More details - OP - wordie Posted: Oct 4th, 2015 - 12:57 pm In Reply to: More Questions to Wordie. - AnotherWordie
Generally 1 hour of audio now will take me approximately 3-4 hours to complete, which includes proofreading time (required for this contract). With these hearings, as a general rule 1 audio minute equals 1 page on double-spaced pleading paper (numbered pages), which we have Word templates for. Other than downloading the audio files, uploading the completed transcripts, and internet research, all the work is done offline in Word using my own digital transcription player. I am paid by the page, not by the audio minute on this account, but I know some other general/legal transcription companies pay by the audio minute or audio hour.
There are some free players, like ExpressScribe available, that can be used for this kind of work. I actually own RealPlayer, which I bought several years ago specifically to do extra IC work, because it has some features I really like, such as timestamping blanks for later relistening, timers for both time spent in the program and time spent with fingers actually on the keyboard, and very good audio controls, etc., but actually buying one is usually not necessary. So the only thing that could actually stop me from being able to save or complete work is a power outage, and with the amount of time between deadlines, I have never run into a problem being able to finish work on time and have never lost any of the finished typing.
The time to complete, of course, can vary depending on a lot of factors, ease of understanding the speakers, the number of speakers, occasional audio problems, or even occasionally there is an interpreter for a non-English-speaking witness, where only the interpreter's answers are transcribed, cutting down the amount of actual pages typed per audio hour, but the estimate of 3-4 hours per hour of audio is a good rule of thumb to figure how much time I will need to complete a particular file. This is compared to my speed as an MT, which always averaged between 190-210 lph, so you would need to take your own lph speed into account to figure how much with experience you could eventually finish in a certain amount of time.
After posting yesterday, I sat down last night to actually figure out the exact amount I am making per hour and how it has progressed since I started 6 months ago to give you all a better idea. The first month I barely reached $6-7 per hour. The following month I about doubled that to the $10-14 range, and each month it has gone up incrementally. Last month my average was $15-17 per hour for the month, and so far very early into this month I am up to $20 per hour, but that could of course vary up or down as the month goes on. These are all gross amounts before taxes. Just like in MT I'll never get rich doing this lol, but I definitely see feeling comfortable with my income again.
I would very much like to be able to pass along the information for this particular company to you. However, I did ask my account manager recently for an MT acquaintance living in a different state if they were going to be hiring more remote people and was told that they were not planning right now to take on any more people, although that could change, but that she definitely prefers to contract with people who live in the same state, because of the background check and other legal requirements for contracting state work, and that that has worked better for them with this account than hiring from around the country. I got the impression from her that she ran into some problems with transcriptionists out of state before, so it may be a twice-shy situation, too. It probably gives them more sense of control of everything involved, too.
I really don't believe, though, that this account or work situation is particularly unique. I mean, every state has their own courts and criminal system, and someone has to do the work. It would take some legwork to research the possibilities, but I would think the opportunity is out there, if you look for it, and maybe some companies would be willing to hire on a national basis out of your particular state.
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- Life after Nuance - wordie (Views: 1175, 2015-10-03, 11:50 am)
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