In the last few years, there has been a dramatic increase in opportunities to work online from anywhere in the world. One of the platforms that will offer you remote jobs for good pay is Appen. In this article I will cover everything you need to know about Appen but first here is a rationale about how much you can realistically make each month on the platform.

So, how much can you make on Appen in a month? Well, Appen pays between $2.5 and $3.5 per hour on different projects. Assuming you work between 6 to 7 hours each day and take the weekend off, you will average around $500 for the month.

Now let’s look at Appen in more details. This information is obtained from personal research and reviews.

What is Appen and what do they do?

Before you learn how to make money via Appen, let us first understand what Appen is. Appen is a data sourcing company. What that means is that Appen collects data and information and labels the collected data to help develop an innovative AI system. In simple terms, Appen collects data or information from the human interaction to help make create machine learning programs that behave like human or are human like. These data can be sourced from social media content, video or speech content, text or any other sources of data.  The company currently has some of the giant companies in the world as their clients and this includes Micro-soft, Amazon, Adobe among others. In lay man’s language, the company is a crowd working space that offers  an array of micro-job and freelance  jobs  in the areas of  data collection and AI. It helps its clients as  those listed above to improve and increase their efficiency of  AI models as well as   train the machine  learning algorithms.

What kind of jobs does Appen have for contributors?

For Appen to carry out its data collection process, it needs employees of the independent contractors.  Actually, Appen is made large by the high number of contractors. Presently, the company has managed to source over 1 million skilled contractors. The role of the contractors is to provide the company with data, data annotation and model evaluation. Data source involves collection of data such as speaking to a microphone or even evaluating posts from different social media platforms. The jobs on this platform   are divided into different categories which include data sourcing which is mainly concerned with data collection from various sources, data preparation or annotation which involves moderation of the data. This is like classifying data or labelling data to give it meaning. For example if you search on google for “ Apple”  google would not know  if you are searching for the fruit of for the  Apple products. The AI in google needs a little more help to understand what Apple the searcher is looking for. Data annotation thus involves labelling data. The last concept is the model evaluation or validation of the collected data. For those that have already been in transcription, you are happy to find another platform with more transcription jobs.

 In simpler terms and without all the jargons, Appen is sources its contractors to carry out the following tasks

• Data collection- This involves collection of  user surveys and data, images,  videos collected  using mobiles or the Appen app.
• Data annotation- This includes tasks such as  image tagging
• Transcription and Translation- This involve translating different languages. Works best for bilingual persons
• Social media evaluation and Search engine evaluation- This involves improving search on the search engines or social media
• Web research

How much does Appen Micro Tasks pay?

The following table shows how much you can earn at Appen per hour. Most of these jobs are highly available on the site. However, despite the high availability of the jobs, one thing I learnt from the  reviews  I collected is that these  jobs  can be  a bit boring. You will need enough motivation to take  up these tasks.

Task	Time needed to complete task	Payment per Hour	Availability of the task	Task difficulty level
Voice recording project	At most 15 minutes	$20-$40	Highly available	Easy
Data collection	At most 1 hour	$5-$50	Moderately available	Easy
Data annotation		$2-$5	Highly available	Easy
Translation and Transcription	Atmost 1hour	$10-$30	Highly available	Easy
Social/search media evaluation	Limitless	$12-$14	Part time jobs	Easy

How do you register for Appen account and start working?

For you to start working on Appen you need to create an account with them by signings up with the company. The following are the step that are followed when registering

1. Creation of an account through the sign up page

This follows the normal signup that we all know. Input the following data;

• Name
• Email address
• Password and finally
• Agree to the terms of service and privacy of the company.

These steps help you gain an account with the company

2. Account Verification

Upon signing up the company will send you a link in the email that will need to click to verify the account. Sometimes you may miss the verification and thus the co0mpany re-sends an email verification on the sign-up page.  Once you are done with this process then you are ready to start working.

How long does it take to get hired at Appen?

Most people are concerned that just as other sites on the internet where most people work takes time to give the newbies work that Appen would do the same to the newbies. One thing that you should take advantage of at this time is that Appen is still fairly new in the market therefore it is not flooded with so many people especially in Kenya. Notice I used the word Yet. Soon most people will grab this opportunity and it might be hard to get jobs. Besides one advantage about Appen is that the company works with high end consumers and this makes it easy to   get jobs with Appen.  On average it takes less than 1 week to get jobs.  There are contractors who have got jobs even into two days. The length it takes to get a job on Appen is affected by the past experience, the skills you listed you possess and the type of jobs that you choose to work on. The company prefers people already in the data base for complex jobs compared to the newbies. The best strategy to navigate on this platform is to stat with the simple jobs such as the surveys and then grow from there. Be sure to present your skills and experience diligently and convincingly. Just like in any other field you will need to market your brand to increase the chances of being hired  as  fast as  possible.

What is the minimum you can cash out on Appen?

After you have done you pieces of work, you obviously want to get the payment. One thing about the company that may not be very impressive and could make appear as a scam is the fact that it has a minimum withdrawal which is 10$..  If the work you have done by end month does not amount to the aforementioned figure, then it is not possible   to withdraw the cash.  A few of the contractors that I contacted stated that one of the least attractive aspect about Appen is the high limit of withdraw. However,  one can look at this form the positive side, where you will be needed to carry out a  high number of tasks  that will help you make  more money to avoid  limitation. The more the merrier

How long does Appen take to pay freelancers?

Since now you have done all the work and have your money waiting for payment, the next important thing to understand is the length of time that Appen takes before paying its contractors. It takes about 14-30 days after receiving a valid invoice for the company to pay its contractors.  The company partners with Payoneer company to make the payments. They also work with Paypal although Payoneer is highly preferred.

Does Appen work in Kenya?

Of course yes. Appen is available in Kenya since the company operates online.  The company operates in 130 countries and Kenya is one of them.  It is so easy to access Appen, either from your phone or from your laptop.

Is Appen legit or is it a scam?

In the past, there has been concerns that Appen is a scam and its legality and legit nature has been questioned. The main concern is that the company takes a long time (15-30 days) after receiving a valid invoice to make a payment may have given the impression that the company is a scam. However, after interaction with Appen and carrying out enough research, I have learnt that the company is not a scam  because first  it is  a publicly traded. Besides, the company is now  more than  20 years  old and  it is well known  globally and this makes it easy to trust such a brand. Scam company are mainly new companies that have not existed for long.  Another aspect of this company that makes it easy to believe is that its social media  pages  are  active and  it interacts  with the followers. The customer care department is equally very responsive and helpful which also makes it easy for the public to believe the legitimacy of the company. Moreover,  a visit on the website of the company has detailed  information about the company. in most cases companies that are scam have a shady website with little or scanty information that would not be clear. As for Appen, the website  offers detailed information that will educate  you on role of the company and the various available freelancing works.  One final thing that confirms the legality and legitimacy of the company is  that the company does not charge  to join them. The registration process is free. In most cases, scam companies ask freelancers to pay which is not the case for Appen.  In addition, the fact that the company works with giant clients such as Microsoft is a clear indication that it is not here to steal your hard earned  money.

Is Appen worth it for a freelancer?

From my analysis and views contributed by a few of contractors, Appen is diligent source or extra income. It works best for someone who has a flexible employment plan. The work on the site is not very complex and thus can help earn extra income. It may not give you the financial freedom that you are  looking for  of buying your dream car and home  but it does  offer you the extra  money that will make you add to investments or  savings  that will make you get to that financial dream faster. Try it.