Advice for getting started as a scopist

[Fay K Stringer]

Hi,

I feel a little silly asking this question as I have seen so many great scopists who have years of experience, whereas I have none. I am, however, quite interested in, at least, learning how one would get into this field. I am wondering whether a scoping school would be a beneficial move for myself or whether there are other ways to begin marketing myself and my capabilities. 

I am currently a high-speed student at the College of Court Reporting in Valparaiso, Indiana. I have taken a couple of courses on Eclipse and also some transcription preparation classes. Before I started studying court reporting, I received my Bachelor's in English Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. Is this enough to start looking at how to market my skills as a scopist or proof reader? 

Also,

If people don't mind answering this question: How did you meet your first reporter? Was it a smooth start for you? 

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

The problem is, if a reporter takes you under their wing and teaches you to be a great scopist, then you'll graduate and become a reporter, so all that hard work training you will be for nothing.  That's tough.  I trained my scopist from scratch; she didn't even have any software.  I'd be really upset after all the time I have invested in her learning to be an amazing scopist, if she went to another career.

[Quyen]

If you do end up scoping for someone, don't be one of those "I won't do this, that, or the other thing," "I charge extra for this, that, and the other thing," "I don't work weekends or holidays, and/or whatever else." When a reporter points out something that you've missed, take that as constructive criticism and work to improve on that in the future instead of going psychotic on the reporter.

Oh, sorry. I must be just projecting my experiences with just about every single scopist I've ever contracted.

[Caroline Lane]

Fay, e-mail me at [e-mail] and let's talk.

[Lydia Zinn]

Hello, Faye.  Please contact me if you'd like to discuss scoping.  I'm a freelance reporter using Eclipse software.  Sincerely, Lydia Zinn

[e-mail]