Not at all
Posted By: EmmaMT on 2008-12-24
In Reply to: so you are saying give up and do not stand up for yourself... - curiousMT
CuriousMT I would never tell anyone not to stand up for themself. It goes against everything I advocate. In my many years online and many more in MT, these pleas of we need a union have arisen time and time again.
There are good MT gigs out there. It takes networking, doing your homework, and honest-to-goodness skills.
Do you know what factor hurts the MT profession more than offshore or any of the other boogie men? Shoddy MTs and there are so many people in this profession who call themselves an MT but are little more than a clerk. When inept schools began churning out inept graduates is when the wages began to stall and reverse.
I've taught MT. I've mentored many MTs. There were some that I just kindly tried to tell they would never cut it in this field. It's the reality.
If you're a solid MT who works your schedule, turns in a quality document, gives and takes with reciprocity in mind, and is not constantly demanding you can not only find a worthy job but you can make a great living.
By all means you should be standing up for yourself. Say no to low wages by not accepting the position.
I know the loose ends of MT make life interesting (tongue in cheek) at times. There's the lull around most holidays just when we need the money most. There are more and more ESL physicians and we feel we need to be a UN member to get through a day. But when I see companies saying you have to do a minimum of 1000 or 1200 lines per day (8-hr shift) I think What do these MTs do? If you're a really slow typist, then you should not be in this profession. This is a production environment. If you're a moderately fast MT, you should be able to do 1500+ lpd easily. And if you're fast, well that goes without saying.
We aren't ever going to stop work going to other countries to be transcribed, not any more than we are going to stop VR programs from improving or point and click programs from covering more and more. It's part of the progress as hard as it is to believe.
And just as a personal aside, it's never too late to take on a new career. 58 is still young in work years and if you've only done MT for 16, then you've already shown the ability to improve yourself and do what's best for you. And ALWAYS stand up for yourself.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
|
