My life has noticeably changed in the last two months. Back in June, I was working full-time in my studio in the Chicago Loop as a language professional providing translation, editing, interpretation, writing, subtitling, and transcription services in English, Spanish, and Catalan.
Since then, I’ve relocated to a two-bedroom apartment in Evanston. I fulfilled my wish of having an office at home, but I’m not using it as much as I expected. While I keep taking in freelance work (e.g., translation and editing), my priorities have shifted.
In July, I began collaborating with a translation and transcription agency as a project manager. Previously, I had been working as a translator and editor for this company for over a year.
As I took on my new job duties, the first thing that I realized was that translation project management is very different from translating. Even if I believe that it’s desirable for a translation project manager to have a background in linguistics and communication, the job of a project manager primarily focuses on analyzing, scheduling, and tracking.
The lifecycle of a project is as follows:
Although I’m a newcomer to project management, I had already been introduced to it at Banco Sabadell—one of Spain’s top banks—where I worked between 2009 and 2015. My role as a social media manager allowed me to listen to customers, plan the scope of action, execute and monitor cases, and provide satisfactory solutions.
As I’m writing these words on September 16, 2018, my project management duties comprise managing translation and transcription projects from inception through final delivery while ensuring optimal workflow and meeting deadlines.
I find project management to be a highly rewarding job. Being able to fulfill your clients’ demands on time and delivering a quality product, witnessing a project come together, overcoming challenges, and constant improvement are some of the biggest joys I’m experiencing at present. Every project is a different and unique adventure!
And last, but not least, I’d like to thank my team for helping me and believing in me, as well as the translators, transcriptionists, and editors that I’ve had the chance to work with: this couldn’t be happening without you...
CHECK: Thank You