Thanks for your concern - no internet newbie here

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

In response to a previous post on newbies finding a job - I've been typing for almost 15 years and was lucky enough to "learn the right way" from a great mentor, learning all specialties.  Editing speech rec jobs is relatively easy when you have the background in all specialties like "us old folks".

At least for right now, I believe speech rec is only as good as the experienced Editor behind it to eyeball and correct any errors.  I hate to admit it, but speech rec has made dramatic improvements in its accuracy over the last few years.  It's here to stay, it's improving - and surprisingly, the people I work with really enjoy editing.

My concern though is when the old folks like me in the field retire, and many of us are getting close.  Newbies need the opportunity to get in the door and gain their experience in all specialties to take over as the older folks leave the field.  There needs to be mentors to continue to be available to these newbies to guide them along the way.  There are good schools out there, but to "learn it all" you really need to be actively working in the field on a job that gives the opportunity to learn all specialties.

This is my concern as speech recognition becomes more and more successful.  We will continue to need quality, seasoned transcriptionists to become quality, well rounded editors in the future. 

I've taught completely green people transcription, and I've taken newbies in and guided them along the way.  It is satisfying for me because someone took me green 15 years ago and gave me this opportunity, and for that I am eternally grateful.  Putting 3 kids through college was a lot easier thanks to my full time job and another part time job I had. 

Best of luck to all you newbies out there - if you can get your foot in the door at a local hospital, even working in house to start, its a good place to begin.  Gain all the experience you can.  I'm not sure working for these big shlock houses, the nationwide transcription companies, is the best place to start - it can be frustrating when you're given all the ESL docs and junk work and try to plug through it. 

Good luck newbies - keep on pluggin.  

you are being paid correctly at a certain line rate but if she cannot SHOW you how those figures are arrived at, I would be very leery that she is being less than honest with me.  If she knows exactly how she is figuring lines to pay you, she should be able to demonstrate to you how figures are arrived at. 

Go to whitehouse.gov/contact or ehow, etc.  I did just that today.  They invited me to e mail the president - so I did.  Not sure he will ever get it but it was a nice friendly letter.  I asked him to find out and report how many jobs are being offshored every single day, faster than he can create them.  I asked him to try to get specific figures on tax implications and our social security system.  No one has ever given out this information, which would probably be a difficult task since the offshoring companies will not fess up to how many jobs really leave the U.S.  I figured if any one could find out it would be President Obama himself.  As an aside I asked him could it be true that the big banks who received approximately $150 billion dollars of our money actually applied for 20,000 new visas for foreign workers (up 1/3).  With our own money?

 I asked him how his stimulus package was supposed to work.  I have always stimulated the economy, worked, and paid taxes.  Now my job has been given to a foreign worker who does not pay taxes.  What gives?  If that is not on a drain on the system, then the lines for unemployment income are.  I mentioned that the stimulus checks handed out were never going to trickle down to the average American citizen.  Look what they are doing with it.  The best stimulus he could give us is to save our jobs.  We can't spend what we don't have.  I also congratulated him on his new job, financial security, the American people keeping the mortgage up to date on the White House, and that his kids certainly seem to have everything they need.  Keep up the good work and get back to me on those huge figures.  Oh, and I gave him my figures, unemployment at 50% of your earnings for 6 months.

Your e mail can be one sentence or up to 5,000 words.  Can you imagine the President receiving e mails from 300-500 MTs in one week.  Do it.

i glanced at the main responses to your post, not all of them.  But i disagree to an extent with what you've been told.  I have 30 yr experience, for however much weight you want to ascribe to that.

You've heard that practice makes perfect.  That is not really true.  Practicing things CORRECTLY "makes perfect".  You can do something over and over and over, but if it's done wrong, you are not improving your game.

Depending on how much the paycheck is an issue, you may wish to find another job before quitting this one.  But the longer you do things wrong, the more disservice you are doing to yourself.  It's also hard to break established habits.

This is all said assuming you are sure you are being steered in the wrong direction, ie, these directions go against good MT training and/or against the BOS in important ways. 

I have no doubt that some companies hire poor or inexperienced QA personnel, contrary to another posters comment. 

My suggestion is to look for another job.  It may take a little time and be a little frustrating, but what you gain by starting off with good QA and building a good foundation, cannot be found in the situation you describe.  Part of the good foundation is on-the-job experience.

Believe in yourself, make sure your premise is correct, and then do what is right for the long-term.   e/m me if you wish.

It is not rigors, it is boogers...as in "green boogers..."

And no, not a newbie by far...10+ years!

Re-read my post.  Said it is possible.  Also said that I am older and have older docs.  Have also done EMR.  There is a need -- just need to find your niche.  As I deposit my checks I will remember "It is possible" though not everyone believes.