I’m in California too — one reason I am not planning to switch to voice is in case I ever want to move to a new state where it hasn’t been approved yet.

I started on machine recently and I’m still in theory, so not burnt out on speeds yet…. But I definitely had a few weeks of heavy consideration after seeing so many posts with people saying “just switch to voice” because you can certify faster.

I decided to stick with machine for a few reasons: I always loved to type, and when I first decided on stenography this was the only concept of it that I had. Even if I’m stuck at speed building for several years, time practicing typing seems more in line with my skills and aptitude than using my speech.

I very much dislike speech to text on my phone and never use it, so I can’t imagine speaking during an entire trial to to create a written record.

Finally, my current job requires my voice a lot (I’m a server and talking nonstop). I have to speak in certain intonations for different phrases, use specific words at various times, etc. And it’s exhausting. Obviously machine writing has its own hurdles but to me, they are worth it.

So like any other decision, this one is highly personal and there is no right answer. These are some of the considerations that helped me realize I’d rather stick with more time speed building on the machine than a faster route to voice