I’m an androgynous black trans person with freeform dreadlocks in Florida looking for a job. Especially judging by past experiences I’ve had in attempting to secure jobs, even for positions that I have years of experience in, I have refused to apply to any places that require in-person work.
I also do not apply to jobs that are remote and would require me to show my face through a video call. I avoid mentioning race on job applications, and I just put my assigned sex at birth on them too.
Before I started doing my most recent remote gig, DataAnnotation, I tried for roughly 2 months to secure various kinds of “”““unskilled labor””“” jobs like working at grocery stores, cafes, and restaurants, and not a single one took me. Mind you, like I said, I have years of experience in these areas.
I do not want to repeat that cycle, which was not only frustrating due to how badly I need a job but also frustrating because it led me to dive into more and more self-hatred, where I literally perceive myself as subhuman because of who I am, so I refuse to seek jobs that:
- require onsite work
- require me to show my face in any capacity
- require me to state my race
This is greatly limiting, but it’s the only way I can see myself granting myself any realistic advantage. I’m confident that I would not have gotten DataAnnotation in the first place if it didn’t meet these three requirements. Unfortunately, DataAnnotation has no transparency whatsoever and has seemingly chopped me with no explanation. Yay for more mental breakdowns and doubt if I’ll even be able to survive for long due to how impossible it is for me to get a job!
Have you done any of these?
I’m being forced off disability benefits this year and am freaking out about being able to handle in person work. Looking at Telus’s AI bs job, it seems like it would work well for me if I could get enough hours. The hourly rate is a little low for my area, but it beats working at McDonald’s or something.
I only need to make $1100 a month to match my current benefits, do you think that’s possible if I did this kind of thing?
I’ve been with one of the places a little over year. No, you won’t comfortably make that with any of those in my experience, especially not Telus during the holiday months, where you’re lucky to get any hours. Now rest of the year maybe if you time things right solid maybe, but I wouldn’t depend on it alone, its 100% a side gig, but better than 0. They like to keep turnover ridiculously high since they think it helps with AI learning. 10-20hrs a week with Telus is probably the average, if I had to guess, outside of holidays where its like 0 hrs for 2 months. these places have entry exams but if you’ve done data rating before they’re all somewhat similar, if not there’s youtube videos and they provide study manuals to get the gist of it. Its fucking brutal out there. There’s also grader jobs with these places but they pay even less iirc.
I live in a lower min wage state, McDonald’s or Walmart still pays more, but most places don’t, and its such a depressed area people are willing to commute hours for a flat minimum wage job on a swinging shift.