Is there a position available anywhere in the world where I can simply take an assessment to identify my skills and capabilities, receive assignments accordingly, complete them remotely, and submit them without the need for ongoing communication or visits? I prefer a role that allows for flexible, independent work hours.

I have ten years of experience as a paralegal but am seeking a different type of work that doesn’t require returning to school, interaction with others, or leaving my home. I am highly capable but uncertain about my next career steps and am looking for a more autonomous work arrangement.

  • jimmux@programming.dev
    8·
    13 hours ago

    That’s exactly what my main income is these days. I signed up with DataAnnotation a couple of years ago, chipped away and started getting more access to a bigger pool of higher paying projects. I get online whenever it suits me, do work, claim time, get paid. No meetings or time wasting.

    It’s not perfect, feedback is minimal, technical issues exist, but the flexibility is such a huge advantage that it’s hard to give up. It does mean you’re contributing to the whole AI… situation. My moral justification is that we’re actually making the models better at sticking with what they’re good at, and getting more efficient with it.

    Specific professional skills like legal seem to be in high demand too. I’m a software engineering specialist, but they keep giving me finance projects just because I have that domain on my resume. They also gave me some referral codes specifically requesting legal, medical, and STEM pros. I don’t know if using my codes would give you an advantage in the application, but I guess it couldn’t hurt. DM me if you want one.

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      12·
      13 hours ago

      My moral justification is that we’re actually making the models better at sticking with what they’re good at, and getting more efficient with it.

      My moral justification is that no matter how much work we seem to do for them, the models don’t seem to be getting any better and that General Purpose LLMs must be fundamentally broken and can’t be fixed because the way they come to correct answers is literally the same way they come to incorrect answers. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      • jimmux@programming.dev
        3·
        9 hours ago

        When I started doing this work it was scary how fast they progressed. I thought I’d be redundant in a few months. Then they hit a wall very hard. The models might even be getting worse now. That could be my perception because a big part of the job is steering them toward failure and correcting the mistakes, so now I’m in the habit of exploiting their weaknesses.

        They aren’t going away, but if we can figure out the niches where they’re actually useful, maybe the big AI companies will stop pretending LLMs are a digital panacea.

        • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          4·
          9 hours ago

          ut if we can figure out the niches where they’re actually useful

          Which is why I call out “General Purpose LLMs” as the real problem. When they are given very specific, very narrow guidelines and training, they are actually often exceptional tools! It’s the idea that they need to be an all-purpose-tool that does all jobs all the time that needs to be put to bed.

          maybe the big AI companies will stop pretending LLMs are a digital panacea.

          Gosh I hope so, because if we can get them to accept that as tools they’re only useful in very tightly specific scenarios, we might actually get some real use out of them!