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Video Annotation for AI: From Your First Bounding Box to Paid Work

Draw boxes, track objects across frames, read a guideline like a professional and deliver clean video datasets that companies pay for.

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About this course

Every self-driving car, security camera, sports-analysis app and farm drone learns from video that a person annotated frame by frame. That work is remote, growing, and open to anyone with a laptop, patience and a sharp eye, and Nigerians already do it for companies around the world. This course teaches the craft from zero: how a computer sees video, the shapes annotators draw and when to use each, hands-on tracking in CVAT with keyframes and interpolation, how to read an annotation guideline so your work is accepted first time, the errors that get batches rejected and how to catch them, how quality is measured with IoU and review sampling, the export formats clients expect, where video projects are found, and how to build a portfolio that gets you the next one. Every lesson follows Chidinma, a graduate in Enugu who lands remote annotation work with a Lagos AI-data company. Pairs with the AI Training & Data Labelling course, which covers platform sign-ups, getting paid in Nigeria and avoiding scams. Free, like every Skillnaija course.

Chidinma Okoye finished computer science at Enugu two years ago. Since then she has applied for 61 jobs and been called for three interviews, none of which led anywhere. On a Tuesday evening her cousin forwards a message: Naija Vision Labs, a small AI-data company in Yaba, Lagos, is taking on remote annotators and will train the right people. The test is odd. A 12-second clip of Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue at rush hour, and the instruction: draw a box around every car, keke and okada, and keep the same box on the same vehicle for as long as it stays in view. She has never heard the phrase 'video annotation'. Three weeks later, she is being paid to do it from her bedroom in Enugu. This lesson explains what she was actually hired to do, and who pays for it.

What you'll learn

Course syllabus — 12 lessons

  1. What video annotation is, and who pays for it15 min
  2. How a computer sees video: frames, fps, keyframes14 min
  3. The annotation toolbox: which shape for which job15 min
  4. Setting up for free: CVAT and Label Studio16 min
  5. Your first tracked object17 min
  6. Reading a guideline like a pro16 min
  7. Consistency across frames: the errors that get work rejected16 min
  8. Speed without sloppiness15 min
  9. Quality: how your work is measured16 min
  10. Exports and formats: delivering the work15 min
  11. Where the video work is (September 2026)15 min
  12. From annotator to specialist: your 30-day plan16 min

Your project

Your First Video Dataset

One document (Google Doc with view access, or an uploaded Word or PDF file) with a headed section for each of the five parts, the screenshots embedded, and links to the clip and the export file. Everything must be your own annotation of your own clip.

Certificates on Skillnaija are earned, not issued for attendance: you submit this project, it is graded against a rubric, and passing issues a certificate anyone can verify. See the full project brief, rubric and free workbook →

Frequently asked questions

Is Video Annotation for AI: From Your First Bounding Box to Paid Work free?

Yes. Video Annotation for AI: From Your First Bounding Box to Paid Work is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does Video Annotation for AI: From Your First Bounding Box to Paid Work take to complete?

5 weeks · ~4 hrs/week. There are 12 lessons, about 3 hours of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start Video Annotation for AI: From Your First Bounding Box to Paid Work?

Beginner-friendly. You can start from scratch — no prior experience is assumed.

What will I learn in Video Annotation for AI: From Your First Bounding Box to Paid Work?

You will build practical skills in Video annotation, Object tracking, Bounding boxes, Keyframe interpolation, CVAT, Label Studio, Annotation guidelines, Quality assurance, IoU and precision, COCO and YOLO formats, Attention to detail, Remote data work, Computer vision datasets, AI training data. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for Video Annotation for AI: From Your First Bounding Box to Paid Work?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — Your First Video Dataset and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

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