, especially if you're on a project where your hours are automatically uploaded into your Appen account. There have been many instances of their system not recording people's hours correctly, especially over the past 2 years or so; I say this from personal experience. The work is very independent. You won't be chit-chatting with other raters around a water cooler or having Zoom break out room sessions. Management is hit or miss just like anywhere else. Many of the available projects are not as "flexible" as the company advertises. Why? Because the available work is within a "shared pool" meaning if you don't get to the shared pool of work before it's gone, then you won't have anything to work on. If you have nothing to work on, then of course you're not going to earn any money and you become at risk of getting dropped from your projects and having your contract not renewed. This tactic essentially leaves you waiting by your computer for work to be available, thus wasting your time and negatively impacting your ability to do other things in your life. The hardest part of the job isn't really about the work itself - it's basically a dead end and hard to pivot away from once you want to move on. Furthermore, managers occasionally share strict guidance as to how IC's can/cannot list Appen on their resume. As company policy, managers refuse to give references for independent contractors. Oh, and as the cherry on top, if you work on any social media projects, do not be surprised if you get email warnings or notices from your project managers about anything you say on social that's even slightly in reference to the client or Appen. All in all, it's okay for extra money here and there, but don't quit your day job for this. If you really need the money, make sure you continue pursuing other opportunities elsewhere. Appen is not where you should focus most of your energy or a place where you want to be long-term.

I have worked for Appen for over a year now and it does have it's ups and downs. 

Qualification
To qualify for a project, you do have to pass a quiz. USUALLY, the quizzes are not that difficult. However, some are more so than others. You are not paid for the quizzes, but just like difficulty, time consumption varies per quiz. 

Projects
Getting assigned to a new project is sometimes lengthy and stressful. However, you can sign up to qualify for as many projects as you want. As long as you qualify, they will contact you as soon as the project starts. There have been times I have not been able to access the work queue. Sometimes the problem is resolved quickly and, sometimes it takes a few emails. Yes, it can be aggravating. That being said, I have encountered the same in a traditional position. Eventually it does get resolved. I've never had a project run out of work before my issue was resolved. Additionally, projects can end suddenly. Do not prepare to use this as a salary position unless you are willing to take on 3-4 projects at a time. Most projects do limit you to 20 hours a week. Though, that is not always the case and even those projects sometimes to offer "overtime". 

Management
I could not tell you the name of my managers for any given project save one (and I will touch on that in a minute). I do get regular emails from the "support team" that range from what you can tell are mass emails to a personal email regarding my production (these are still signed "support team"). 

Being removed from a project
The only real problem I ever had was working on one particular project. I don't remember specifics because it has been about a year but I think it had to do with my hours. I didn't meet the minimum for a couple of weeks so they were removing me from the project. I was able to dispute this. While it did take some time for them to research and make a decision, I was added back to the project. I was able to stay on the project until it ended. That is the only time that I learned the names of any of my managers.

Invoicing
For most of their projects, they keep track of your time via their system. I always keep track of my time to ensure there are no discrepancies and 9 times out of 10 my invoice is correct without having to reach out to someone to have it corrected.

Advancement
I have not learned of any way to advance with this company.

Overall, I am happy with my work at Appen. It allows me the freedom that I craved while working in the "corporate world" and while I make have to work a few extra hours to make what I would make out in the "corporate world", I feel like the tradeoff is fair. I am not treated poorly and while, sure, sometimes it make take some time and some poking to get a proper emailed response, I am still ok with the tradeoff.

Only work here if you have no other alternatives.  This place does not care about the people they "employ."  Their guidelines are an unstructured mess and their auditors and project managers treat you like you are mentally deficient trash.  

They contradict themselves constantly and there is no one you can go to about it for clarification - at all.  They implore you to ask questions but then they never actually answer your questions.  Most the time on these job sites someone from Appen personally replies to all the negative reviews asking you to "reach out" to the e-mail at the helpdesk in order to "open a direct line of communication."  There is a problem with that though - the helpdesk NEVER replies to any e-mails at all what-so-ever.  This place ignores you constantly and forward every single e-mail you send them to technical support.  I once jokingly told them in an e-mail to "go ahead and forward this to technical support since that's apparently all you do"  And ya know what?  They forwarded it to technical support despite the fact the e-mail had absolutely nothing to do with technical support.  

There is no "help desk"  There is no "direct line of communication"  There is just some guy/lady that replies to negative reviews online and asks you to e-mail an account that no ones ever replies to and then they never do anything else.  If they honestly did anything other than reply to negative reviews online they would know that the help desk never replies to your e-mails.  Or perhaps they do know this and they just want everyone else to read that they asked you to reach out to them.  I've reached out with my concerns and they've got unanswered and were forwarded to technical support. 

They don't respect you at all so there is no reason you should respect them by working there.  This company needs to fold and stop existing.  It's a complete joke.  If you have no self respect and allow other people to walk all over you like a human floor mat - this is the PERFECT job for you!  This company does not deserve to exist and every single non-contractor employ should be ashamed of themselves for being apart of this.    

Oh and in the rare instances that they actually reply to you than insinuate that you violated your NDA and can sue you.  They are just trying to scare you into not complaining/not leaving negative reviews online.

Job is great when it comes to flexibility and remote work -- a requirement for me. However, my experience is there is very little to no interest in developing or promoting contractors or every offering a full time position to dedicated contractors. Contract is key here, meaning no benefits, no worker's rights, no real concern for contractors, leaving you just a tool for their profiteering. I'd been with the company for 2 years with no cost of living adjustment or raise, because there are no raises for contract laborers, and you really don't have the power to renegotiate your contract because you are only a sub-contractor. 
You are required to maintain a high level of accuracy and productivity, but little to no feedback from auditors about how you can improve if your quality struggles. You're just expected to know why you were wrong based on their rules for rating. 
Company has gotten a little better about compensating for 'work-related' activities which is still mostly unpaid like many of their competitors in this field. 
Don't expect your position here to be admired by any kind of hiring manager, like I said, you are basically working in the coal mines of the internet. No employer will respect your position here, I had to completely change careers and dump this off the resume.
On a final note, this company is better than most of the other options out there. They are better paying than Leapforce. I really can't recommend working for Leapforce, a similar line of work, unless you want to get locked out of being able to work and wait a month until you are restored only to get locked out again for lack of productivity -- which they force upon you. Get ready for calls from your bill collectors, or get comfortable living in your car if you rely on that place for your living. If you really want to feel treated like garbage, go get paid pennies on the hour at iSoftstone or Mechanical Turk, where they place testing material in your workflow, which you don't get paid for. It's great though if you can live off half the minimum wage rate, or are crazy enough to waste your precious free time to make a few extra half-cents.

Appen is a horribly managed company that relies on peoples' desperation for remote work. With nearly every single project I've worked, I've had trouble accessing the work tool and getting started. After passing all qualification and being offered a role in a project, I end up not getting access to the tool until I spend weeks emailing support with no help, typically weeks after the given start date. 
Two different projects I've worked on now have blatantly cheated workers out of pay. One project automatically reports your work hours on your invoice (which can't be edited), and both myself and others working the project were consistently shorted hours. This project also conveniently blocks you from viewing your work stats (including hours) in the tool, despite the fact that that feature is literally built into the tool. Support refuses to fix the errors when you contact them. 
Another project refused to pay all of the workers for an entire day of work. Workers who reported hours worked on a certain date, when the project was still running, all had their invoice repeatedly rejected. Appen responded saying that the project wasn't running on the date in question, despite the fact that at least half a dozen people reported that the project was running on that day and we weren't sent an email to stop until the day after the date in question. Multiple people sent support tickets and tried to point out the error, but Appen is refusing to fix this, as if all the people working the project are wrong.
Pretty often, projects I've been on have gone down with no explanation, and management and tech support are slow and don't keep us updated on what's happening at all so we're left unable to work and waiting for days. There have also been multiple times when we are specifically told a project will last for a certain amount of time, and then the project ends abruptly way before it was supposed to.
Do not work for this company unless it is literally a last resort.

There is an initial glass barrier you have to break through in order to qualify for jobs that pay on an hourly basis. So, you'll likely be faced with a ton of annoyingly exhausting short tasks worth pocket change for a month or so. If you are at wits end with nothing but time left to lose, it's worth the struggle. Once you're considered reliable enough to receive long-term job offers, it usually only takes a few days to a couple of weeks to apply>onboard>start making money for every project you take on. Most people juggle a few.

However, even once you break through that barrier and receive offers for long-term jobs that pay by the hour, most only pay $10/hr. Basically, enough to survive if you don't have many bills. Not enough to live comfortably on your own after taxes, but that is to be expected with this kind of contract work. Appen definitely pays better than many others, regardless. If you get lucky, some short-term projects can pay $20/hr or beyond. 

Now for the cons:
*PROJECTS WILL TERMINATE YOUR CONTRACT SUDDENLY without any warning or excuse. Most will be kind enough to let you down with reason if you've actually been performing below standard, but it is usually always sudden.
*Other projects will suddenly completely end. Work dries up often. Instability is the norm. 
*Ever since the migration to CrowdGen, you'll be lucky if you get any replies to your email support tickets even when you're in desperate need of help. 
*There used to be chat rooms for quicker communication with quality support for individual projects, but unfortunately, they transferred everything to Slack. Good luck even getting an invite to your proper project channel. Work often feels lonely and perilous because there is no one to talk to for support or anyone to confirm if you're doing your job right or horribly wrong.
*Payments are monthly rather than weekly, and they are often inconsistent with little to no communication/support about delays or incorrect invoicing. 


I have always been a quick learner. I'm college educated, a great critical and analytical thinker, I'm up-to-date on pop culture and everything else that might make me an ideal candidate for this position. I read all the poor reviews and just thought everyone was being overly negative and critical. I've always been the exception to the rule when it comes to my ability to learn, study and test well. Right?! Nope. (I only say this because you know you're thinking the same thing.) After studying their qualification material extensively, I could NOT pass their test! I found it incredibly inconsistent and subjective. They would give examples in the training material that were nearly identical to ones in the test but the two would not have the same results! It was extremely frustrating. Their "offby" scores are difficult to meet. I scored near perfect on my overall score but poorly in one category, causing me to fail. Also, their training materials are outdated and confusing. They send you to about five different sites and forums for material. I can't fathom how the average person manages this. Lastly, I'm convinced they utilize the results during the qualification process to actually benefit their company. Why wouldn't a real web user, like myself (someone not trained according to their standards), provide just as valuable feedback on search results? What better way to accomplish this than to have knowledgeable "prospective employees" conduct the testing without ever having to be paid? In the email stating I failed, were the names of nearly 50 other people! I would be interested to see how many people actually passed. My advice is to put your efforts elsewhere. 

I was very excited to work for this company. I used to work for them about 3 years ago and thought I’d give it another go. So far I’ve worked on several different projects doing different things for each. In my opinion they’ve gone downhill. For the majority of the projects it’s almost impossible to get any assistance. You can send multiple emails and nobody ever responds. If there’s a problem with your work, you don’t get any feedback, they just kick you off the project without warning. When projects open up, they let you apply and get accepted, and then it can take up to a month to hear back from anyone. By that time, you might get another email stating the project roster is full; thanks but no thanks. If you’re willing to work for pennies in the US, go for it. In my opinion, this company might be worth it for someone living in a third world country. 
Having said that, if you’re lucky, you might actually get a project where the project leads actually care, and will communicate with you and keep you informed on what’s going on. If you’re lucky. There is a company chat room for the employees. You’re more likely to get help there than from a supervisor. 
Some projects require a degree, others don’t. The pay varies from project to project. Overall it’s close to minimum wage. Some projects require you to study their materials and pass a test. Some are more difficult than others. My advice is to study for the tests. Everyone must sign a NDA. 
My advice is not to count on this company as your primary source of income. 

The job is alright if you need to get some extra money in your pocket. And as long as you meet the minimum requirement of hours, you can work at any time. I wouldn't rely on this as a main source of income, however! 

When you first want to start a job, you make an account, and after you go through a series of short questions. Questions asking you about your skills on the internet or using social media. This is how they figure out where to put you. Once they find a project that's suited for you, you can apply for it. 

From there, you take a qualification exam. The exam is in three parts and you have to finish it in a certain number of days. After passing the exam, you go through the rest of the process where you give them some other info and you're good to go! 

It was only after I started working with this company where I started to have problems. More than once they have emailed me about things I have done. Like going over the Average Estimated Time on tasks or doing too many paid training hours. But whenever I asked them what I could do to fix this, I would either be met with an automated response or no response at all.  

Since working, I've had to figure out a lot of these things on my own. You are given a General Guidelines you can read to help you out. But even after reading it, I still feel like I was lost on some things. Mostly, I've had to figure a lot of this out on my own since starting. Basically, this company is not exactly clear on what it wants from you.

Again, the pay is decent and it's great that you can work from home whenever you are able to, but this job is better as a side hustle, not a main source of income. 

I started doing work for Appen about a year and a half ago, hoping it would give me a good jump-start on working from home. Things seemed to be going fairly well at first, with a project that had me working a steady 4 hours a day with decent pay for it. However, once that project ended, things took a sharp decline.

Getting qualified for new projects takes forever; expect to wait months to hear back on anything, and even if you do hear back soon, overly-difficult (and often inaccurate to provided guidelines) exams will knock you out of the running for many jobs. And even if you do pass, you can expect to deal with tons of technical issues, or times where no work is available at all. And don't expect much help from support, which often will leave you waiting for days at a time for a response.

Making matters worse, the positions have you as an independent contractor, meaning that you're on the hook for all tax preparation and handling. Which means that, if you want to work here on the long term, you'll be arranging tax payments several times a year. Information like this isn't provided at the slightest, which can lead to some unpleasant surprises for people used to the standard once-a-year practice with a W-2 form.

If you're truly hurting for work, and have absolutely nowhere else to turn, I suppose this is an option (keep in mind that payouts come monthly, so look elsewhere if you need money within days or a week), but don't depend on it as a major source of income.

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