Working from Home > Reviews (28)

Ok for the past 6-7 months I have been a website reviewer for Google (Although I am officially employed by Lionbridge Technologies based in the US) I get paid on an hourly basis and this is pretty much how many of my days are. I get up at 7AM (not due to work commitments but simply because I am a morning person) After the shower and shave (which some forget to do once they start working from home with no real interaction) I go for a stroll to the shops for my morning paper. At about 9AM I start work (which I will go into shortly) and usually finish at about 11AM for lunch. After lunch I go out and enjoy the afternoon sun (though we don't get a lot in Manchester) maybe go shopping or sit in a pub garden. I will usually return home about 6PM and start work again, working right through until 11ish. I can quite easily do this 7 days a week since it does not feel like I am working, so in total I am working roughly 49 hours a week. It is of course flexible in that if I have a night out planned, I work through the day and party at night. Also holidays are not a problem either, I can simply take my laptop with me and work on the beach.

So what exactly do I do? And how did I get into it? Well I guess you know already that I rate websites right? When someone types a query into the Google search box it brings up a list of websites right? We would all know this. Now the website that that particular person chooses is then rated by myself and others like me as to how close to exact the website was to the query. So for instance if they searched for "British Airways" and clicked on www.britishairways.com then that would be rated a perfect match. Maybe they clicked on something like www.manchesterairport.co.uk that could be considered to be "relevent". Something like www.flybe.com would be "Not relevent" because it may well have mentionings of BA on the site but is not relent to the query. Lastly something could be described as "Off Topic" if they clicked on a link that we thought had nothing whatsoever to do with the query.

Apart from actually rating the website for accuracy, we also have to look out for things like porn sites (which roughly 80% or queries are, not a job for the faint-hearted) malicious content (Trojans, viruses and the like) and spam (useless websites that we can flag up top avoid in future)

So how did I actually get into it? Well strangely enough it was a newspaper advertisement. I applied by sending my CV online and received a fairly quick response. I had to undergo 2 exams to clarify my level of knowledge about the internet and within about 4 weeks I was accepted onto the program. Payment is direct into my account (although the time sheet leaves a lot to be desired).

All in all I would say this is an excellent way to make money from home. It is certainly not get rich quick and you need a strong stomach (and no children around while working) but the benefits are decent and the ability to set your own schedule is priceless. Lionbridge - You have my seal of approval.