Hello Fellow Filipino Freelancers,
If you are a newbie at freelancing, and you are struggling to look for work, you might come across with job posts looking for people to do CAPTCHA. Have you ever wondered what CAPTCHA is? And why is my blog titled “Why You Should Not Apply To CAPTCHA Jobs”?
What is a CAPTCHA?
According to Wikipedia, “A CAPTCHA, or Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human.“
When you log in to some sites, you will notice that you are required to enter the letters and numbers shown in a photo. Sometimes, you are required to click images, as what the latest google CAPTCHA. Other CAPTCHA will ask you to solve simple math problems. There are different kinds of captcha. But the image below is the most common captcha.
CAPTCHA is a security added to websites so it is harder for hackers to get in to websites…. so you won't get hacked.
Why Are Some Companies Hiring People To Solve CAPTCHAs?
CAPTCHA prevents bots or automations to hack into websites. CAPTCHA verifies that you are not a bot and you are a human. Since no bots or any kind of software or program can be used to solve CAPTCHAs, a real person is needed to solve the CAPTCHA.
Now, why would companies need to solve CAPTCHAs? Since, companies can't use bots, softwares or programs, they hire people to do the bot's job. A spamming company may employ you. A company that needs to create many emails may hire you (now why would a company need many emails — yes, probably for cheating, right?). Some companies want to open many accounts (in other words, hack into accounts) to spam, troll, sell fake followers or contest votes/likes, or ad-clicking spams. There are also a few companies that may be working on security systems that to improve CAPTCHA performance (this is legit then, but this kind of company is very few).
Why Shouldn’t You Apply To CAPTCHA Jobs?
So if you apply to CAPTCHA jobs, you may be used as a peripheral to a robot that is employed by either a spammer, a cheater, a hacker. By working CAPTCHA jobs, you may be working with the wrong people.
Other reasons why you shouldn't just settle with CAPTCHA jobs are:
- It may seem very easy job. But where's the challenge in that?
- Unbelievably very low rates. They pay like what? Less than a dollar for 1000 CAPTCHAs solved? It may take you 3 hours to solve that much CAPTCHA and you will get only a dollar or less for 3 hour work.
- The chances of you not getting paid is very high. If they are cheating on other people, why wouldn't they cheat on you? CAPTCHA solving jobs are most likely cheating jobs, right? I'm not saying all CAPTCHA jobs are cheating jobs, but there is only a very small chance of legit CAPTCHA jobs with legit good intentions.
- Other than your typing skills and identifying letters and number skills will improve immensely, no other skills will be improved.
If you are a newbie at working online and you want to be successful in online freelancing, head over to Nizza's Facebook Group. You will find loads of help from her and the members of the group.
There are so many legit jobs out there. You will soon find the best online job for you.
