How many MNers can type?

[marthamoo]

Properly, I mean?

I can't. I did do Mavis Beacon for a while but I got bored. I'm pretty fast but it's not "proper" typing. Wish I'd learned it at school - it would have been a damn sight more useful than algorithms and Norwegian fjords - but...how can I put this nicely?...top set-ers weren't encouraged to do typing!

I can type words -
Just that that the letters might not necessarily be in the right order.
(Fiddles with glasses a la Eric Morcambe)

DD1 did RSA I, II and III (I think) at the grammar school 6th form. Brilliant idea. That was 7 years ago though and I believe it's not offered any more . I think it should be a compulsory extra lesson in Y11.

hunker, if you don't look at the keyboard it must be some kind of touch typing!!!! (I can do 40wpm but I have to look )

Another ex-secretary here - old enough to have learnt on those ghastly manuals too. My poor little fingers . Enjoyed being a secretary at the time but after moving onwards and upwards couldn't have gone back. All that was bc (before children!) though, would be quite happy to put my annoying organisational skills to good use now.

I can do 100 wpm. Typing was not available to anyone at my school, but Mum made me learn because she said when I grew up my generation would not have secretaries any more. I paid £200 for my course in the university holidays, but it has been well worth it. She was right, no one has a secretary any more whom I know, except for very old men. OTOH, various people have PAs whose job is much more than typing. Colleagues who can't type are now having to buy very expensive voice recognition software, but that's still cheaper than employing a human typist. I will definitely make ds learn to touchtype when he's older.

I did RSA 1 and 2 at college evening classes at the age of 22 when I decided I didn't enjoy my job anymore and wanted to work in an office instead.

About 30 words a minute.

same as happydaddy

i now and again look at the keyboard

I don't.

JanH - what I meant was I don't have my fingers on set keys and I don't always use the same fingers to hit the keys either - it's more a case of which one gets there first!

Same as a lot of people here - not offered typing at school, couldn't find a job when I left, went to night school to learn typing (manual typewriter!! bash them keys!!) and hey presto I could walk into temping jobs at a moment's notice (handy for filling in gaps between acting jobs). Then when I went to uni I had my own PC (I was one of only three in our halls that had one, and this was pre-internet), and typed up all my essays and dissertation.

Incidentally, I have worked as a department manager (retail), PA to an MD and secretary in various companies, and enjoyed the secretarial jobs far more than the others. I can't handle the stress that goes with the responsibility!!

I can - did a night class and it's stood me in good stead ever since. Even though I've never done secretarial work full-time, there was a period after I'd been made redundant several years ago when I did some temping, and rates are much higher if you can type to a decent speed. Mind you, most of my typing is one handed these days due to having a baby in one arm

Can type quite fast but not 'properly', ie without looking. I look at the keys but don't concentrate on them, but when I purposefully look away to see if I can touch type it all comes out rubbish! Well most of the time anyway.

When I was at school in the late 1970's those doing O levels (which I was) as opposed to CSEs didn't learn 'office practice' as it was then called. But I knew I wanted to go into journalism and that I would need to be able to type and do shorthand. I asked if I could join the class and was told no, in no uncertain terms because I was destined for something more than being a typist! What an archaic attitude even then. I never did get round to teaching myself to type properly and to this day haven't learned shorthand, which would be really useful in my work.

I was also told by my 6th form head that I was University material and shouldn't bother applying for the course I really wanted to do as it was at a polytechnic! Turned out his opinions of my abilities were somewhat overinflated as I just failed to get the grades for Uni and ended up at a poly anyway.

Do teachers/careers advisers listen to kids more these days or do they still pigeonhole them? (Sorry if this should be another thread.)

Dh can, plus shorthand.

i cant. well i can type, but am allways amking mistakes.

I can. My mum used to take art and flower arranging classes at a local college some evenings and I took typing classes. I learned on a manual typewriter with no carriage return!

I used to type peoples' esssays at uni (for a fee, of course). The later in the night/earlier in the morning it got, the more I charged per page.

After uni, I immediately started work as a legal secretary.

At one point I was recorded at 90wpm, but I think I've dropped down to mid-70s now.

I learnt to touch type at school... then mum got me an old typewritter from her work and I practiced at home... it was so much harder on a manual keyboard... no carrage return... little bell when your near the end of a line... tipex paper if you made a mistake... sigh.. kids of today don't know they're born....

Daughter is nearly 9 and she is learning to touch type with timon and pumbaa disney cd...
Rummum

I can - did a part-time Pitman course while I was doing my PhD - don't know how I'd have written it without being able to touch-type - it took 5 years as it is

Me, me, me! And take shorthand. It freaks people out to see you writing what they are saying verbatim and I use to my advantage heh heh.

i can. but don't tend to admit it at work... learnt in a week's course after finishing school.

No, but wish I had learnt when younger. To lazy these days!

ok, that's after i finished going to school, not some posh swiss establishment....

Awww, HC - all disappointed now