MT Training - depressed, discouraged - earlymusicus

Posted: Aug 28, 2010

I graduated back in May of this year, from the MT program at a local two-year college. The program was a one-year program, but due to the way the required courses were scheduled, it took two years of attending full-time to finish it. I'm starting to wish I had discovered MTStars before I enrolled in the program; if I had known then what I know now about the MT field, it would have saved me almost $10,000 in tuition for training that feels worthless now! As I read postings by experienced MTs about such things as different computer platforms, using function keys, keyboard shortcuts, and the like, I feel like I'm so unprepared for this kind of work. The only computer training we received in our MT program was a Microsoft Word course through the general computer science department. It was a course more for people to learn how to type papers in Word. It certainly wasn't specific to the allied health programs at the college. I feel like the college should have some kind of medical computer applications course - where students are exposed to different medically-oriented computer programs. Along with the rest of my coursework, I took the medical billing class - it was just one class - and we didn't get ANY experience in actually doing billing. It was more of an intro to the field of medical billing. So here I am, having worked hard, done well in my classes, but still can't get a job. The whole point of going back to school was so I could get back to work. (I was laid off from my job in October 2007 because our company ran out of work contracts and nothing was coming in.) I researched the field of medical transcription before I decided to enroll in the program and at the time there were still good jobs in the area being posted on job hunting websites. The director of the program assured me there were all kinds of good jobs (I know now not to trust these people: they will tell you anything to get you to sign up for the program just so they can keep their jobs). The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook book said the field was expected to grow. Nobody said anything about how the field has been decimated by outsourcing to India, how hard it is to make even minimum wage, and even to get that, you sit at the computer all day and most of the night, waiting for a job to come through. I wish I could get a full refund of my tuition money! It was such a waste! I could use that money now to stave off homelessness. If I had any money left to pay for classes, I'd find some better training to get - like, oh, maybe truck driving or computer repair or something that I could actually get a job with. So I'm back to applying for general clerical work, date entry, and am thinking of applying at Walmart or some other place - I'd probably stand a better chance at getting a job than I would with MT. I feel so depressed, discouraged, and like a perfect schmuck for having wasted my money on this training. How could I have been so stupid?