About this role
CODING
Developers: Smarter than AI? Prove It
The models shaping the future of AI are only as rigorous as the coders behind them. Apply your expertise where it matters, and get paid to do it.
Apply your expertise where it matters, and get paid to do it.
Apply as a coding expert
Starting at $50-$100+/hr
Rates
$50–$100
+/hr
Software Engineering
Web Development
DevOps
Mobile Development
Data Science
Machine Learning
Your expertise drives real Al progress.
Rigorous work. Real impact. Fair pay.
This is not busywork.
The most advanced code generation models still produce race conditions, ignore edge cases, hallucinate APIs, and write O(n³) solutions when linear time is trivial. You're the engineering filter that catches what compilers can't — one annotation at a time.
01-Rigor
Production-Grade Review
These are not toy problems. You're evaluating whether a model correctly implements concurrent data structures, verifying algorithmic complexity claims, auditing security-critical code paths, debugging broken component rendering logic, and assessing system design trade-offs. The work demands the same rigor as a senior-level code review.
02-Signal
Direct Impact on Code Generation
Every correction you make teaches the next generation of coding agents to write better code. When you identify that a model introduced a race condition, mishandled error propagation, broke component state isolation across re-renders, or generated O(n²) where O(n log n) was trivial, you're preventing bugs that ship to millions of users.
03-Flexibility
Work on Your Schedule
No standups, no sprint commitments, no on-call rotations. Tasks are available 24/7 and you choose when and how much to work. Most contributors work 10–50+ hours per week alongside their primary engineering roles, open-source projects, or coursework.
04-Rate
Premium Compensation
Engineering expertise is scarce and we pay accordingly. Starting at $50+/hour, with rates that scale based on task complexity and performance. Compensation is competitive with senior contract engineering rates and significantly above typical crowdsource coding platforms.
Three steps. No overhead.
01
Apply & Qualify
Complete a short engineering assessment. We evaluate your ability to identify correctness bugs, reason about complexity, and write clean, idiomatic code. No résumé required.
~60 min assessment
02
Get Matched
Based on your preferred stack and assessment results, you're matched to projects in your areas of expertise. Systems programming, web backends, ML pipelines, mobile, infra — you choose what fits your background.
Flexible scheduling
03
Work & Get Paid
Complete tasks on your own schedule. Each task has clear specifications, test cases, and a defined scope. Payment is per-task, processed weekly, starting at $50+/hour
Weekly payouts
What you'll actually do.
01
Write a prompt
Craft precise engineering prompts designed to probe the boundaries of model reasoning — not toy problems, but challenges that expose incorrect algorithms, unsafe memory access, and flawed system design decisions.
02
Review AI output
Evaluate whether the model's code actually works — catching off-by-one errors in loop logic, identifying race conditions in concurrent implementations, and flagging O(n²) solutions where a more efficient algorithm was straightforward.
03
Write the correct solution
Author a complete, production-quality implementation that demonstrates the correct approach. This becomes training signal for the next model generation.
Where models need you most.
These are the engineering domains where current AI code generation consistently produces dangerous output. Your expertise directly addresses the hardest open problems in coding AI.
Systems & Infrastructure
Evaluate AI reasoning about distributed systems, networking, operating systems, and infrastructure design. Verify claims about consensus protocols, storage engines, and scalability trade-offs.
Distributed Systems
Networking
OS
Algorithms & Data Structures
Review model outputs on algorithm design, complexity analysis, and data structure selection. Catch incorrect Big-O claims, flawed dynamic programming formulations, and suboptimal data structure choices.
Complexity
Graph Theory
DP
Security & Cryptography
Assess AI-generated code for security vulnerabilities, cryptographic misuse, and authentication flaws. Identify injection vectors, broken crypto implementations, and authorization bypass patterns.
AppSec
Crypto
Auth
Backend & API Design
Evaluate reasoning about API architecture, database design, caching strategies, and service communication. Identify N+1 queries, incorrect transaction isolation levels, and flawed idempotency implementations.
REST/GraphQL
Databases
Caching
Frontend & Performance
Review model outputs on frontend architecture, rendering performance, state management, and accessibility. Verify claims about bundle optimization, hydration strategies, and browser API usage.
React/Next.js
Performance
A11y
$150M+
Paid to contributors
100k+
Expert annotators
120M+
Annotations completed
Built for people who think in systems.
01
CS Students
Upper-division and graduate CS students with strong foundations in algorithms, systems, and software engineering principles.
Data structures
10+ hrs / week
02
Software Engineers
Professional developers with production experience looking for flexible, intellectually demanding work outside their day jobs.
2+ years experience
Production code
03
Staff & Principal Eng.
Senior engineers applying deep systems knowledge and architectural expertise to AI training data on their own schedule.
System design
Tech leadership
04
Open-Source Contributors
Maintainers and active contributors with demonstrated ability to write clean, well-tested, production-quality code.
GitHub profile
Modeling fluency
People love the work.
A few threads from contributors who’ve been at it for a while.
Apply now
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/NaToKy24
What I love most about DA: it's an actual meritocracy
What I absolutely love about working at DA is the meritocracy. The higher the quality of your work, the higher the reward.
Creating complex coding scenarios, doing deep analysis of models, and synthesizing results are all part of my daily routine, and I love it.
View on Reddit
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/textartguy
Belated Milestone Post
Been working since March 2024. I honestly feel so lucky to have both found this job and to have been able to keep it for so long.
I thought I might make a few grand max at the start.
View on Reddit
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/Sharp-Sherbert-4194
100K!
Hit 100k the other day! I do this full time. Not what I originally intended when I signed up, but I've managed so far.
View on Reddit
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/Emelody_cellobabe
DA has seriously changed my life
This work has opened up so many opportunities for me and is now enabling me to work full-time independently.
I started as a generalist, then passed the coding eval and have more often than not had plenty of work.
View on Reddit
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/E13AN0R
Just hit 75k!!
Started almost a year ago and have just hit this milestone :) I had just graduated from uni when I started doing this and it was a lifesaver whilst I was looking for graduate jobs.
I'm based in the UK and I have a Master's degree in physics so I do a mix of specialist stem, coding, and sometimes generalist projects.
View on Reddit
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/LeatherScience633
DA saved me, and I wish I could say thanks
In just 2 months I have already paid off my debt that would have taken me around an year to pay back. I can also leave my extra jobs and actually focus on my passion instead.
Working for them has been the best thing to happen to me so far.
View on Reddit
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/CharacterBlood1495
Hit the 10k mark in one month : )
I have earned 10k in a month (my first month started at the end of April). I needed this and will definitely continue working with them.
View on Reddit
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/OhLemons
Broke 130k this month!
I love that I can switch between coding tasks and those with rubrics, and that the work is always changing, so it never gets boring.
The taxes hurt, but it is worth it to help support the services like free healthcare here in Canada.
View on Reddit
r/DataAnnotationTech
u/paranormalisnormal
$40k - I Love You Data Annotation