I’m a court reporter.

How would you describe what you do?

We go to attorneys’ offices and we write verbatim what’s being said in depositions or in hearings and go to court sometimes as well. If you ever see the person on TV sitting there with the machine writing, that’s what we do.

We are freelance here, meaning that we usually go to attorneys’ offices rather than court, but we do fill-in in court sometimes, too.

What does your work entail?

Some of the reporters are mask reporters, which means they just repeat into another recorder exactly what’s said, and some of us are writers, where we’re typing shorthand what’s said, and then the shorthand get transcribed into English in a computer.

…you learn a lot…You can hear from an accountant talking numbers all the way to an expert in vehicle motion. So you really get to hear from a lot of interesting people.

Then you have to go back and proof it and edit it and be sure that it’s all correct, and after that’s done, then it all has to be printed and copies made along with any exhibits.

I wouldn’t call it a 9 to 5. You may have a deposition all day from 9 to 5, but if they need it the next day or in a couple of days, you’re going to have to be working evenings to get it finished.

How did you get started?

I was living in San Francisco and working as a legal secretary and started talking to the court reporter who came to our office. She had a school for court reporters so I decided to try it out and really loved it.

What do you like about what you do?

You have flexible hours. You’re not always in the office, you’re out. Everyday, it’s something new, and you meet a lot of new people and you have some really interesting cases. It’s very rarely boring.

What do you dislike?

It can be long hours sometimes where it’s not come home at 5 o’clock and you’re off.

If you see the close captioning on TV, those are reporters that are sitting there, taking it down. And you can do that from your home, do it through satellite while watching it and have it feed over. I know people who have done the Olympics just sitting in their living room taking it all down.

Your work has to be scheduled around what has to go out the next day. If you take in something they needed tomorrow, you have to work on it that night. There’s just no way around it.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

It’s by the typed page. So, the more pages you produce, the more you make. And the more they talk, the more you make.

How much money do you make as a court reporter?

As a court reporter, starting out, I would say, starting, you could make $30,000. And then it depends on how busy you are. You could make $80,000 if you’re really busy and really good at what you do.

Are there any perks to this career?

Well, you learn a lot, or a little about a lot of things. You can hear from an accountant talking numbers all the way to an expert in vehicle motion. So you really get to hear from a lot of interesting people.

What education or training is needed to be a court reporter?

You have to have a high school education, and then with the machine reporters, you have to go to school. The average is 2 ½ to 3 years. And you take classes learning the theory of it, but then you also take medical, legal, and English classes. And the mask reporters, I’d say 6 months to a year on theirs and they can learn that on their own. There are correspondence courses for both mask and machine, and there are no schools around here. The closest machine school is in Tulsa.

You have to take medical classes so you know what they’re talking about. If they’ve gone through all these medical terms and you have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s going to make it really tough to be sure that you’ve got the right spelling and know that that’s the word that they meant to say.

What is most challenging about being a court reporter?

The speed sometimes. Sometimes they get to going really fast, and you have to slow them down because you can’t get it, or they’re talking over each other and you have stop and say, “One at a time.” It’s a lot of things that a tape recorder wouldnt get. You really need to have a person there who can know what they’re saying and stop if you need to.

What is most rewarding?

I like to get out and meet all the people. That’s one of the things I like most about it, you get to meet so many interesting people.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

That you have to be a good listener, you have to hang in there through the training. It has to be something you want, not everybody can do it. Some get into it and just think, “This is not what I want to do at all.” Just look into it, you can get online and find information on it.

How much time off do you get/take?

If you’re not working that day, you don’t get paid anything. So in the beginning it was very little. Now I have more.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

That you just go and you write it down during the deposition, then you go home and it’s done, that’s all there is to it. All they see is you sitting there taking it down. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes that goes on.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

Just to keep building up. I started out in my extra bedroom doing it just myself and now I have seven other reporters with me, and we have video conferencing, we have transcription, and so, and that’s a fun part of it, too. Just to keep building it, but keep it small enough that it’s in control.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

Well, you can go on from being a court reporter to being a CART(Communications Access Realtime Translator) reporter. If you see the close captioning on TV, those are reporters that are sitting there, taking it down. And you can do that from your home, do it through satellite while watching it and have it feed over. I know people who have done the Olympics just sitting in their living room taking it all down.

There are also students at universities who are deaf that they have so they have a court reporter who’s sitting there taking down what’s being said in the class and it’s coming up on the computer so that they can keep up with what’s going on.

So there are a lot of different things that you can do with that skill.

What do you do for a living?

I am a freelance artist, specializing in 3d weapons.

How would you describe what you do?

I create weapons through 3d programs for video games, magazines, etc.

What does your work entail as a graphic artist?

I create models. It entails coming up with a basic idea, adding my own twist to it, and being generally artistic with it. Most of the time, I only do weapons, so that means if someone wants something historically correct, I have to research every bit of this item they want, from the size, the shape, even the details on the handle. But I also have to go out and advertise myself on a daily basis, to make sure I don’t go without a job. I have to regularly go to various websites and areas around where I live, show people what I can do, and offer my services wherever needed.

How did you get started?

Like most other freelance artists, I just went for it. I studied in various art styles until I found the one I wanted, studied on that one for quite a bit longer, studied some more, then went out and looked for people that were in need of my services. I looked at a couple sites, set up multiple profiles on various art websites, and got  my name out there.

What do you like about being a freelance artist?

I like that I get to work on my own terms, most of the time anyways. And I also like that I actually get to create something new everyday, and be able to see my finished artwork on something that people will see on a regular basis.

What do you dislike?

Winter. Not many people are looking for 3d artists around that time of the year.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

I make my money through a deal me and the person hiring me works out. They want something, I offer a price, we barter for a bit until we both come to a price we both agree on. Also, I get half of my money when I’m halfway done with my art, then the rest when completed.

How much money do you make?

I average around 1000 a month. Not much, but I’m still new.

What education or skills are needed to be a freelance artist?

Alot. You need to have an artistic ability in general to do this. Some people think because they can pick up a pencil and draw a cartoon they saw on TV, they should be able to get money for it. This is not true. Though I am specialized in 3d art, I have also studied figure studies, landscapes, color theories, drawing, pastels, paints, as well as many other things. So to be able to do this, you will need a lot of skill, patience, and a willing to learn and to take critiques on a regular basis.

What is most challenging about what you do?

Being able to work in general. Sometimes, I just want to sit and wander around the internet, or watch a movie, but you just have to pick yourself up and get to work. You don’t have a boss, so you have to be your own motivator, as well as your own supervisor.

What is most rewarding?

The most rewarding thing about being a freelance artist, is that you get to see your finished art be used for something that people will use or play with, or even just to look at. Its also nice hearing the ooh’s and ahh’s for your artwork.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

Study. Don’t slack off and do a doodle or two a week, you will need to work on your chosen art skill almost every day. Look at reference pictures, study on your favorite artists, learn new techniques every day. In this field, you never stop learning. Also, don’t give up when you see that you don’t have anyone liking your work. Listen to them, or ask them what’s wrong with it, and improve yourself with those critiques. Take some classes as well. They help.

How much time off do you get/take?

Surprisingly, not much. Though I may not be doing jobs 24-7, I am also learning, advertising, practicing, and just studying in general.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

That its an easy job that you do whenever you feel like it. Some people may be able to do this and live off of it, but most artists starting off wont be able to. Most artists starting out wont be able to live off of their art in general for a while, that is until they get their name out there.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

To get better at what I do. As I said before, you never stop learning, so I want to be able to learn as much as I can and become as experienced as possible. Oh, and to get more jobs on big name video games.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

Its fun, though it can be tiresome. This is by far the best job I have ever had, I get to do my dream job: I sit at home and create 3d weapons on my computer. Though its non stop studying and advertising, when you get the hang of it, its pretty awesome, so if you want to do this, just go for it, and don’t hold back.

What do you do for a living?

I climb and inspect cellular phone towers.

How would you describe what you do?

We climb up a cell tower, say anywhere from 200 to 500 feet and do maintenance mainly on cellular phone towers changing changing out transmission lines or antennas. Sometimes we just change out light bulbs on the tower, that sort of thing.

What does your work entail?

It varies. A lot of times it’s just maintenance maintenance, changing out antennas and feed lines and, you know, fixing lighting systems, changing bulbs.

…we’ve had people come to work here saying how they’re mountain climbers, they’re not scared of heights or anything and they don’t last a day…

Some weeks you actually get into the building of the towers and that kind of stuff.

How did you get started?

I had friends that worked for a company in Cedar Rapids at the time, they asked me if I wanted to try it and I said, “Sure”, you know, see what it was going to be like. If it didn’t work out I still had another job I could go back to, but I did it for two days and loved it, so here I am.

What do you like about what you do?

A lot of it is just that feeling you get when people are just set off and amazed when you tell them what you do for a living. They’re like, “I could never do that. You’d never catch me up that high.”  And it’s always a thrill because every tower’s different.

You’ve got to love your job because if you don’t love your job, then you’re not going to last at it because it takes a certain kind of person to be able to get up every morning and out of bed, go to work and then climb 500 feet in the air.

Every tower is a new, every one is a new experience so you never know what you’re going to find once you get up there.

What do you dislike?

The traveling’s pretty bad. You’re all over three or four states, so it’s kind of tough on the home life.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

It depends on the company. I’ve always been paid by the hour. But there’s some companies that’ll pay their employees by the job.

How much money do you make as a tower climber?

It depends on who you work for.  Some companies don’t pay very well, so it varies.  Last year, I think I made $60,000. But that’s working 60 hours a week on average.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

There’s some education because the more you move up, the more – as far as computer equipment and stuff, you need to learn how to run. But really you just need a good work ethic and I guess you’ve got to be a strong worker because nobody likes to carry anybody else’s weight.  Also we’ve had people come to work here saying how they’re mountain climbers, they’re not scared of heights or anything and they don’t last a day because they can’t do it. I don’t know if it’s the whole just being out in the open because when you climb a mountain you have a big wall in front of you so you can’t see nothing else but when you climb a tower, 90% of the time, you can see right through it.

What is most challenging about what you do?

I’d say the winters. I always say if you can make it through the winter, you can usually make it through about anything because being up in the air like that for –even if you’re up there just for an hour, it’s usually ten times colder in the air than what it is on the ground, you have nothing to block the wind.

What is most rewarding?

I think I’d have to go back to the same thing where you tell people what you do for a living and just the awestruck looks on their face sometimes.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

I guess my advice to anybody is never get comfortable when you’re up in the air because when you get comfortable, you stop thinking about what you’re doing. That’s when bad things could happen.

How much time off do you get/take?

Usually we work year-round so you get your vacation which is a week or two every year. The weather allows you some every now and then, like if it’s thunder storming, then obviously, you’re not going to be climbing when there’s lightning. Sometimes during the winter if it’s too cold and we’ll take a day or two off.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

There’s a lot of people that say, “Oh, man. You guys must do a lot of drugs and stuff to be able to do that.” They think we’re all crazy.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

Well, right now, I’ve moved up from being a tower climber full time. I’m actually working in the office now as a project manager, so I’d like to just keep doing what I’m doing right now, moving up.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

Just that you’ve got to love what you do. You’ve got to love your job because if you don’t love your job, then you’re not going to last at it because it takes a certain kind of person to be able to get up every morning and out of bed, go to work and then climb 500 feet in the air.

I’m the operations manager for a tower company, a company that builds broadcasts and communications towers, but I got my start climbing up and down them.

How would you describe what you do?

We do everything that’s involved with building and maintaining a tower.

What does your work entail as a tower climber?

We build the towers, we take them down, we put the lights on them, we change the lights, we paint them, we scrape them, we run the antennas and lines.

When you go up a tower and you’re climbing 400 feet, you’re not coming down to get a cup of coffee, you’re not coming down to warm your hands, you’re not coming down for a lunch break. When you go up the tower you’re going to be there all day, it’s kind of like being like a mountain climber.

One of the more interesting things for most tower climbers is when they do a really high re-lamp, because most of them they’re are at night, and the broadcast towers could be 1,000 or 1,500-foot tall. They take the station off the air at one or two a.m. and you’re climbing in the wee hours of the morning changing the bulbs. That would be one of the more interesting things, the view is really good. Other than that it’s a lot of hanging lines and putting nuts and bolts through holes and running cable. A lot of tower crews are on the road all the time, where they just go from one job to the other, always on a per diem and having to get lodging, never really putting down roots. We’re fortunate in our company here that we do most of our work centrally located, but there’s still a lot of time on the road, a lot of times it’s hotels and work, hotels and work.

How did you get started?

I got started because I had relatives who owned a company. I had been in restaurant management for twenty years and I’d had enough of that. I thought it would be really exciting to get out and do something where you’d be physically challenged all the time and your decisions have more of an impact than whether the salad dressing’s correct. It takes a certain kind of person to really enjoy this though. You have to want to do it. If you’re just looking for a job, this isn’t for you.

What do you like about being a tower climber?

I like almost everything except for the winter time. You maintain a pretty high level of physical fitness, though you don’t end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. You’re not cut and all that, but you’re dragging yourself up and down towers every day, so you do have a certain level of physical fitness. Secondly, you’re outside all the time. So if you like being outside that’s a big plus. Also, it’s usually small crews and you’re kind of out in the boondocks, so you have to be a problem-solver, and every situation is a little bit different, things never fit the way the blue prints show, so sometimes were called to do some reengineering to make things work. When I was climbing with we had a great bunch of guys that traveled together, and it was a team effort. Everybody pulled on the same rope.

One of the more interesting things for most tower climbers is when they do a really high re-lamp, because most of them are at night, and the broadcast towers could be 1,000 or 1,500-foot tall. They take the station off the air at one or two a.m. and you’re climbing in the wee hours of the morning changing the bulbs…the view is really good.

If you weren’t getting after it, someone else was. There was a credo where you wouldn’t leave a guy on the tower. If you did your portion of the work and were done with it, you wouldn’t scamper down and let the other guy finish it. Everybody came off together, everybody went up together. That was a lot of fun then. People related what we did to the last cowboys, because we were always traveling and always out and about. So it can be a lot of fun.

What do you dislike?

I would dread the cold weather. Being up on a tower in the cold and knowing the night before that it was going to be 20 degrees the next day, and there’s still no way you’re out of it, the only way through it was to finish it, and you know you’re going to be up there for eight or nine hours. The cold is the thing that I like the least. I think almost every tower guy will tell you that. If you go up a tower and you’re climbing 400 feet, you’re not coming down to get a cup of coffee, you’re not coming down to warm your hands, you’re not coming down for a lunch break. When you go up the tower you’re going to be there all day, it’s kind of like being like a mountain climber.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

We’re hourly employees and depending on what level of climber you are; whether you’re a beginner or an elite climber, or if you’re taking crews, your pay varies.

How much money do you make?

Depending upon how much you work and what company you’re with the pay can range from $32,000 to $50,000 per year. They don’t make as much as you’d think. When I first started I thought, “I know these guys are making $50 an hour,” but it’s not true.

What education or skills are needed to be a tower climber?

It goes without saying that when you’re going up a tower and you’re at any height at all you’re going to need great balance. You have to be focused to be successful as a tower climber. If you’re scatterbrained or if you don’t plan well, and you’re not paying attention, you could have accidents.

It’s really not a dangerous job if you follow the rules and pay attention. There’s a lot of fatalities in the industry and it’s due to the fact that people don’t follow the rules or they’re not careful. I’d rather be on a tower than climbing a tree or on a roof. It really doesn’t have to be dangerous if you pay attention…

have to be focused because not only are you responsible for yourself, but you’re responsible for everybody that’s on the tower with you. If you drop things from any height, it could be very dangerous. As far as the skills that you need to develop, it could be as basic as sticking a big bolt through a big hole. Or it can be as complicated as learning some kind of test equipment and working with radio frequencies. There’s a wide gamut, so there’s room for everybody. At the beginning stages, if you can climb up a tower and be safe and follow instructions and follow the safety procedures, and put a bolt in a hole when someone tells you to, you can start. Then from there, as you gather more skills, you can take it to a higher level. Other than that, I think just stick-to-itiveness. You are going to get in that situation where it’s 2:00 in the morning and the dispatcher’s calling saying “It’s not working,” and it’s 20 degrees, and you just feel like crying and going home, so we look for guys that can just stick it out. The applicants that we look for must have a background in outside construction only because it takes a certain ruggedness to be outside and to manhandle that stuff. Anyone that really decides to, though, could give it a go.

What is most challenging about what you do?

Just the cold. Usually the physical aspect of climbing if you’re doing it every day isn’t a big deal. At the very beginning though, you’re using a whole different set of muscles, and so the first few weeks are challenging just because you’re tying to keep up with the guys that have been doing it for a while. But that’s probably not the most challenging. The most challenging for me is always the cold.

What is most rewarding?

It’s going to sound weird but when you’re working with a small crew you develop a good sense of camaraderie. And also, when you’re out there at the beginning of the week and the truck comes with a bunch of steel that gets off-loaded and by the end of the week, there’s a 400-foot tower standing there, there’s a sense of accomplishment. I think that and being outside is most enjoyable. And you feel kind of free because you’re not super supervised. There’s nobody there but your crew, generally. As long as you’re taking care of business and things are going well no one messes with you.

How much time off do you get/take?

In the winter the days get a lot shorter and you can’t be out as much and weather can affect you if you have iced up conditions or thunder storms. Usually, when the weather’s nice, you’re going at it from light to dark, so if you get a chance to get a rain-out day, you take advantage of it. So as far as time off you’re going at it all year as long as the weather’s working with you.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

I think there’s two… one is that we make a ton of money. Because a lot of time you hear truck drivers on the radios as they’re going by saying, “Look, those guys got to either be making $50 an hour or on crack,” and neither one of those are true. And second one is that it’s so dangerous. It’s really not a dangerous job if you follow the rules and pay attention. There’s a lot of fatalities in the industry and it’s due to the fact that people don’t follow the rules or they’re not careful. I’d rather be on a tower than climbing a tree or on a roof. It really doesn’t have to be dangerous if you pay attention, and if your company follows the rules.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

Probably one thing that I’m always amazed by is that when you’re selling a job or you’re talking to a customer and they call you at 3 in the morning for an emergency and they’re kind of shocked that it’s expensive. I’m surprised that people don’t expect that it’s going to be expensive to get a tower crew to come out and do some emergency dispatch on Christmas Eve. People pay $50 just to have the plumber stop by, why wouldn’t they expect it to be expensive to have a crew come out and climb a tower in the middle of the night?

I’m a Farrier.

How would you describe what you do?

A Farrier is someone that put shoes on horses and corrects faults in the foot.

What does your work entail?

Well, my job entails me showing up at someone’s house, or them coming to my shop to get shoes put on their horse, or trim their horse’s foot, whichever the case may be. You can set your own hours because you work for yourself. It’s probably about 50 or 60 hours a week because when you get home you’re not done, you’ve got to answer calls that come in from clients later on.

How did you get started?

Well, how I got started in this is I was cleaning tile floor down in Little Rock and I couldn’t find anyone down there that’d come and shoe my old ex-wives horse.

From the leg down a Farrier probably knows more about a horse’s anatomy than a Veterinarian.

I was tired of working at night so I went to shoeing school. And I’ve been shoeing off and on for the last 17 years.

What do you like about what you do?

I like working with the animals. I’d rather work with the animals than people. Because I get along with animals, I understand the animals. That horse won’t lie to me, someone else will. I enjoy the freedom that it gives me, because if I decide that I want a day off, I schedule myself the day off. I can do that pretty easy. You know, my back hurts pretty bad on Saturday when I get done, and I say, “Man thank God I’m done for the week.” But when Tuesday rolls around I’m ready to get right back under it because I enjoy doing this.

What do you dislike?

People not showing up(for appointments). People not doing what they say they’re supposed to do. You know they hold me to the standard, but they don’t hold themselves to one. If they want me at their house at nine o’clock, I better be there at nine o’clock or within 15 minutes or I get talked bad about.

You need to be healthy to do this, there’s an old saying in the Farrier trade ‘you’ve got to have a stronger back than mine’…

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

I charge per horse. I charge $65 on the road to shoe, and $35 on the road to trim, and if it’s over 15 or 20 miles I charge them a trip charge. I try to keep that down to, but with gas being what it is, it can eat my profit up in a hurry. The way I price stuff is I have a philosophy about a living. I want to make a living, I don’t want to kill people, but I want to make a comfortable living. And I try to do that, I try to setup where I can pay all of my bills, and have a little bit extra. I don’t always get that accomplished, but I try.

How much money do you make?

About $30,000. But the sky’s the limit on what you can make.

I’d rather work with the animals than people. Because I get along with animals, I understand the animals. That horse won’t lie to me, someone else will.

You can go into corrective and charged $250 an hour like a surgeon, but you got to be where the horses are.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

There’s a lot of trade schools out there that teach this. You don’t have to go to school, you can climb into a truck with someone that is good and learn, but it would behoove you to go get your basics because they’re going to teach you more about anatomy at the school than you’re going to learn from someone. You need to be healthy to do this, there’s an old saying in the Farrier trade “you’ve got to have a stronger back than mine,” it’s physically demanding.

What is most challenging about what you do?

The corrective part of it and dealing with clients misconceptions. People have a misconception about how horses should be. They all think they know what the horse needs. And what a horse needs varies from show people, to ropers, to cutters, to just standard trail riders.

What is most rewarding?

When you have one limp in and he walks off when you get done. That’s pretty nice.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

Run, run hard. No, just kidding. If a person wants to learn bad enough they’re going to be right there to soak it up. You know it’s just one of those things it just depends on the people. How bad they want something. I don’t want to work for somebody else bad enough I’m not going to do this. This job is not for somebody that needs someone to help start them every morning, because it is so physically demanding that on Saturday it’s hard for me to get going.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

That it’s easy to do. It’s not easy to do. And that a Farrier just changes the shoes. From the leg down a Farrier probably knows more about a horses anatomy than a Veterinarian.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

Well right now there’s an association called the American Farrier’s Association. And I’m in pursuit of my Journeyman(the highest certification in the country).

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

I don’t know, you know there’s a lot of learning to this job and I haven’t learned it all in my almost 17 years I’ve been shoeing. There’s a lot of clinics that I look forward to going to every year because I can better my knowledge, and the better knowledge I have the better these horses and people benefit from it.