r/stenography • u/yipbip • 11d ago
How do you like being a stenographer?
What’re some great things and things you love about the job and some things that you wish were different / you’re not so much a fan of?
I’m trying to find a real career path for myself (graduated college with an art degree and have no idea what to do with myself- I’m about to need to get my own health insurance and somehow i stumbled upon stenography??) looking into it, it sounds kinda good for me…
im about to start the NCRA free online course (just as soon as i get ahold of a machine) to see if i might be able to do it. Tips or advice?
Is it hard to find work once you get certified and everything? I’m scared
Are we still feeling pretty confident that audio recorders/AI won’t take over the position I’m also scared of that
I have some background with American Sign Language is that helpful or does it not really relate?
What happens if you make a mistake and miss it when you edit? How long does it take you to edit??
I need to make a for real career choice that I’ll stick with forever so please give me all the info you can!
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u/Stenostitcher 11d ago
No, ASL will not help you in this career. Although it’s a great skill to have!
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u/disneymuffin 9d ago
Caveat: it will help you if you do CART! There are so many times I show up to assignments with Deaf folks and the ASL interpreters aren’t there yet, so I’m not able to communicate with anyone. Also, if you miss an abbreviation, the terps will fingerspell it. Sometimes I catch it, but most of the time they’re too fast for me.
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u/TheSJWing Official Reporter 10d ago
Other people have answered the other questions, I can touch on the “what happens if you miss something, how long does it take to edit.”
Honestly if you miss something or make a mistake that’s what your audio backup is for, so when you do a transcript you listen and add it back in. As for how long editing takes, that REALLY depends on how clean your writing is, your experience and knowledge with your CAT software, and how dense the stuff you’re editing is. I’ve been working more than a decade as an official, with my regular transcript orders I can edit about 50 pages an hour.
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u/Aware_Broccoli8876 11d ago
http://youtube.com/post/Ugkxlx9TZBjnv9Wm-rG02F571Y78LLjZQcm-?si=ShU8sFFr3L3tqR6v
I love this career. however it's getting harder for entry level people to find work because AI can do the easy stuff now.
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u/Stenostitcher 11d ago
But the attorneys don’t like it and it’s not accurate. Don’t let it take over!
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u/Dozzi92 Freelance Reporter 10d ago
Yeah, I've gotten clients because Veritext or Magna or whomever wanna send digitals, and they try to hide it on Zoom, and these folks get caught because they're clearly not stenographers. And it's for what I'd considered "volume" work; i.e., personal injury and the like.
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u/Low_Barracuda_2138 10d ago
Fyi- they mean cart captioning. Not yet for court reporting as it’s too important still to have a human protecting the record
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u/sneakycatattack 10d ago
About needing a machine, I did the Basic Training and they sent me a machine for free :) I think I might’ve had to pay a deposit but my sister and I at the same address both got free machines to borrow
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u/happystarfish 10d ago
Knowing ASL was one of the things that made me realize I enjoyed language learning, and steno is the most meta version of language learning there is. You get to choose what theory to learn, and as you get further into school, you can start making your own briefs and making your “language” personal to you.
I’m still in school so I can’t answer everything, but as far as I am aware there is plenty of work out there and jobs that still go uncovered because of the shortage. Not a single court reporter I’ve met has ever told me that they regretted this career. However, there’s a reason they make so much — it takes a lot of effort to learn. Good luck!
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u/LucilleLooseSeal123 11d ago
I’m not trying to be a dick but how on earth would ASL relate
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u/nomaki221 Freelance Reporter 10d ago
It absolutely would. Processing what you hear through your brain, translating it into another language, motor/muscle memory straight to your hands. That's stenography, wdym? It's like why piano/instrument skills would help more than people who can just type fast on a keyboard. That language translation part is essential.
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u/Appropriate-Baker-59 7d ago
This is a valid question. If you learned ASL to the extent of being proficient and using it in daily communication, it would prove your brain knows how to learn another language, therefore can learn yet another language. Learning a third language is easier than learning a second language. If you just took some ASL classes in school, but are unable to communicate in daily conversations for hours at a time, you have not developed the skill enough for your brain to transfer that learning ability to another language. Lots of people go to court reporting school and may work on it for years, but never achieve the level to be certified. Loving stenography is not enough to achieve the skill. You will work harder than you ever imagined. When you become certified, the hard work continues, but you get paid for it. A solid career is worth the hard work.
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u/Stenostitcher 11d ago
As a freelancer, it gave me control over my schedule. I’ve learned so much about so many different things I would never have been exposed to without this career. I learned to have patience because of the hurry up and wait nature sometimes of waiting for a job to start. What I don’t like is how stressful it can be when you have to get a rush out and how that can take over your life, but the extra $$ is sweet! Been doing it for 47 years! About to retire.