Court Reporter: Song "Danger Zone"

Introduction
You have to be a bear for detail. And you have to be able to focus completely on what you are doing.

If you are editing transcripts after the fact, you have to make sure that anyone looking at your work knows exactly what is taking place in what you have written. If you are doing real-time transcription or recording, you have to make the quality of your recording or transcription top notch.

Job Function
I write the captions for television programs. People who do court reporting can work in many different capacities, transcribing meetings, court proceedings, television programs, you name it. If you ever watch Top Gun with the captions you'll see something like "Song: Danger Zone" while the planes zoom past. You might be lucky enough to be the guy who wrote that.

As for myself, I like the pressure and the speed of working on TV. There's no time to go back and fix things once they're written down. And that's just a good philosophy for life. Once it's written, it's out there. Boom. Making mistakes can be embarrassing, but also incredibly funny, so long as they don't happen very often.

One of the downsides of this career, however, is the potential for carpal tunnel. If you take lessons in Alexander Technique you can potentially deal with problems like that. I think that many issues with tendinitis have more to do with overall posture than typing in particular. That may seem random, but it's relevant. Lifestyle
There are many ways you can organize your schedule. You can work part-time or full-time. You can do a 40 hour work week and work with attorneys or courtrooms. You can even work with a legislature if you are interested in politics. It can be stimulating if the environments that you pick process information that you care about.

And you can do a lot of work from home. So, if you're a working mother, for example, this could be a good fit.

Additional Information
There are a bunch of certifications and qualifications that help you along. Here's a list of them. Don't be overwhelmed. Many of them are specific to what specialization you pick:

Registered Professional Reporter (RPR)
Registered Merit Reporter (RMR)
Registered Diplomate Reporter (RDR)
Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR)
Certified Broadcast Captioner (CBC
Certified CART Provider (CCP)- Check this one out.
Federal Certified Realtime Reporter (FCRR)
Certified Electronic Court Reporter (CER)
Certified Electronic Court Transcriber (CET)
Certified Electronic Court Reporter and Transcriber (CERT)

It takes a little time till you are certified and experienced enough to work. But it's definitely accomplishable. Good luck!

Helpful Links and Sources
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos152.htm
http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED158577&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED158577