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

Paying to being an MT - Worth it? - Irisia

Posted: Jul 18, 2011

Hello forum users!

I am currently very interested in the MT field. I am a fast typist, excellent speller, I have a good grasp of grammar, etc. I am eyeing a course offered online, it seems professional and excellent and all that. The whole thing seems perfect for me! I would like to work from home and make my own hours while doing this.

However, I recently spoke to a neighbor who is an MT, and she is losing her job to a machine. She also claims that her MT friend is having lots of trouble finding work! Does this hold true for most MT jobs out there? Is it slowly becoming obsolete because people would rather be cheap and pay for crappy software than hire a person? How hard is it to get a job?

So really, what I'm asking is whether it's worth it for me at this point to spend the money on the tuition and learn how to be an MT? I'm not particularly wealthy, so I want to make a smart investment with my time and money. Would training to be an MT be one?

Thank you all so much, I hope to get some helpful responses! :)

Research companies and their hiring processes - mt

[ In Reply To ..]
A lot of companies will not hire anyone without 3-5 years experience. You will definitely want to research all the companies out there to see what schools they prefer hiring from and if they demand experience.

I don't know what you are currently doing to make a living, but I know it is hard to make much more than $10/hour doing MT. I know there are others out there that make more, but the majority make $10 or less, some struggling to make minumum wage. I do MT still, but I only do it part-time for extra money. My husband makes enough money to keep our household afloat.

Another thing to keep in mind is how good you are with ESL (English as Second Language) doctors. If you have a hard time with thick accents, this job is not for you, as most of the docs are ESL.

Most companies are doing editing now too, so being a fast typist really won't make that much of a difference. This is why most MTs dont' make money like they used to. Half the pay for pretty much double the work (most voice recognition is not great, especially with ESL doctors). The pay is about 3-4 cents per line.

Good luck in your endeavors!

MT Part time - Irisia

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for the response!

It would actually be the same for me. I work currently as a freelance graphic designer, I was thinking about doing MT part time on the side. ESL I'd probably be fine with. I was born and lived in Quebec for 24 years, and it's very multicultural, many people's second or third language was English. :)

10$/hour seems low for the amount of time put in for the course and the work involved, though. That's pretty discouraging. :P

Anyone else have a better time with it? I'd like to get multiple points of view, if it's possible.

MT Part time - Deb

[ In Reply To ..]
You should go over to the New MT forum and read some of the posts over there to get a somewhat better idea. Pay particular attention to the posts from Old Pro-she has the experience and always offers good advice and help. I am a new grad myself and went to Andrews which is a great school, but haven't started looking for a job yet so can't offer you an opinion on that.

MT part time - Anne

[ In Reply To ..]
I have been doing this for 12 years and the only perk is working from home. The pay is pretty pitiful and doesn't get better.

Anne is RIGHT - outtahere

[ In Reply To ..]
the ONLY perk is working from home. Been at this for 20+ years, and I can honestly say that the workload has at least doubled in the last 10 years, pay has decreased (Just got a pay decrease due to docs wanting to pay less - hence my Alias OUTTAHERE).. I wish you luck, though.

MT Jobs - lilly22

[ In Reply To ..]
Some online school offer placement with transcription companies. However, you line rate tends to be determined by your experience with some companies. The MT business is quickly going speech recognition. However, there is money to be made there. Once you get the hang of it, you can make just as much money as you would have straight typing a report. Also, you have to take into consideration, transcription is not as easy as most people think. Typing speed and grammar are but a tiny, tiny part of the job. The most difficult part is translating what is being said by the dictator and translate it accurately. There is a world of knowledge expected of an MT. I have been MTing/QAing for a long time and love my job. But, I have to say, I shed more than a few tears while trying to get a job and make enough money to support myself. It was a long and winding road, but the destination was worth the trip.

RUN THE OTHER WAY! NO FUTURE! - oaf

[ In Reply To ..]
Your neighbor is right. The other posters are right. No matter how fast you type or how good you are. Honey there just isn't any money any more!! You would be wasting your time and money training for this!

Thanks for the input! - Irisia

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you all for your replies - I do want to work from home, but I think I would end up making more by working hard to expand my graphic design rather than spending the money on the schooling and then getting paid like crap. :)

Thank you all so much!

good decision! - outtahere

[ In Reply To ..]
Expand your graphic design biz!! Very good idea.. and I am sure you will have much better "luck" with that. It upsets me that schools are still teaching MT with the caveat that you can make GREAT money working from home!!! Sad sad....

No kidding! - Irisia

[ In Reply To ..]
No kidding! They promote it like it's the hottest thing around!

It is very sad how much of a business the school system is here..it freaks me out that I have to spend hours asking people what degrees will actually get me, rather than trusting the school to actually tell me. :P

It would be like going to school to learn to build - or repair 8-track tape players. nm

[ In Reply To ..]

Irisia - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
I would not advise you to enter the field at this time. It is too volatile. However, if you are a risk-taker, go for it. (It's sort of like buying commodities--if you do it, you will probably lose your shirt, but there is always the chance that you COULD hit the big bucks. It's kind of like going to Vegas and putting it all on red.) If you do decide on MT, you need to have a course that uses the SUM program and that provides access to a live instructor (NOT answer keys!). For my money, there are only two schools:
1. Andrews.
2. M-TEC.
All of the others are waaaay far in the distance, IMHO. Some of them, the so-called "matchbooks," will not train you properly and will take your money besides. No in-the-know MTSO hires from matchbooks. Why not call M-TEC and Andrews and speak with their recruiters? They can probably clarify some of your issues for you. Good luck!

Thanks again! - irisia

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks for more replies! :)

Does legal transcription have essentially the same problems? Someone elsewhere suggested it, but I was curious if it was suffering a similar fate.

Question for moderator - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
How come my post got removed the other day and I got banned for answering the same question in a "negative" way? Not trying to start trouble, just curious.

MT work - Happy MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I have run a small transcription service for 20 years. I have always had 2-4 people working for me. I trained many of those myself. They brought to the table what you have, speed, excellent speller and grammar. Many gals I have trained had only those traits and caught on VERY fast and did very well, moving on to get their own accounts. I have yet to have a client who knows what the heck AAMT is or means. My experience is most doctors like things done THEIR way, not the AAMT or Boston Book of Style so I have never used any of those. I have work coming out my ears. My large clinic has gone full circle, tried voice recognition for a year and they hated it, doing the editing themselves. Some in the clinic are still using it and their notes look awful. I have been doing this clinic for over two years and more and more doctors are going back to dictating from VR. I have worked for many doctors in these 20 years that could NEVER successfully use VR as they will never talk slowly and clearly enough.

I have never done hospital dictation (except some ER work) because you cannot make good money on many dictators. You make good money by doing the same doctors (which I do) over and over every day. I feel anyone can be trained with your stated skills. Of all my doctors, I have only two ESL and one may start out thinking they are difficult, but with samples they say the same thing over and over and they become favorite dictators.

I would be curious to know what you consider being a "fast" typist. I have met people who think 70 and 80 wpm typing is fast. I do not feel it is that fast in this field. I hired only 90+ wpm typists as obviously the faster you type the more money you will make, and the more money you make, the happier you will be. I have had discussions here before about speed and I know for a fact it matters. Others, on this thread, say it does not. I type 1100-1200 lines a day for my clinic. Subs typing 75 wpm can only do 700-800 a day. We both have same accuracy, so obviously speed matters. I pay people 8 cpl on QA, 9 cpl off QA for easy platform, easy dictators.

So I don't agree with many of the posts here comparing it to my 22 years experience. I have never run a larger service because my standards are very high, I provide preferably 100% accuracy (once I let someone off QA), excellent TAT so I have always found it very hard to find a lot of good people in this field, speed, accuracy, work ethic for a larger service. I don't know how large services find them. I have always treated people like true subcontractors, NO hassles to be off, only good communication and desire to work. I love this field. I love working from home surrounded by my 4-legged friends. I hate office gossip and politics so this job has been perfect for me. I am sorry you have been so discouraged here. That is not everyone's experience. Feel free to contact me via e-mail if you'd like to discuss further. I have several local docs I got to go to digital dictation, besides my clinic. So there is plenty of work out there for good MT's. Lot of changes yes, outsourcing yes, but the field is far from dead seeing doctors unhappy with VR. Good luck.

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