You’re wondering who I am…Yeah, the “Mechanical Turk” is not a robot like that…
In one of my past posts, I mentioned the saying “Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?“, and that expression will be very valid with evaluating this program.
I looked very seriously at Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program in the past, and I have included a link to some resources at the bottom of the blog post in case you would like to read more about it.
In summary, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk works by providing a platform for different companies, research groups, etc. to post tasks for those who sign up to work on the platform to complete. Completing different activities allow you to earn money. Some of the activities I looked at were about watching videos and providing opinions on the videos, rating various pictures based on your analysis of them, or categorizing research.
As with everything in life there are advantages, and there are disadvantages. Some of the advantages are that the Mechanical Turk program allows you to work from home, and it allows you to set your own hours (to an extent). The biggest disadvantage to the program would be the relative low pay per hour of work; according to the New York Times article linked below, the pay could work out to be as low as $0.75-$1.00 per hour (below minimum wage).
My overall analysis of this program centers around the expression I shared at the start…“Is the juice worth the squeeze?” For some, it very possibly is, but for me, this is not something I will be pursuing in the future. But, devoted reader, you have to make that decision for yourself.
Link to Amazon’s Description here
The New York Times Article here
Road to One Million 