Odd Job for Doctor Uncle. Salary: $20,000 or less

You don't have any formal training but you were always quick with typing, and love watching medical dramas. When you fall on hard times, your uncle (a successful doctor) takes pity on you and allows you to transcribe for him. The work isn't great but at least you haven't lost your apartment.

Contract Work at Home. Salary: $27,000

You spend your last dime on a medical transcription online course and secured some proper certification. Hospitals actually want to hire you now, nice. It's just contract work here and there since you're a beginner, but it pays the bills.

Regular Job at a Clinic. Salary: $35,000

You find the job at transcribing for the Alzheimer's clinic fascinating. You get to hear all sorts of stories from people who have lived close to a hundred years, sometimes more. It's also very sad to find out what life is like for these people who have lost their memories, especially short term memory. Some keep repeating themselves and the stories themselves start to blend together with so many common symptoms. The pay isn't very much, but at least it's regular work.

Veteran Transcriptionist. Salary: $40,000

You don't mind coming into the hospital two days a week for meetings for your job, since you get to spend the rest of the time working from home. You have noticed though that you get sick a lot more often since you started this job, being exposed to more illness and viruses than you had in the past. Oh well, the meetings may be boring but the pay is steady and pretty decent and the job itself isn't too demanding. They've been giving you pay raises each year for being a loyal and accurate employee.

Head Transcriptionist for a Plastic Surgeon. Salary: $50,000+

You think you're hearing things when you win the Integrity Award from the AHDI. Your boss is so proud of you he bumps up your pay to $50,000 and gives you a free week's paid vacation—the first one you've had in the fifteen years you've worked for him. Still, you consider yourself extremely lucky. You have a nice boss who speaks slowly and clearly. The transcription work is pretty easy going, as the voice recognition software catches most of it and you spend the bulk of your time just proofing and editing.