Student machine to professional machine

My question is for reporters in the field.   Can you give me the 411 on the transition from a student machine to a professional machine.  What I mean by that is:

- When did you get your first professional machine?  Beginning of school?  Tail end of school?  As soon as you passed your certification exam?  After you became established as a reporter?

- How was the transition from a student machine to a professional machine?

- When should I consider looking into getting my professional machine? I'm currently a student in 160.

All I can do is tell you what I did and what my reasoning was...

I stayed on the 400 SRT until I was in a higher speed (180/200) because A) I wanted to make sure I was in a position to make the economic commitment and B) I was at a point where I knew my personal writing style and what my priorities would be for a professional machine. 

I investigated the professional machines at the time - the Fusion and the Mira - by asking classmates about the pros and cons of their machines.  I next wrote on both machines in a vendor booth at a DRA (Deposition Reporters Association) convention. 

After "test-driving" them, I made the leap into the paperless world by going with the Mira.  The keystroke depth is what did it for me, but I could have only made this decision at a higher speed.  I already had a sense of what I would want on the job.

If you are already using a paperless student machine, then this next tip may not apply.  BUT, if you are going from paper to paperless, give yourself several months to a year in school to adjust so you are at peak performance for a licensing exam.  I bought my Mira about five or six months before qualifying for the CSR exam, which I then took six months after that.  

It was great timing because I was completely comfortable with the machine for the exam and could also hit the depo ground running.  But I would have blown it with only a few weeks to a month on the paperless machine especially because of numbers - that's another story.  Paper to paperless requires some adjustment and tweaking.

In general - and this is a little off the topic - DON'T change anything within two months (even three) of the exam.  I.E.,  if you qualify tomorrow, stick with what you've got - machine, software, MS Word, whatever.  I can't tell you how many people have bungled the skills portion because they went out and bought a bunch of stuff literally just before the test.  I know it's hard to time these things, but my process worked for me.  Good luck!

First off, I am still in school ... but I wanted to tell you a (relatively) quick story.

At my first CR school, they recommended that we all buy Stentura 400 SRTs and the student version of Case.

I had a bad experience with Case (version 4.x at the time), so that was out for me, and the student writers had the problem of having a 50 page memory limit.

What that meant to me was when it came time to work, I would have to spend another $4,000 for a new writer, on top of whatever I spent for that 400 SRT (and don't get me started on the cost of the professional version of the software).

Didn't want to do that, so I started reading through a stack of JCRs my on-again, off-again boss had at my job (I was a transcriptionist for a few years), and I found an ad for something called a ProCAT Flash.

I then found ads from the resellers further into the magazine, and thanks to a timely tax refund, I bought myself a refurbished ProCAT Flash ($1650 or so) a laptop ($1,000), and ordered a copy of digitalCAT ($35 at the time).

I used that setup all the way through theory, and got up to 120 in speedbuilding ... then my school closed.

After a four-year layoff, I am back in CR school, using the same writer, an updated version of the software, and a way cooler laptop ... but I don't anticipate any graduation $urpri$es with the writer and software I am using.

Finally, while I did purchase my writer from a reseller, I recommend that you purchase a refurbished ProCAT Flash directly from ProCAT.  Tell them you want "The Cheap and Sleazy Discount," and they'll knock $100 off the price (normally $1595).  I have seen one too many students who try following my recommendation ending up with writers lacking knobs, memory cards, or realtime cables ... so get your refurb directly from the vendor, if you can.

Good luck, Mikey.

--gdw
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