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The Important Work of a Court Stenographer
If you are looking for work or for a career change, you might want to consider becoming a court stenographer. Many people find that working in a court is fascinating, and for these people, stenography will be a great way to be exposed to life in the courts. Some stenographers who do court reporting are in court every day and they take notes of all the proceedings.
It is fascinating to note just how the work of a stenographer has evolved over the years. Dictaphones, note takers and pens are no longer the order of the day. A court reporter or stenographer is now considered a part of the information technology profession. A stenographer must be an expert machine writer to transcribe the relative information pertaining to court proceedings. There is no substitution for a real-time court reporter or court stenographer who is qualified to do the job, and this makes stenography a highly skilled job and should mean that people in the industry will have work for the foreseeable future.
In order to embark on a career in stenography, you will need to train for one to two years. At entry level, a stenographer must be able to type at a speed of 180 words per minute. However, once you have completed your training, you will able to pursue a career in stenography. Stenography is the act of transcribing all the events during a court case. Court Stenographers are very important as lawyers and judges depend on them to record this very important information. As many of the court cases involve serious crimes, it is important that the information is recorded with perfect accuracy.
Stenographers are not only required in court as they can work for companies and record the events in a large meeting such as a stockholders meeting. Stenographers are also used to help people who are hard of hearing as they type text for closed caption television.
The art of stenography is not simply typing everything that is said in a
courtroom or boardroom. A special machine is required to do the job. The machinery is called a stenotype machine and it is different to a keyboard on a computer and a normal typewriter. The numbers and letters are laid out differently from that of a computer keyboard as the system works with phonetic sounds. It is necessary for a stenographer to be able to push more than one key at a time due to the speed of procedures. Upon the stenographer's return home or to the office, he or she would then connect the stenotype machine to a computer so that it can convert the typed information into a format that is readable.
There are several ways in which a stenographer is able to ply his or her trade. Some stenographers opt for electronic court reporting, which involves the use of digital recorders. After the information has been recorded, the stenographer must then create a written copy of the data in a fashion that is easy to comprehend.
A court stenographer can also use voice writing to get the job done. With this option, the stenographer will need to use a mask so that his or her voice is recorded while at the same time preventing other people in the room from being able to hear the verbal transcriptions.
Surveys conducted back in 2009 revealed that the average salary for a court stenographer on the lower end of the scale was $25,000 per year for someone working full-time as a stenographer. Once qualified, the stenographer must obtain at least a year's experience before his or her annual salary could jump to just under $35, 000. Five years into your career as a stenographer, you could be earning around $36, 000 per year. If you are looking to earn $40, 000 per year then you need to work for about ten years as a stenographer or court reporter before reaching this type of income.
According to the survey, salaries do vary according to which sectors the stenographer chooses to work in. A stenographer who works for certain government agencies can expect to earn around $37,000. An entry-level self-employed stenographer can earn around $40,000 per year.
Some people are of the opinion that voice recognition software will replace court stenographers. While this can be done, the reality is that this type of software will never be able to supersede the skills and judgement that human beings have. There are far too many words that sound familiar that will get lost in translation by voice recognition software. The bigger problem is that right now there are not enough people to fill the positions, which is good news for prospective stenographers or court reporters.
The English language is riddled with linguistic anomalies that only a human being could record accurately. Voice recognition software will not always get the message across correctly. Courts and corporations cannot afford these kinds of errors, so the stenographer's job is safe for now.
A court stenographer must be well trained and well read. He or she needs to have good general knowledge on a variety of topics as the work entails transcribing huge amounts of information. A stenographer has the power to shape the history of his or her country because their work becomes part of society's history. While many people are not even aware of stenographers, these professionals play a large role in society. Court appointed stenographers are especially important as cases are won or lost based on information.
Additionally, today there is a demand for web casting reporters. These people create text instantly for symposiums, meetings and seminars that are conducted over the Internet. When you are at a meeting where text is displayed in real-time on a large screen, you can bet that a court stenographer is responsible for this.