Appen Reviews

Pros

Large group of coders smoke a joint in a tree at a nearby park - everyone gets high

Cons

Not enough free booze a Friday drinks

Pros

Working at Appen has allowed to have a second job while having time to do other things.

Cons

The qualification process may take some time.

Pros

Great team members, often interesting projects, exciting and expanding field of work. So much potential. I'd really like to LOVE this job.

Cons

Low pay compared to other jobs in the same industry- HR don't take this concern seriously. You can easily do a google search and find similar jobs that pay much more. Unfortunately Appen is in the habit of expecting that people accept jobs here because they are fascinated by the work and don't care about the pay. As we corporatize further, this is less realistic and the company is letting it's employees down by not considering how they can make jobs here attractive. Systems issues are often blamed on employees- the new crowd management system is riddled with bugs and errors, and yet when invoicing goes wrong, or a project system shorts out, or the email function breaks, it's the PMs and team members who are blamed, both by internal teams and the crowd. I've received threats and abuse over things that I couldn't control. Sometimes Appen Connect just breaks. We all feel strongly that we want to do the best by our crowd, but it's hard with tools that are not yet fit for purpose. Internal corporate teams (Recruitment, HR and Finance) are often very difficult to work with. Everything turns in to blame games, walking on egg shells, person to person problems, and as soon as you ask internal corporate teams to do their jobs, you're suddenly the bad guy. It's very tiring for project teams to be stuck in the middle of this. Burnout is common, people are afraid of expressing concern, we lose team members to other companies that we've spent so much time training, people work long hours thinking that bad work/life balance is normal.

Pros

Good perks, bonuses, vacation time, etc

Cons

Bureaucracy, lack of career growth opportunities, upper leadership doesn't communicate their vision clearly.

Pros

Great people, fast-growing company, top clients.

Cons

Low salaries, no company culture, no benefits.

Pros

Amazing opportunity to work with people all over the world, and meet people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. I feel like I have a friend in any country I go to. The times you work can also be flexible depending on your role.

Cons

With flexibility comes blurred working hours – long hours are treated as normal, and taking calls early/late or working on weekends to meet a deadline are common. The company is also growing rapidly but some processes are still highly manual, like in a smaller company. The project work can get repetitive.

Pros

Flexibility to decide when and where you work, work from home, easy work once you learn the guidelines. They are working out the kinks involved in working with crowdsourced employees, but they really listen and adjust based on employee feedback. Good pay for an entry-level work from home job.

Cons

Slow response time from managers. Work is not consistent. You won't support a family with this income, but it will help, and it's one of the better-paying crowdsourced positions available.