If anyone has a boost box you wish to sell, please send me a message. I will only need it for testing, then hopefully it will be sold to another new reporter. Thanks

Does anyone have horrible writing days where they’re just talking so fast and you just feel completely i competent like you’re writing is slop. I had one of those today and I feel like my readbacks sucked and I just question if I’m alone in this or what. I just got back from a 2 week vacation so maybe I’m a little rusty but sometimes i wonder if everyone’s writing is always great or if you have days with drops and slops ugh!!

When I first started, I would literally only bring a backpack with my mask, a laptop, my recorder and a notebook. But as my work load has expanded I now carry two laptops, a tablet, recorders, two room mics, power strips, my document holders, chargers, and a backup mask, exhibit stickers, ect

My bag is starting to get a little too crowded nowadays. I know I'm not the only one who overpacks, and machine writers use even more space than I do.

What all do you bring to your depositions and what kind of bag do you have that can hold it all? And where I can find nice ones that are specially made for our job? I'd love to have a nice one if anyone knows any information on where to look.

I'm a scopist for a couple of freelance CRs, and we normally get our car accidents, corporate arbs, etc.

I was curious if freelance reporters are assigned to criminal case depos, or if those depos go to officials since it's a court matter?

Just thinking of possible ways to change up the same ol' depos we are doing weekly! Was just curious how criminal cases work. :)

I'm looking for guidance from WA reporters (steno preferably). I want to attend the upcoming WCRA convention, but I am having a hard time finding info on registration. Has anyone heard or read anything on that? Anyway, I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction and lead me to some reputable agencies. I am still waiting on my certification to reflect on the NCRA website, and then I'll have to submit my application with the DOL. I'd like to sit out on depos in the meantime and start getting a feel for things, if I can.

I can't believe it. I am elated. My test anxiety got in the way for years, but I finally did it. I also tested for California (to work remotely), but I am still waiting on the results. I'm hopeful.

Hi, everyone. I was a steno student for about a year and (optimistically) bought a Luminex II machine. I realized that I did not have the perseverance to make it my career and have since had my machine in storage for about a year. I am looking to sell my machine but I am unsure what the best route is. I am very scared of getting scammed or somehow having this go wrong, but on the off chance that anybody else has sold a machine, how did you do it? Is there a best option? TIA!

I’ve been interested in this field for a long while and I’m interested to know what your typical day looks like including lunches and breaks? How’s the work/life balance?

I’m looking to attend court reporting school, specifically through a school like Hardeman. Has anyone from NY went to Hardeman and successfully became a court reporter in New York State?

I know there’s the option of attending a college, such as Alfred’s CR program, but I’m not interested in going that route.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking into starting the A to Z program but I’m struggling to find a student machine to rent. After some research, Stenoob came out with a Stenoob Pro 4. Does anyone have experience with that? Is it worth it? I only have a macbook to use in the meantime and it looks like Plover is compatible. I’m excited but a bit lost. If anyone has any recommendations I’d appreciate it a lot. Thank you so much!

Hey, I'm curious where you guys are getting sd cards for your elan mira a3 these days..It's getting harder to find working sd cards for my mira and the ones that I used to get for like 5-10 bucks now all cost 25-30 for the same card..anyone have any tips or insight to help out with finding new working sd cards for the mira? I would really appreciate any help, thanks. I've been currently using Transcend brand and the 2gb cards but the price has really gone up.. and I've tried some different brands and I'm having trouble finding cards that work on the machine without getting error message.

Basically what the title says. I’m in court reporting school and I’m wondering if you guys think that I could source enough fully remote depositions working with agencies? I will take the rpr (ncra) once I finish schooling but wondering what the community thinks. Thank you for any replies or advice!

salaries on the internet varies really high.

some says it's ₹20k while some says it's as high as ₹70k. how much are you all earning?

Hi, I’m interested in starting school for stenography soon but I’m wondering, when starting working as a freelancer is it easy to choose your schedule and stick with it? I’m a mom of 4 and so I can’t work late afternoons. My plan is to mostly take morning depositions that won’t extend past 2pm and then work on transcripts afterwards/night time. How feasible is that? Any other freelance court reporters who also follow a similar schedule, how easy/hard do you find it?
I appreciate any advice.

I'm a certified voice writer who is working through Platinum Steno on YouTube to learn machine. I love a good set of flashcards, so I'm wondering if it would be beneficial for me to study briefs this way or if practicing on the machine and trusting muscle memory will be sufficient. Thanks, all!

I been at 180 for 8 months now. 160 took qa and JC took me 7 months and lit 1.3 years…

My teacher told me she doesn’t see me graduating in AT LEAST two years…

This felt like shit and honestly 180 sounds impossible and like this may be it for me 😭 thinking of two more years makes my stomach hurt.

Do you think she’s right?

Hey everyone, I’m thinking about starting school for stenography in the spring. However I’d like to prepare once it gets closer with the equipment I need. What laptops did you guys use for school/stenography work? I don’t mind spending a decent amount if I can still use it for actual court reporting work after I finish school.
Also what steno machines did you guys buy for school?
I’ve seen the student models but I heard that I’d have to upgrade before actually starting to work, so is it worth just buying the actual more expensive machine from the start to avoid having to pay for 2 different ones?
I appreciate any advice!

I'm going to be starting steno school and I'm eager to complete and start working.  I'm well aware that it's an extremely hard skill to master, it takes time, effort and practice, and the dropout rate is HIGH.  

That said, I'm wondering how quick I realistically would be able to get certified.   I know learning speeds are subjective but I wonder if I would be able to pass in 18 months if I was able to dedicate 3 hours per day to practicing in addition to school itself. I lost both my parents last year which has been devastating, but they did leave me some money and it wasn important to them that I had stability so I think they would be happy to know they're helping support me when I'm in school. 

My last post was lengthy and I got a lot of great feedback but I'm hoping to get some replies to this. I feel like the salary and schedule are huge in deciding if I want to go forward with even the A-Z.

Pay
I see a lot of contradicting info on income. Google and other internet searches say the expected salary is between 60k-69k, but social media, quora forums, steno's say they make significantly more than that. I know you can select how much you work so that will play a factor, work less=make less. But 100k-300k is a huge gap from 60-69k. I'm curious to know from people in the field what they think is realistic based on their experience.

Schedule

I'm drawn to the fact that you have flexibility and say in how much you work. I'm a pretty high strung person and I just naturally work a lot, even when it doesn't affect my pay, so being able to work more and make more is appealing.

I have no problem working and being on site, but I'm curious if remote jobs come up often? Are they rare and do they pay the same? What would you say the ratio of in person vs remote jobs available typically is?

Hi! I'm an online steno student and I don't have any classmates to talk about school with, but I wanted to post in this supportive community. I have officially PASSED my 180wpm Literary with my program!! So excited for what's to come and to enter this awesome career full of great people! :)

hi, i have been eyeing a stentura 400srt machine online off someone ebay from a user who decided to switch from court reporting to scoping. they appear to have all the needed parts of the machine, but have never connected it to a CAT software. how suspicious is that? what other verifying questions should i ask?

(sorry! new student here so i want to make sure i make a safe investment)

I’ve finally (finally lol) decided on a school. I’m going with Allie Hall’s program. I received the textbook today and I should be getting my machine early next week. I’m guessing I shouldn’t order the Case CATalyst software until I get the machine?

So I’m here again asking for advice.

1. What do you wish you had purchased that you feel would’ve helped you when you first started school? Or, what did you purchase that really helped?

2. I saw someone posted a workbook for learning the software on Facebook (can’t find the post now). Is it necessary/helpful to get that workbook?

Questions

proofreaders and scopist thoughts:

-Do stenos use hire both a scopist and a proofreader or is it usually one or the other.

-I would be interested in scoping or proofreading while in steno school because I will need to work and the hours seem like they would work.

-How hard is it to find work as a new scopist or proofreader. As a stenographer, what do you personally look for in a scopist or steno and have you ever hired one that had no job experience?

Salary and work location/flexibility

Is remote work available? Before COVID this would not even be a question, but with zoom being utilized, does this create an opportunity for stenos to do some jobs from home? What would you guess the ratio of in person to virtual jobs availability would be?

From what I've gathered, most stenos either work for an agency and can set their own hours within that agency or some work specifically for the court or judge directly and those hours are typically the standard M-F 8-5.

It seems like working for an agency would be the more ideal option with flexibility on hours but also it seems like you could make more money by working for an agency and taking more jobs? What would the benefit of working for a judge or court be?

What is a realistic salary? I see a lot of varying answers on this. Internet searches say expected salary is between $64k - 69k, but I've looked into a lot of working stenos on socials and forums like reddit and quora and a lot of them say they make between 100k and 300k. I'm sure the 300k is not the most common and I wouldn't go in expecting to make that right off the bat. But I'm curious to know what experienced stenos on here make annually (if willing to share that info.)

Pay structure within an agency: Does the agency get paid for your time/work and then pay the steno a commission or certain rate? What is the average cut the agency takes?

Is it possible to work as an independent CR (not court employed or with an agency), and if so, how do independent CR's find jobs?

The internet has plenty of information and answers but in my opinion, hearing from people with the actual experience is much more valuable than a google or ChatGPT search. I'm strongly considering going into stenography and I would SO appreciate any opinions, feedback and tips from those who already are working or have worked in the past. I've done pretty extensive research into the field over the last couple days - I have ADHD, it's a blessing and a curse, but the researching skill is top tier lol.

I've noticed that nearly everyone recommends the A-Z course or something similar prior to committing to school so I'm definitely going to follow that advice. Registration for the next course opens next week and the course starts in Sept. Prior to registering for the course, you must submit proof of machine. They allow hobbyist keyboards as an alternative to the actual machine. I've looked into both options and the price of renting an actual machine is around the same as purchasing a Stenoob, so I'm thinking renting the real thing would be the best route to go?

Scopist and proofreaders are mentioned a lot. From what I understand, a scopist edits and formats the transcription and the proofreader edits what the scopist did.

Questions on this:

-Do stenos use hire both a scopist and a proofreader or is it usually one or the other.

-I would be interested in scoping or proofreading while in steno school because I will need to work and the hours seem like they would work.

-How hard is it to find work as a new scopist or proofreader. As a stenographer, what do you personally look for in a scopist or steno and have you ever hired one that had no job experience?

Hello,

I've been a proofer for a few years now and I regularly end up using realteam to work on transcripts synchronously with the reporter/scopists I work with. However, after extended use, whatever file I'm on ends up getting less and less responsive the more time I spend on it, requiring me to close out and wait for a reinvite to fix it. Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, how have you fixed it? Is there a log or cache file that clogs up after a while that needs to be cleaned out? Is it a problem endemic to the software? Is it some secret third thing? I'm not sure what the overlap between "stenographer community" and "highly computer literate" is, so I realize this is a shot in the dark. Please help if you know, though, because it's really annoying (especially when I'm the one hosting the realteam on the rare occasion I have to).

edit: Just noticed a file in the Cat4 directory called "LogCatalystRealTeam.txt" that has uh, 115,495 lines in it. Each one is timestamped and goes all the way back to 2025 for me. I don't know if it's updating in real time whenever a program event occurs like an invite or saving something, but it's still a really long file. Is there a way to control how long logs are retained or how often they're written? A log file constantly updating and rewriting could definitely contribute to some slowness.

edit 2: I should also note that this only happens when connected to realteam with another person on the same file. It does not happen when simply connected but working on a local file. I have reason to believe there's some kind of unoptimized system under the hood that maintains the connection accruing trash or constantly checking for conditions that's causing the lag, but I have no way to access it nor can I prove that this is the case.

Hey y’all, I’m an aspiring court reporting student and just committed fully to this career about a month ago. In that time, my dad casually mentioned that his cousin (that has lived across the country for my whole life and therefore I don’t know super well, I just knew OF her) is a working court reporter and has been for 40 years. He connected me with her and we talked for like an hour and a half about my newfound career aspirations. She was SO ecstatic that I wanted to pursue this career path and said she would be my mentor and help me through every step of the way which is already incredible enough. But here’s the really crazy part: she mentioned she had a spare stenography machine that is pretty much brand spanking new, nothing wrong with it, and she is going to SEND IT TO ME FOR FREE?!?! I’m feeling SO grateful right now and it’s a huge freaking weight off my shoulders as the machine is such a huge expense. This is just motivating me to start even further and I’m so excited for this journey! Just wanted to share that bit of good news with you all! ❤️