One thing I have realized since I left MT....sm

is that part of the problem is that the bar has been raised as far as the skillset employees are expected to have these days. For one, computer skills are a given. It is just expected that every, even entry-level employees are proficient with computers, so the computer knowledge an MT has really isn't specialized. As far as terminology, etc., honestly learning everything I needed to know about the installation and government was harder, or as hard, as learning MT. With all the tools and communications available via computer, we are expected to be diverse and understand not only the intricacies of our own jobs but those of all the organizations that affect our jobs.

I had to learn just as many business & financial related acronyms as I did for MT including those unique to our organization, used in the financial/business industry, government/military, etc. Formatting documents etc. for business/government/military is actually harder than for MT. Learning all the financial, industrial, government, military terms, systems, and hierarchies was also much like learning MT. I started in an entry level job and was expected to pick all this up fairly quickly and pretty much on the job with no formal training because technology gave me access to all this information. This is all for a secretary/administrative support position.

My point is that since the last generation was brought up with computers, communications, and access to information so readily available, it has completely changed what is expected of office workers in larger companies. There are no more simple secretary jobs. I haven't been here two years just yet, and I am lead for an office of 50 people, expected to train 3 other clerks/secretaries under me and know everything about at least 25 different programs internal to my directorate and all the terms, acronyms, hierarchies, formatting, etc., etc., etc., related to it from personnel management to budgeting/financing, industrial production, government entities, private industry, etc.

I work with both government and private industry, as far as I can tell those in lower-level jobs are expected to be extermely diverse and well-rounded to support those in the higher-level jobs.  Those in the higher level jobs in some ways get paid more to be "expert" in their field but don't have to have nearly the skill set of the lower level employees. Most of those in higher-level jobs have been around a while, and the lower-level employees could honestly work circles around them. However, it is obvious, and everyone knows it, that as older workers begin to leave the workforce the younger/newer workers are going to be expected to know and do a lot more in the same positions simply because the base skillset of younger/newer workers is stronger and more diverse.

I don't mean to make light of what it takes to be an MT, but the business world has changed so much in the last 20 years that the bar has been raised in larger companies/industries as far as what is expected of workers. An older worker may have held the same position I am in now for 20 years, and she is not expected to have 1/4 the skillset they expect from a younger worker; yet, we get paid the same. They just expect younger workers to be more proficient in computer skills, technology, and information, and if you are not, you won't last long or go very far.

• Let's Talk - Tired MT
  • Disgruntled - TiredMT2
  • I don't know if it is the Companies trying to rip off MT's but - MTSO seeing it 2
  • One thing I have realized since I left MT....sm - Marie
    • I think one reason MTs find it hard to have diverse skills (s/m) - Burned
  • As long as this country allows greedy companies (s/m) - Burned, 2
    • To the poster below who equates the BIble Belt with political views - it has nothing to do with religion - see message
    • Wrong - if you had gone to college you wouldn't be having this conversation. - Bad choices = no options.
      • Sounds like all the doublespeak inflicted on us at our employee meetings. Finger-pointing, no const - Burned
      • So how many years of college do you have, and why do you still transcribe? (n/m) - ??
        • I am working towards my master's and I don't transcribe any longer. - nm
          • What field? (nm) - ??
            • Working towards my MBA (business) - nm
      • Eewwww... you don't talk like an MT, you talk like mangement. Ick. (n/m) - Burned
        • Oh, God forbid anyone talk like *gasp* management! - We don't actually WANT to be smart,do we?
          • Have you ever known anyone in mgmt. with ANY basic intelligence? (nm) - Burned
            • Apparently management is smarter than you - they're your boss! - LOL
          • No matter what the intellect, or the job or pay, management SUX!! - Yada
            • that's what all unsuccessful resentful people say - nm
              • So what is it that you do that you're so successful at, & how much do you make? (nm) - Yada
                • I own several rental properties, buy houses and flip them and - sm
                  • are/were u an MT/ME? *curious*...sm - jes wonderin' why you're here ...curious
      • Going to college does not change things - sm
        • You are so wrong! (see m) - Unbelievable
          • college or not - deb
          • the people who really make BIG BUCKS are business owners - my take on it
          • Absolutely correct! - sm
        • certainly going back to college doesn't protect from outsourcing.. - JoV
          • College is sometimes nothing more than a 4-year babysitting service. (n/m) - N.K.
            • That's what all jealous uneducated people say - nm
              • you need an education cuz you're lacking - see inside for an important lesson on same..sm
              • you sound completely narrow minded....nm - so much for all YOUR education!! *lol*
              • there's all kinds of *education* and education - does not stop until we die.....nm
                • that's another thing uneducated people say - nm
                  • evidently you have no clarity about all....nm - education and where all is gleaned from..nm
          • College education and outsourcing - Hot and sunny
            • I doubt that any radiologists here are sweatin' bullets, hon - they are educated professionals
              • Ours do - hosp. is considering having our x-rays done here, but READ in India! (nm) - B.K.
                • Maybe that's a good thing - it's a reason for the Indian docs to GO HOME - buh-bye
          • But it does open our options to move on to careers rather than joe-jobs - college degrees open doors
      • And we were supposed to finish school and work FT (sm) - Retired MT
        • You're supposed to go back to school because of this government??? - Are you serious???
          • Yes, quite serious (sm) - Retired MT
            • Retired or retarded? Anyone can retire if they set their life standards low enough - I don't plan on watching TV in my sunset years
              • All you fans of the government must be from one o' them RED states.......... - Blu State
                • Same reason you do, except I don't have anything to complain about! - LOL
                  • Actually LIFE is very fulfilling. It's working that sux! (sm) - Blu State
                    • Does working interfere with your incessant TV watching? - such a wonderful fulfilling life you lead
                    • I'm not in the Bible Belt, o judgmental one, unless you don't know geography either. Another r - Roll over on the couch and check out COLLEGE on Go
                      • I don't recall mentioning couches or TV-watching! Net-surfing is okay if one can't sleep, bu - Blu State
  • I understand your frustration but this is happening in all fields. - It's called change and evolution.
    • Exactly! How many blacksmiths do you know? - nm
      • Four. And they make very good money. - :-)
        • and how many IT technicians, how many programmers, how many help desk people? - HUNDREDS is a lot more than four
  • Back in 1983, there was an article - none
    • I was making 6 cpl back in 1975! There is DEFINITELY something wrong! (s/m) - Burned, 2
      • In 1989 I was making 6 CPL..now 9 CPL - for nat'l and 12 CPL privately...nm
      • there's no stopping outsourcing now - Around the World in 80 days
        • There's more than one job path so the best thing to do is - get an education & do something else
      • I'm tired - typos ... (sm) - Burned, 2
        • AAMT didn't cause conditions to plummet BUT - Mary-Land

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Seems to me that newbies are getting trained on VR with many companies.  VR gets the better dictators.  Offshore is getting the simple stuff and other half of the better dictators because that's all they can handle.  Experienced MTs are left with a trunk of JUNK on their systems and getting paid no more than the new grads and offshore MTs, and very few are offering us more for our skills, accuracy and ability to transcribe the more difficult accounts. 

I've seen things change pretty drastically just in the few years I've been doing this work.  I cannot land a decent cpl for IC anymore.  I was landing better offers as a new grad than I am today with experience, and forget about landing a gravy account if you have experience.  Just isn't happening!  Bottom of the barrel crap is all I get with a bottom of the barrel paycheck to go along with it.   You have to work till your eyes bleed, your head's about to explode and fingers ache to make a fairly decent living, then people wonder why we are sometimes short on patience and PO'd all the time.  That's exactly why!  May as well be gum on a filthy shoe!

System seemed nice at first but quickly turned out it wasn't.  Someone else I know told me hers kept locking up on her.  You don't have access to your Word entries and if you don't have a compatible shortcut expander, you have to start all over again in theirs.  That stinks.

I found my QA to be very, very picky, over the top, ridiculous things.  I don't think they want people to work for them because it seems you can't do anything right and I'm one who has been in this business a LONG time and no one ever complained about my work before. 

I was very disappointed as I had heard good things about MDI-MD.  Just goes to show what is right for one MT is not for another.

didn't make a lot of sense if you are going to be working an independent contractor because they don't take out any taxes at all, so changing dependents has no affect at all on your check.

Basically what the IRS is suggesting is just creative bookkeeping and you might come out better today, but come tax time and you reconcile eveything it will probably hurt you. 

I don't think there's any cause to get upset or defensive here.  Look it up on line...even colleges are offering courses in Ebonics!  ...well of course they are more sociology-type courses, but still, people are PAYING to learn about the why's and how's of this "other" language.

A quote from one of the sites I found:

"UT-Austin's "Introduction to the Study of African American English," teaches students that the sentence, "Nobody didn't leave" is not "mainstream English with mistakes," but rather a legitimate English dialect. "Ebonics: Myth and Facts" and "African-American English" are both offered at Harvard. Penn and UCLA also promote Ebonics as a legitimate dialect in, "Introduction to African American and Latino English" and "Afro-American Sociolinguistics: Black English," respectively."

Here's the link: http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2002/september_2002_2.html

>>>How darn hard it is to quit.  I have tried everything.  Patches, gum, Wellbutrin, Zyban, cold turkey, etc.

You had the dream, but you didn't have the drive. You have to want it badly enough to stick with it NO MATTER WHAT.

I'm talking from personal experience as a former 2-1/2 pack per day smoker.

Last cigarette was May 6th, 1992. Quit cold turkey.

Think of them as arrows on a number line.

<__5__6__7__8__> 

If the arrow is pointing right, it's greater than.  If the arrow is pointing left, it's less than.  Think L (left) for Less than.