I did an interview with Sheila, a working MT, and so now we’re on to Laura, a working QA! Laura graduated from MT school with near perfect scores and went on to be a part of a special MT program with a large company. She has thrived everywhere she has worked, and was even recently promoted from MT to QA at her company. She is still in training for the QA position but she is nearing the end of that training and I think has had enough overall experience in the MT field that she’s the perfect gal to interview to get the QA point-of-view and to appreciate the difference between the work an MT does and the work done by a QA.
One quick clarification: Laura mentions working as an SE, which stands for “statutory employee.” It is sort of the middle ground between independent contractor and employee. There are only a limited amount of SE positions out there, but you will see it mentioned occasionally. Alrighty, here we go…
How did you first hear about MT and what made you decide to become an MT?
I was searching for careers online one day when I realized I was burning out on general office work. I ran across MT during my search. The description sounded fascinating. I love medical shows, so the medical aspect drew me right away. The clincher was the fact that you could work from home. I was tired of the office politics and the travel to and from work every day. I spent the rest of the afternoon at work researching schools for MT. I found one that sounded perfect and was the right price, and I signed up that very same day!
What was the one thing you struggled with when you first started working as an MT? What was the biggest thing you struggled with when you first started working as a QA person?
Everything was very overwhelming when I started out as an MT. Learning the platform, getting used to the expander, learning the account specifics, learning the different work types and formatting and, of course, understanding the ESL doctors.
The biggest thing I struggled with when I started doing QA was learning how to handle all the things QA needs to deal with. It was much easier as an MT when I could just send something to QA that I couldn’t figure out, whether it was a blank or problem with a report. Now I have to figure those things out!
Up next: Part Two!
This blog is part of a series on transcription. If you haven’t read the other blogs in this series, make sure to check out the summary page for a listing of all transcription blogs.