A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

In my case, is becoming an MT worth it? - JeanneN

Posted: May 29, 2013

I read this message board from time to time but have never posted but am looking for advice. Last fall I lost a full time job at a bank - which caused me to sincerely doubt my self-confidence as an employee. I then started the career step MT program and am currently about 60% compete. I recently applied and accepted a job at a local, very busy gift/general merchandise store. I like the job. It pays $9 per hour and is about 30 hours a week. There aren't any benefits. I believe I could be satisfied long-term in this position (albeit poor) since my husband works full-time and has insurance. However, the career steps website does say that the average MT does make about $34,000 per year. Does this seem realistic for someone who works from home and has a year or two in the industry under her belt? I am aware of the many people on this message board who are dissatisfied with the MT industry and are worried about the future of this line of work. I'm looking to work at something that will be around in some for or another for the next 20 to 30 years. I'm not oppsed to working at editting voice recognition. What ever I decide, I don't plan on making a ton of money-but an income around $25,000 would be nice if I am working full-time. Your opinions are appreciated.

No. Not likely to make 25K and more and more MT jobs - are being phased out. nm

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x

It's not "dissatisfaction" It's the brutal honest truth. - Reality SM

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These messages are on here for a reason. People are speaking the truth about MT. You will not make decent money, as a rule. More and more small companies are being eaten up by the largest ones. In-house positions are being eliminated, or cut to voice wreck programs, which means there is less work all around. When you do voice wreck editing, that means the crappiest dictators, the worst, bottom of the barrel are left over for people to edit because the good dictators can be handled by a speech wreck program.

Trust these posts by real MTs who are going thru this every day. Go into a different field. Sadly, you've wasted your money and time on any MT program - my honest opinion. Do NOT listen to recruiters for MT services or people trying to sell you the MT course. Recruiters make money off your back (while you get squat wages), and courses only want to sell you a product.

Reality. It's harsh.

This thread is off the front page now... - sm

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but worth checking out. Some of it kind of went off the rails, but there's also a lot of good, honest info provided.

http://forum.mtstars.com/482015.html

Career Step - Old Pro

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Have you ever asked Career Step how recent that information is, and what the source is for their information? I find that truly hard to believe. I retired from full-time MT (and was an MTSO for a good long while) a year and a half ago. Even with 40 years of experience under my belt, I made 60% less when I retired than I did in 1996! It was my experience that for every job opening, there would be perhaps 400 applicants, among them MTs with many years of solid experience behind them, credentials, references, you name it. At the time, and now, candidates from the two top schools (Andrews and M-TEC) got preference in hiring. I'm sorry, but the jobs (and the pay) just aren't there. If you had asked me the same question 20 years ago, or even 10, my advice would have been different. There is a an analogy that I use: Learning to be an MT today is like learning to be a telephone operator when everybody else has BlackBerries in their hands. Please think about it. Go to the Nuance and M*Modal boards and see what is happening there. Read what the MTs are saying on the other boards. I'm so sorry you have spent money and time on this. I wish I could be a bringer of good news, but I need to be honest. If I were in your shoes, I would stay with the gift shop job or get an education in another field. And there will no doubt be people who will repond to this post with accusations that I am "being negative." Please don't fall into the trap of confusing negativity with reality. Truly, the MT field is on life support and very nearly dead. Good luck to you.

Just out of - curiosity

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Is there really a program called Career Steps in addition to the Career Step program we're more familiar with? I see so many students referring to the program that they are in as Career Steps that it made me curious about whether there might be a program actually called that.

No Career Steps, just Career Step - JeanneN

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I think many people (myself included) just add an "s" for whatever reason.

It just seems odd, - though

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that the students actually going through the program so often call it Career Steps. One would think they'd know the name of their program.

JeanneN - Long-time MT

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Sorry, but that just does not make any sense. MT is all about accuracy. "Career Step" is the name of a school. (It is likely even registered as a trade name.) Why would you want change to it? That is like saying "I went to school at Harvards." Say what?

How about a swap? - MTJ

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You can have my job, and I'll take your gift shop job. I'll even throw in a foot pedal and a whole bunch of reference materials. When would you like to start? hehe

Uhoh - JeanneN

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That bad huh? I'm off to work at the gift shop, will definately think about not becoming an MT. =)

looking into something else would be the smart thing to do. - please get more input on where this

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industry is going from many, many, many other sources than this board and make an educated choice. Give yourself that advantage...in any decision really, but especially with this.

JeanneN - Old Pro

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Truly, it sounds like you have a good gig at the gift shop--and you might get raises as time passes. At least you will know that you have definite hours and that there will be work. That is more than most MTs get these days. Good luck to you!

Eating so much humble pie lately... - MTJ

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Several of us have been noticing that community colleges have been dropping the medical transcription program (more and more). I was recently at my local community college and the career counselor told me that they are "all aware of what is going on in the transcription industry." He also told me that they drop programs in which students do not have a strong likelihood of finding work, so in other words, medical transcription got axed. I must admit that when I was sitting there listening to him discuss my career in the manner he was, I had a very heavy heart. Going in to meet with him, I already knew the career is evolving into something I barely recognize, but to hear it spoken by an outsider--to face the reality of the situation, was very raw and painful.

Anyway, at least he was honest, which is more than I can say for many of the for-profit schools!

MTJ - Old Pro

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I am not sure if this is helpful to you or not, but my personal belief is that that old cliche about one door closing and another opening got to be an old cliche because it is true. Although I am old (70 in August) I am in good physical shape, love sports (basketball and hiking) and could easily have worked 5-10 more years. I loved my work. Many factors played out in my desire to retire, but the main thing that did me in was EPIC. The MTSO I was working for lost a huge account due to EPIC and I took that as a sign that I should hang up my keyboard. Fortunately for me, I live very simply and, apart from travel, have no expensive hobbies. And I travel on the cheap--no first class for this old lady! I am fortunate to have a small retirement and can get along if I am not extravagant, but I look at so many people in their 30s, 40s and 50s being put out of work. It is heartening to see how so many of them are bouncing back. Some are staying in various medical fields, one guy on here is going to law school, other people are discovering new skills and talents. For a long time I was in denial about where MT was going. What gave me a slap in the face was when I learned that the Saunders Pharmaceutical Word Book would no longer be published and that M-TEC was accepting no new students. That is when I knew it was over. I truly do wish the best for you all.

How very, very sad - MTSlave

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It really does make one want to cry.

I trained at M-TEC, worked for Transcend and then Webmedx, all have been consumed by Nuance....

Luckily my youngest will graduate high school next year, we're both going college together. Very bittersweet.

M-TEC grad here, too. - MTJ

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Really, this whole experience has ended up being a giant humble pie, even considering how terribly many MTs have been treated by some of the MTSOs.

Thank you. - Leaving MT

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This post really spoke to my heart. Thank you. I will be 49 soon and I am retraining to be a surgical technologist. I trained at MTEC 6 or 7 years ago, and like you, when it was announced that MTEC was no longer taking new students, I knew in my heart it is time for a change, to get out of MT now while I still have my youth. At my current MT situation, the company is great and I love the job and the pay is very good, but the work has dropped off tremendously over the last couple of years. I toyed with the idea of looking for a new MT job, but the writing is on the wall for me.

I hope I don't encounter age discrimination, but I cannot worry about that right now or let it stop me. There are quite a few people in my age bracket back in school training for new careers. I am active and healthy and I think I am in better shape than a lot of my 20-something classmates (I am a mountain biker and endurance cyclist). I have only been in MT for 6 or 7 years, and before that I had a different career, so I hope my skills are not too out of date, plus I have learned a great deal of new skills at my technical college, even with the prerequisite classes. I will be starting my last semester next week and hopefully becoming certified (which actually means something in my new field).

There is nothing we can do about our ages. The best thing we can do is try to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible with what we are given genetically. I have worried about my age to the point where I have worried it to death, and now I have come to a place of acceptance with it, and I know I will land on my feet. I also know I have a lot to offer an employer.

Good luck everyone, and again, thank you for this post.

Leaving MT - Old Pro

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I do know that age discrimination exists and, like any other kind of discrimination (racial, religious, etc.) it just stinks. But I also know that many people would rather hire mature workers who tend to be a bit more settled. That is a kind of a prejudice, too, I suppose. I have known older workers who goofed off and younger workers who were serious workers who really wanted to have a serious career. So it is dangerous to generalize about anybody, I know, but I do think that many companies and MTSOs want older workers. I once had another MTSO (she was quite a bit younger than I am) tell me that she would rather hire older workers because they were more dependable. Again, another generalization, but at least she was giving older people an opportunity. And I think that in this economy, many people are having to work beyond 65. People are more used to seeing older people in the workplace. I know many people who tell me they will never be able to retire due to investment losses, etc. These things all happened to them through no fault of their own. I have a friend who is 70 who went through some hard times and she works for a temp agency doing general clerical and she always gets placed on jobs without a problem. She is a good worker, is smart and kind. I know that if I were still hiring, I would hire you, and I am sure that a lot of hospitals will be happy to have you on their surgery team, too. Good luck!

leaving also - semi retire

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I'm leaving also. Soon we will have our big barn up and can start boarding horses and hopefully semi-retire. I own several and they are my heart and soul. Can't ride right now because of a bad hip but after surgery hope to be back in the saddle. Horses keep you humble and honest and, quite frankly, I prefer their company to most humans - well, them and my dogs.

Old Pro - Age

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Thank you, I needed that! Very inspiring.

Old Pro, I hope your attitude rubs off on me! - MTJ

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You always have the best comments! When I read them, I feel so much calmer and cheerier. Thanks for taking your time to reach out to all of us and for offering insight, a positive perspective, and support...

I almost said, "I hope you rub off on me," but that sounds nasty! LOL - MTJ

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hehe

MTJ - Old Pro

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Oh, my! That is funny! ;)-

Jeanne, on top of everything else, the learning curve is - so looong for this extremely narrow line

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of work, that's it would be a foolish direction to go even if you COULD build from $5K a year after 2-3 years to $34K for a couple more. In the end, you'd be out of work and have NO marketable skill. After all, your banking skills would be seen as so obsolete as to be nonexistent. Roughly on parity with kids graduating from school.

Is that where you would want to be? Look for work you can grow in. If it doesn't come with plenty of chances to increase your income should you choose by continuing ed, forget it!

And, while you're choosing your future, imagine that you could lose your husband's income and actually have to live on what you earn. It happens all the time.

so loooong - Old Pro

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Your post reminded me of something that might help others. My niece wanted me to help her get started in MT. This was 5 years ago. I said no, I could not in good conscience do that. If she wanted, say, med school, I could help with that, but no way would I be a party to helping her into a deadend job. Long story short: She became an emergency medical technician. It was not a long program (less than a year). The pay was more than she would make in MT. Don't know if any of the folks on her have considered being EMTs, but it is worth consideration.

You would do better to switch courses - sm

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All things considered, you would do better to switch to coding, if the school will let you. You'll get more bang for your buck with it.

Salaries in coding are better, with the average in the mid to upper 40s. You won't be stuck working at home in increasingly worsening conditions, either. There are far better opportunities to move into different types of work once you are in coding, whereas there is almost nowhere to go from MT.

Someone will pop up in a minute to warn you that they think coding is going to be replaced by computers, or outsourced, or offshored, or something, but those of us in the field are not worried about that because we understand the field better.

Thank You . . . - JeanneN

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I really appreciate all of your sincere comments. Thank you for taking the time to write some advice.

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