Is Appen Legit? Find Out The Truth About This Remote Work Website

Are you looking for remote working opportunities?

Working remotely can have significant benefits. But then again, people have been scammed way too often when finding work online or looking for freelance opportunities.

Nevertheless, Appen has gained some reputation lately for helping folks find some remote working opportunities. Unfortunately, Appen also got a bad review by Glassdoor, leaving its legitimacy in concern. 

So, is Appen Legit? Let’s find out. 

What is Appen?

Founded in 1996, Appen is an Australian company developed by Julie Vonwiller. Throughout its lifetime, Appen has witnessed significant growth, hiring over 1000 workers to ensure that the platform works smoothly. 

Appen also acquired Figure eight, a data annotation and machine learning software in 2019, creating more opportunities for people to find remote work. 

Being a data company, Appen provides people with remote-working opportunities while gathering and improving data for artificial intelligence and machine learning. To train AIs and robots, Appen needs help from humans, resulting in job opportunities offered by the platform. 

Currently, Appen is accessible in more than 170 countries and has over one million people working for them. 

What Tasks Can You Find On Appen? 

While Appen offers various job options, all of them are connected to processing data. The pay scale for every task will also depend on its complexity and how time consuming it is. 

Some active job offers on Appen include: 

• Data Annotation 
• Transcription 
• Translation 
• Social Media Evaluation 
• Search Engine Evaluation 
• Data Entry 
• Speech Collection 

Is Appen Legit? = Debunking Scams 

While Appen is a legit website to find remote work opportunities, scammers haven’t held back from using the platform’s identity to commit fraud online, especially on freelancing websites. 

The scammer will portray himself as an employee working for Appen. This person will send you an email, asking for your personal details, claiming that he is from Appen. In reality, they have no ties to Appen, and only require your personal information. 

In fact, it is possible that they are using someone else’s identity they grabbed the same way to message you! It is worth noting that Appen only reaches out to the applicants with their email addresses, “@appen.com”, or “@connect-mail.appen.com”. 

If you get an email that does not end with “appen.com”, it is definitely a scam. If you get any such mails, delete them without even opening them! 

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Pros and Cons of Working For Appen

Like other freelancing platforms, working with Appen comes with its set of pros and cons: 

Appen Pros

• Flexibility

The biggest advantage Appen offers is flexibility. Considering that Appen allows you to make your hours, you can choose between working 5-25 hours weekly. Appen does not bind the remote workers to be available at specific times. 

GIven its flexibility, you can consider carrying Appen as a side hustle without facing any troubles managing your primary job. 

• Remote Working 

Since working with Appen is entirely remote, you do not have to worry about commuting to work, dressing up in office attire, or being on time! 

Considering the hike in gas prices, commuting to work increases your transportation costs, decreasing your average pay hourly. Whereas with Appen, you can work from the comfort of your home. Considering that you get to trade rush hour while working on your couch in your casual attire, it sounds like a good trade. 

• Interesting Opportunities 

Despite the long range of opportunities, you will find most jobs on Appen interesting. Most jobs from Appen pay you to research and learn about various topics. Not only can these gigs be interesting, but will also help in  diversifying your knowledge and find better paying job opportunities! 

• Pay 

Compared to other platforms offering the same services, Appen has a well-compensating pay sale. While the earnings may differ by jobs, most jobs on Appen pay anywhere between $14-$18 hourly. 

Appen Cons 

• No Benefits 

Appen hires remote workers as independent contractors. While being an independent contractor offers flexibility and convenience, it also resuscitates any benefits or perks offered by the company. Appen will not provide any equipment and expects you to have the following requirements when applying: 

1. A Computer 
2. Fast Internet Connection 
3. A Smartphone

• Pay Frequency 

Per Appen’s policy, the remote workers are paid through direct deposit on a monthly basis. Appen requires you to submit an invoice for the completed tasks, making it important for you to keep track of the work you have done. 

Nevertheless, if you are accustomed to working with companies that have a different payment schedule, Appen may not be a good fit for you. 

• Taxes! 

Since Appen hires you as an independent contractor, they will not be taking taxes off your pay automatically. If you are working with Appen, you’ll need to do taxes manually, hence requiring you to be very organized. 

Fortunately, this is a blessing in disguise. Since you are working remotely, you are allowed to write off some tax for your home office expenses.

• Inconsistency 

Perhaps the biggest issue with Appen is the inconsistency in workload. The tasks you get will vary in number significantly every week. 

If you are considering working for Appen as your primary income stream, it is not a good idea. Hence, it is best to keep Appen as a part-time job while staying committed to your full-time job. 

• Communication Difficulties 

Reviews across the Internet suggested that working with Appen can be difficult due to the inconsistencies in communication. Appen holds all its communication through emails and tickets while mitigating phone communications entirely. 

So, in case you have any query or need an immediate reply, there will be no option but to wait for Appen’s reply though it’s email or ticket. 

Final Verdict

So, is appen legit? In short, yes. Appen is a data company offering genuine remote work opportunities for those interested. Not only does Appen allow you a variety of working opportunities to choose from, but it also ensures immediate payments after tasks have been concluded. 

Nevertheless, it is worth noting that there are some things to beware about Appen, as mentioned earlier in this guide. A thorough read of this article will catch up on everything you should know about before you go job hunting on the platform.