A little career letter
Find Your Flow
find what moves you, one small step at a time
Vol. 25 · Tuesday, July 7
Just one job today
Court reporter
Still in the law world you liked, but from the best seat in the room. A court reporter captures every single word said in a trial or a deposition and turns it into the official record. Here is the exciting part: there is a nationwide shortage, so Colorado courts are actively hiring, and a newer digital path lets you skip the old two-year steno school.
What you actually do
You are the official record
You sit in on hearings, trials, and depositions and capture every word, either speaking quietly into a covered mic (voice writing) or running the digital recording setup, then you review it into a clean transcript. Nothing is on the record until you say it is. It rewards a sharp ear, focus, and being cool under pressure, and no needles, no blood, ever.
Who hires them
The courthouse is right here in Golden
The Colorado Judicial Branch hires court reporters for courts in every county, and the First Judicial District courthouse for Jefferson County sits right in Golden, minutes from the house. Law firms and reporting agencies also hire for depositions, and captioning work you can do from home. Because of the shortage, they want people now.
The life · the perk
Good pay, and you can freelance
A court job comes with state benefits and steady weekday hours. But the real perk is freedom: many reporters go freelance, pick their own days, and the fastest realtime and captioning reporters clear well past $100K. You can build a life around it, more when you want it, less when you want a snow day.
How to get in
Skip the two-year steno school
The old way was two years of stenography. The new way is far shorter: a digital court reporter or voice-writing program you can do largely online in months, then a certification exam. Front Range Community College runs a Digital Court Reporter program, and Colorado allows voice writers in its courts. One online program starts this, not a whole degree.
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How to get qualified (just this one job)
The big news: you do not need the old two-year stenography school. Colorado is one of the states that lets voice writers and digital reporters work in its courts, and that path is mostly online and measured in months.
The smallest first step: the Digital Court Reporter program at Front Range Community College (online), which preps you for the AAERT Certified Electronic Reporter (CER) exam, the credential courts and agencies look for. Colorado State University runs a similar online program if you want to compare.
Front Range Digital Court Reporter › The CSU online program ›A real job in this field, and what it pays
Court Reporter, Colorado Judicial Branch
The Colorado Judicial Branch keeps court reporter roles open at several levels because of the shortage, capturing verbatim records of hearings and trials for judges across the state, including the Jefferson County courthouse in Golden. You apply right on their careers site with a resume, and higher levels reward certification, which is exactly what the digital program above builds toward.
See Judicial Branch openings ›Just one job today, on purpose, so it is easy to sit with. The last two letters were the law from the outside: the investigator and the assistant. This one puts you inside the courtroom itself, catching every word, and it pays well for a short, mostly-online path. Because there is a real shortage, Colorado wants people now, so even one thing, opening the Front Range program page, moves you forward more than a week of thinking about it.
Made with love, just for you. Reply any time and we will chase down whatever sparks your interest. More single jobs coming, one a day. xo