Hi, I am Melvin. I have been working as a transcriber with reputed transcription firm in New York for over 3 years now. In my 7 years career as a pro-typist I have typed well over 1800 hours of audio till date .. these figures are conservative but probably it’s more than that. So what is a day like in my life? Except for Sundays and public holidays, my typical day would be something like this:

6:30 AM – That’s what my alarm clock is set to. I get up at 6:30 and start my day off by going out in my backyard and doing Suryanamaskar and Hatha yoga. This roughly takes about 20 minutes. This is followed by a refreshing bath and a healthy but light breakfast so as to prepare for the rest of the day.

8:45 to 9:15 AM - Reach office, say Morning and catch up with my colleagues and open my business laptop. The first thing I do is log on the internet and check my mails. We follow up and check on our clients audio files that come for transcription, go through any specific instructions that they may have for us while typing . I also take this time to go through the feedback provided by the customer on the previous work done.

9:15 AM to 1:00 PM - I start transcribing after checking my mails. First we check on which audio files are pending, then prioritize these according to A) Urgency and B) Deadlines. After this planning is complete, I then proceed to loading audio file for transcription and the work commences.

Typing requires steady concentration and a lot of patience. Typing a one hour audio can take upto 6 hours depending on the quality of the mp3 file. For a difficult audio i.e. recordings done in a noisy environment or with multiple speakers it usually takes us 20 percent extra time to transcribe. In either cases, our focus is on one aim: Excellent Accuracy.

Why? Because any errors that creep into the sentence can actually change the intended meaning of the entire sentence or paragraph.

For example, ‘What have you done?’ and ‘What have you done!’ are completely two different sentences because of the speakers expression. As transcribers

1:00PM to 2:00PM: Lunch time with my fellow transcribers.

2:00 PM to 4:00PM: Back to work. Transcribe, transcribe and transcribe. I plan my workload in such as way that usually by 3 or 4 o clock my basic typing is complete.

4:00 PM to 6:00 PM: This is the time allocated for proofreading the scripts, word by word till it gets flawless. The main purpose of proofreading is to eliminate errors, improve accuracy. After I finish with my proofreading, I then submit the script to another transcriber for a second round of revision. This further improves the accuracy and checks errors that I might have missed.

Morning Shifts: I work in the morning shift from 8:45AM to 6:00PM. At six, I get ready to pack my stuff and finish the day off.

What I like the most about transcription?
1.It’s fun.
2.You learn so many things.
3.Work environment is awesome.

How do I stay active during work hours?
1.Drink lots of coffee.
2.Every one and a half hours, I stretch my hands and do wrist twisting exercises. This keeps the carpel tunnel at bay.
3.Do eye rolling and blinking exercises. Staring at the screen for continuous periods can lead to puffiness and eye blinking and rolling exercises are the best way to avoid that.
4.Call up my friends or home during break hours.

Author's Bio: 

Melvin is a Pro-Transcriber with over 7 years of rich experience under his belt. Melvin has been working with for the past 3 years with excellent credentials. As a Senior Typist of the firm, he believes that a healthy lifestyle and good work balance is essential for a happy living.