Once you are working
Getting set up, getting paid, and keeping the contract
- Mercor onboarding: from accepted offer to first paid taskThe steps between accepting a Mercor offer and starting work split into two piles: the ones you can finish today, and the ones you can only wait on. Here is which is which.
- The software you will be asked to install, and what it recordsSlack, Deel, Feather, Hubstaff and Insightful: the tools AI training platforms use, what the time trackers record, and why untracked hours go unpaid.
- How you actually get paid for AI training workPayment schedules, processors, minimum cash-outs and tax forms for the platforms this site tracks. What each platform publishes, what it does not, and what to settle before your first task.
- Mercor's pay week runs on Indian timeMercor counts hours from Saturday 00:00 IST to Friday 23:59 IST, which closes the week on Friday morning in California. That one boundary, plus a timezone difference between Insightful and the Earnings page, explains most missing-hours confusion. Plus the payout rail and the four payment statuses.
- Which Mercor hours get paid, and what happens when some are questionedMercor pays legitimate tracked time by default and names only three reasons hours can be withheld. Weak work is not one of them. How the review, the email and the one dispute reply work.
- The four ways Mercor work stops, and what each one meansPaused, project ended, performance offboarding and policy violation are four different events on Mercor, and only two of them say anything about you. What each one is, what happens to your pay, and why the next contract comes from applying again.
- Can AI training work be a full-time income?The rates are real and often high. Whether they add up to a living depends on how many hours of work actually reach you, which is the part no listing states.