Chapter 6: Perform online jobs

Performing online jobs has become an essential skill for professionals in applied biology, especially in Kenya where digital connectivity is expanding rapidly. Online work offers opportunities to collaborate on research, data analysis, bioinformatics projects, and consultancy services without geographical constraints. This chapter explores the nature of online jobs, how to find and manage them effectively, and the digital tools necessary to succeed in this evolving work environment.

6.1 Introduction to Online Working

Online working means doing paid or voluntary work through the internet, with the employer or client in another town or another country. For a biology graduate it can add income to a first job, fill the time between laboratory attachments or grow into a career in data work, writing, tutoring or consultancy. It also has risks: some platforms have withdrawn from Kenya, some jobs are scams and payments need careful handling. This topic describes the types of online jobs, the platforms that list them, and the skills of managing an account, finding and bidding for jobs, building a digital identity, carrying out tasks and receiving payment.

6.1.1 Types of Online Jobs

Online jobs fall into groups according to the kind of work and how the worker is engaged. The groups that suit a person with a biology background are these.

• Microtasks and data work: Short tasks done from a queue, such as labelling specimen photographs, checking the text copied from herbarium labels, rating the answers of an AI tool or transcribing recorded interviews. They are paid per task, they need care and speed and the pay per hour can be low.
• Freelance professional services: Work done for a client as a project, such as summarising research papers, editing a manuscript, analysing a data set in a spreadsheet or drawing maps.
• Online tutoring and training: Teaching a subject or a laboratory technique through video calls.
• Remote employment: A contract or salaried post in which the person works for one employer from home, for example as a research assistant who manages a database.
• Surveys, testing and field data collection: Paid or voluntary tasks such as answering surveys or recording observations for a project, including citizen science projects that value volunteers.

Before accepting any job, check what the work involves, how long it takes, how and when it is paid and whether the person offering it is genuine.

6.1.1.1 Online Job Platforms

An online job platform is a website or app that brings together people who need work done and people who can do it. It handles registration, shows available jobs, lets the two sides communicate and, on many platforms, holds and releases payment. Platforms work in three main ways.

• Freelance marketplaces: Clients post jobs, and freelancers send proposals with a price, so the client can choose.
• Crowd work and microtask platforms: A worker passes a qualification test and then takes tasks from a list, usually for a fixed rate per task or per hour.
• Job boards and company sites: Employers advertise vacancies, and the applicant applies as for any job, with a CV and a cover letter.

Each platform named in the next section follows one of these models.

6.1.2 Online Job Platforms

Platforms differ in the work they offer, the countries they accept, their fees and how they pay, and a platform that suits one worker may be closed to another. Before registering, check these points.

• Availability in Kenya: Whether the platform currently accepts workers from Kenya, since this changes.
• Type of work: Whether the tasks match your skills.
• Fees and payment: What the platform deducts, how it pays and whether that method works in Kenya.
• Reputation: What other workers say about whether payment is made on time.
• Genuineness: That the web address is the real one, and that no payment is asked for the right to work.

6.1.2.1 Remotask

Remotask, which its company names Remotasks, is a crowd work platform owned by Scale AI, where workers complete tasks that label images and other data used to train artificial intelligence. Workers took part in tasks after training courses and tests. In March 2024 the platform stopped working for people in Kenya, according to reports at the time, and it cannot be used from Kenya unless that changes. This example shows why availability must be checked, and why income from one platform should never be treated as certain.

6.1.2.2 Data Annotation Tech

Data Annotation Tech is a platform that pays contributors to help train artificial intelligence, for example by judging answers given by an AI tool, writing example prompts and answers and checking facts or program code. It offers some work in particular subjects for people with qualifications in them, so a science graduate may be offered tasks in a science track. Applicants take an assessment before any work is offered, and the platform accepts workers only from the countries it lists, so the current list must be read on the platform before applying. Payment methods are stated by the platform and should be checked to see whether they can be received in Kenya. At the time of writing, the public home page is reported to list the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, and Kenya is not among them, so a learner in Kenya should read the current list before spending time on the assessment.

6.1.2.3 Cloud Worker

Cloud Worker is a general name for online work done through cloud-based platforms, and several services use similar names, so the first step is to confirm which company is meant by finding its official website and reading what the work and payment terms are. The general idea of cloud work is that the worker receives tasks through a web platform and returns the results online, without meeting the client. Read the terms and reviews from other workers, confirm how and when payment is made and do not give an identity document or any payment to an unverified site.

6.1.2.4 Upwork

Upwork is a freelance marketplace on which clients post jobs and freelancers send proposals. A freelancer builds a profile with skills, a portfolio and an hourly rate, and sends proposals, which on Upwork use credits called Connects. Contracts are either hourly, where tracked time is paid, or fixed price, where payment is released as each stage of the work is approved. The platform takes a share of what the freelancer earns, and the amount and the way proposals are charged change from time to time, so read the current terms. Clients and freelancers rate each other, and a good record helps to win further work. Jobs of the kinds listed earlier, such as scientific writing, data entry, data analysis, transcription and tutoring, are advertised on it.

6.1.2.5 Oneforma

Oneforma is a platform for crowd work on data projects for technology companies. Typical projects are collecting speech and image data, transcribing audio, translating text and judging or labelling data used to train AI systems. A worker registers, completes a profile and may take language or skills tests, and then receives invitations to projects that match the profile and the country. Pay is set by the project, and projects are open or closed as the company's needs change, so work is not continuous. A person who speaks a language that a project needs may be invited to it.

6.1.2.6 Appen

Appen is a company that provides data for AI, and it uses a large crowd of contributors to collect, label and check that data. Contributors apply through the company's platform, are screened and are matched to projects such as audio transcription, image labelling, search result rating and language data collection. Each project has its own guidelines, quality checks and pay, and work comes in bursts. The rules for contributors, including the countries accepted and the way of payment, are on the company's website, and they must be read before applying.

6.1.3 Online Account and Profile Management

An account is the worker's access to a platform, and the profile is the page that clients or the platform use to judge the worker. Handle both carefully.

• Account setup: Register with your real name and a professional email address, choose a strong password that is not used anywhere else and switch on two-step verification.
• One account: Platforms normally allow one account for each person, and a duplicate or a bought account can lead to a permanent ban.
• Profile content: Add a clear photograph, a title that states your work, a short summary of your skills and experience, your education and certificates, and your languages. State your qualifications truthfully and make them match your CV.
• Portfolio: Add samples of work that you may legally show, such as a report you wrote, a diagram you drew or a cleaned data set with the confidential parts removed.
• Verification: Give identity documents only through the platform's own verification page and never by email or chat.
• Upkeep: Update the profile when you gain a skill or complete a project, answer messages quickly and politely, and keep your availability up to date.

6.1.4 Identifying Online Jobs/Job Bidding

Finding suitable work begins with a search on the platform using keywords that name your skills, such as "scientific editing", "specimen image labelling" or "data entry", with filters for job type, budget and experience level. Save the search and switch on alerts, so that new jobs reach you quickly.

Read each job post carefully. A sound job states the task, the output, the deadline and the budget, and the client has a record of paying. Warning signs of a scam are a request to pay a fee to get the job, a request to continue the conversation or the payment outside the platform, vague tasks, pay far above the normal rate for easy work, a request for your identity documents or card details, and a sender who pushes you to act at once. Do not accept such jobs, and report them to the platform.

When bidding, follow these steps.

1. Read the whole job description and note what the client needs.
2. Write a proposal for that client, naming the task and showing that you understand it. Do not send a copied general message.
3. Explain briefly how your skills and experience fit, and attach a sample of similar work if allowed.
4. Ask one or two clear questions if something is not defined.
5. State the price and the delivery time, and confirm what is included.
6. Read through the proposal and send it, then answer replies promptly.

Pricing should reflect the time the work will take, the skill needed and the deductions. Example: suppose a client offers Ksh 12,000 for summarising a set of research papers that will take about 15 hours, and suppose the platform keeps 10 per cent of the payment. The deduction is 12,000 × 10 ÷ 100 = Ksh 1,200, so the worker receives 12,000 − 1,200 = Ksh 10,800. Spread over 15 hours this is 10,800 ÷ 15 = Ksh 720 an hour, before tax and the cost of internet data. A worker who has calculated this knows whether the job is worth the time. A new worker may price a little lower to win the first jobs and a reputation, but a price that does not cover the effort and the costs leads to poor work and burnout.

6.1.5 Online Digital Identity

A digital identity is the picture of a person that others form from what is found about them online: their accounts and usernames, profiles, portfolios, posts, ratings and reviews, and whatever other people publish about them. Clients and employers often search a name before they hire, so the digital identity can win or lose work. The collection of traces that a person leaves online, including those they did not intend, is called the digital footprint.

To build a good professional digital identity, use the same name, photograph and short description on your work profiles, so that you are recognised. Share work-related content, such as notes on a laboratory technique, and take part politely in discussions. Do your jobs well and on time, since reviews and ratings are part of the identity. Keep personal and professional accounts apart and check the privacy settings of each.

To protect it, use strong, different passwords and two-step verification, and be suspicious of messages that ask for login details, because a stolen account can be used to cheat clients in your name. Search for your own name from time to time, ask for the removal of wrong or outdated material and answer negative comments calmly. Remember that posts, photographs and comments can stay online for a long time.

6.1.6 Executing Online Tasks

Carrying out a task well is what earns repeat work and good ratings. Follow the steps below for each job.

1. Read the instructions, guidelines and examples until the task is clear, and ask the client before starting if anything is unclear.
2. Plan the work with a list of steps and a deadline for each, and allow time for checking at the end.
3. Prepare the tools the task needs, such as a spreadsheet, a document editor, the platform's task tool and a time tracker.
4. Do the work according to the guidelines, and keep to the format that was agreed. For example, when labelling photographs of plant leaves, use the exact label names the guide gives and do not invent your own.
5. Check the work against the instructions before submitting, and correct errors, since quality scores often decide whether more tasks follow.
6. Communicate with the client or the platform: report progress, give notice of any delay and answer queries.
7. Submit on time in the required format, and keep a copy of your work and a record of hours and payments.

Respect confidentiality: do not share a client's data or the content of a task, and do not use it for any other purpose. Prepare for the common problems in Kenya: keep devices charged, have a way to continue working during a power cut, such as a charged laptop and a mobile data bundle, and save work often.

6.1.7 Management of Online Payment Accounts

Online work is paid through accounts that receive money from the platform or client. They are often a platform wallet, a payment service such as PayPal or Payoneer, or mobile money such as M-Pesa. Before accepting a job, find out how the platform pays, when payment is released and which methods of withdrawal are available to a person in Kenya, since not every service can be withdrawn locally.

Manage payment accounts with these practices.

• Setup: Open accounts only from the official website or app, use your real name as it appears on your identity document and complete verification, so that withdrawals are not blocked.
• Security: Use a unique password and two-step verification, never share codes or passwords, do not click links in payment messages and check the account directly on the official site. Be careful of messages that claim a payment has been made and ask you to return part of it, because they are scams.
• Terms and fees: Learn what the platform deducts, the withdrawal fee, the minimum amount and the time payment takes to clear. Money is often held for a period before it can be taken out.
• Currency conversion: Payment in dollars or another currency is converted to shillings at the day's rate with a margin, so the amount received is lower than the invoice.
• Records and tax: Keep invoices, contracts and statements for every payment. Income from online work is taxable income in Kenya, so keep an account of earnings and ask the Kenya Revenue Authority or a tax adviser how to declare it.

Example: suppose a client pays USD 100, the platform charges a withdrawal fee of USD 2 and the conversion margin is 3 per cent. The amount that reaches the worker is (100 − 2) × 0.97 = USD 95.06, converted into shillings at the day's rate. Knowing the deductions in advance prevents surprises when the money arrives.

Chapter Summary

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of performing online jobs, beginning with an introduction to online working and the various types of jobs available in the digital space. It explores popular online job platforms such as Remotask, Data Annotation Tech, Cloud Worker, Upwork, Oneforma, and Appen, detailing their unique features and opportunities. The importance of effective online account and profile management is emphasized as a critical factor for success in securing jobs and building a professional digital presence. Strategies for identifying suitable online jobs and the process of job bidding are discussed to guide learners in navigating competitive online markets. The chapter also highlights the significance of maintaining a strong online digital identity to foster trust and credibility with clients and employers. Practical steps for executing online tasks efficiently are examined to ensure quality and timely delivery. Finally, the management of online payment accounts is covered to enable smooth financial transactions and secure earnings from online work.