| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Alternative career paths for a BA graduate? Thread poster: Matthias_2000
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Hello,
(Please excuse any mistakes concerning grammar and orthography, I am not a native English speaker).
I am a 21-year old German Bachelor student heading towards the end of my studies and I have no idea on how I could continue after my BA degree in Translation. I genuinely don't feel like classical "Translation" is what I am "destined for". Please don't get me wrong, I like translating and I like languages but I cannot envision working in this position for the upcom... See more Hello,
(Please excuse any mistakes concerning grammar and orthography, I am not a native English speaker).
I am a 21-year old German Bachelor student heading towards the end of my studies and I have no idea on how I could continue after my BA degree in Translation. I genuinely don't feel like classical "Translation" is what I am "destined for". Please don't get me wrong, I like translating and I like languages but I cannot envision working in this position for the upcoming 40 years. I don't feel like I have the talent and passion for it, which is why I am taking different career paths into consideration. What could be my options?
• Translation Project Management
• Translation (QA) Editing
• Administrative Assistance
Do you have any other ideas?
(Interpreting is not an option for me either).
I am thankful for any kind of input!
Best regards
Matt
[Bearbeitet am 2021-06-12 18:26 GMT]
[Bearbeitet am 2021-06-12 18:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Please forgive me for asking, but if as you say translation is not what you’re destined for, why on earth have you gone for a BA in… translation? Anyway, life is full of surprises and nowadays no one can be certain of performing the same job for the rest of their lives. What exactly are you interested in?
[Edited at 2021-06-13 17:38 GMT]
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Hi Matt,
I'm sure there are lots of things you could do, but if you want us to advise you it would be helpful to know a bit about what you ARE passionate about and have an aptitude for as well as what you don't want to do.
Project management sounds like a reasonable option though - a way of getting some experience under your belt while you think about what you want.
Rachel
[Edited at 2021-06-13 21:40 GMT]
| | | | Adieu 
Ukraina menyang Inggris
+ ...
| PM opportunities probably won't last | Jun 14, 2021 |
It has already been headed that way before, but the whole world going remote in 2020 has vastly accelerated the outsourcing of all such jobs to India, the Phillipines, etc.
Some local opportunities will of course remain, but competition will only become increasingly brutal, and fresh inexperienced graduates will fare badly.
Figure in the inherent decrease of discrimination for remote work, which actually works against you (discrimination was GOOD for eager newbies!)...... See more It has already been headed that way before, but the whole world going remote in 2020 has vastly accelerated the outsourcing of all such jobs to India, the Phillipines, etc.
Some local opportunities will of course remain, but competition will only become increasingly brutal, and fresh inexperienced graduates will fare badly.
Figure in the inherent decrease of discrimination for remote work, which actually works against you (discrimination was GOOD for eager newbies!)... and it doesn't look good. Classical office positions prefer the young, attractive, eager, conformist, compliant, single, childless etc. newbies, and massively discriminate against mothers, minorities, LGBTQ, people who don't care for dress codes or social hierarchies, etc., while in remote work, if you can follow email etiquette and deliver results on time, nobody cares. It's not like they can make you their coffee gofer or perv on you.
[Edited at 2021-06-14 04:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| That sounds a bit bleak | Jun 14, 2021 |
Adieu wrote:
It has already been headed that way before, but the whole world going remote in 2020 has vastly accelerated the outsourcing of all such jobs to India, the Phillipines, etc.
Some local opportunities will of course remain, but competition will only become increasingly brutal, and fresh inexperienced graduates will fare badly.
Figure in the inherent decrease of discrimination for remote work, which actually works against you (discrimination was GOOD for eager newbies!)... and it doesn't look good. Classical office positions prefer the young, attractive, eager, conformist, compliant, single, childless etc. newbies, and massively discriminate against mothers, minorities, LGBTQ, people who don't care for dress codes or social hierarchies, etc., while in remote work, if you can follow email etiquette and deliver results on time, nobody cares. It's not like they can make you their coffee gofer or perv on you.
[Edited at 2021-06-14 04:28 GMT]
This will be the case for a lot of jobs, of course, but I'm not sure it's necessary to be quite this brutally negative. Do you have any more positive advice to offer the OP?
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Teresa Borges wrote:
Please forgive me for asking, but if as you say translation is not what you’re destined for, why on earth have you gone for a BA in… translation? Anyway, life is full of surprises and nowadays no one can be certain of performing the same job for the rest of their lives. What exactly are you interested in?
[Edited at 2021-06-13 17:38 GMT]
I have always wanted to do something involving languages, but I have as well been told to "combine" languages with something else, like law, technology, etc. This is the reason why I decided to pursue a BA degree in translation, as I believe translation is a quite "practical field" in contrast to linguistics or philology. In addition to this, I think a BA in translation is a solid basis for many professions requiring multilingual, linguistic and intercultural abilities.
Having done several translations by now however, I realize it might not be my "strengh". I'm not completely opposed to having translations as a part of my job, but I guess a more administrative role would be more to my liking.
Copywriting also sounds interesting to me, but I have no idea what kind of qualifications I would need for this job.
Do you think it would be feasible to venture into the localization industry with a BA degree or would I be required to complete a MA programme first?
| | | | | Always the same question: What can you do better than others? | Jun 14, 2021 |
Matthias_2000 wrote:
Hello,
(Please excuse any mistakes concerning grammar and orthography, I am not a native English speaker).
I am a 21-year old German Bachelor student heading towards the end of my studies and I have no idea on how I could continue after my BA degree in Translation. I genuinely don't feel like classical "Translation" is what I am "destined for". Please don't get me wrong, I like translating and I like languages but I cannot envision working in this position for the upcoming 40 years. I don't feel like I have the talent and passion for it, which is why I am taking different career paths into consideration. What could be my options?
• Translation Project Management
• Translation (QA) Editing
• Administrative Assistance
Do you have any other ideas?
As Adieu pointed out, some of these options will fade out in the near future. Anything that can be outsourced to low wage countries will be outsourced to low wage countries. Linguistic services are an international market, and if you are a good organiser and English speaker with good internet access you can do project management or administrative assistance somewhere on the Philippines, in Haiti or Liberia, as professionally as any European, but for local wages. So since you are in Germany and have to cover German living expenses, this is not an option for you.
As native speakers of German we are somewhat privileged, however, since there are no native speakers of German in low wage countries. That is one fact you can use to your advantage. It means you should choose a career/profession where a native level of German is needed. Translation (and editing) is such a profession, so you should not discard it unnecessarily. Actually, translation is not one profession, it is a very manifold field. I believe there are not two translators in the world where the same job description would fit. (I could also ask, "May the typical translator please stand up" ).
Anyway, in translation or any other field you might end up with, you need to ask yourself: What can I do better than others? How can I stand out among the endless crowd of professionals, amateurs, and in-betweens in translation (or whatever) so that I do not have to grind poorly paid workloads in order to make a living? And the answer to this might even fit very well with your initial question: the answer is skill stacking. By combining skills you can build a unique skill stack that very few people on earth can copy. For example, if you are "just" an English to German translator, you will have to hunt jobs. But if you are a bilingual engineer with excellent technical writing skills and good marketing skills on top, the jobs will hunt you.
You have to look into yourself and see what set of skills you could develop. Linguistic skills are one thing, and if you see yourself as an administrative assistant, you might also have good organisational skills. Combine this with some other skills, things that are not linguistic and (hopefully) somewhat sought after, for example business or technical skills, but also more far-fetched things like e-sports, parachuting, motorbikes, rare insects, mountaineering, or what else happens to be your particular field of interest. That is the way to create a totally individual skill stack which can secure professional survival in developed countries in the decades to come.
| | | | Gerard Barry
Germany
Local time: 00:02
Jerman menyang Inggris
Adieu wrote:
Classical office positions prefer the young, attractive, eager, conformist, compliant, single, childless etc. newbies, and massively discriminate against mothers, minorities, LGBTQ, people who don't care for dress codes or social hierarchies, etc., while in remote work, if you can follow email etiquette and deliver results on time, nobody cares.
Many large corporations nowadays bend over backwards to hire more "minorities" and "LGBTQ" people. It's all part of their "diversity" drive.
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I’ve learned that in life everything is possible. The only advice I can give you is: go for whatever you really like best and take time to discover it. I was a very good student and in high school I had many different interests and did not know what I wanted to major in. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do career-wise. Though economics was my “first love” (and my academic degree), translation is really my thing as it allows me to touch different subjects I have learned on ... See more I’ve learned that in life everything is possible. The only advice I can give you is: go for whatever you really like best and take time to discover it. I was a very good student and in high school I had many different interests and did not know what I wanted to major in. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do career-wise. Though economics was my “first love” (and my academic degree), translation is really my thing as it allows me to touch different subjects I have learned on the way. ▲ Collapse
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Matthias_2000 wrote:
Copywriting also sounds interesting to me, but I have no idea what kind of qualifications I would need for this job.
I get the impression that copywriting is a pretty competitive field, but ability and business skills are probably more important than having a specific qualification. There are plenty of books on the subject ... I'd start by reading a couple.
You could also follow a few copywriters on LinkedIn. There's a lot of them on there offering free tips to hook in customers so you could probably learn a lot from following those conversations.
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So, should I ditch Project Management then and try to do something involving creativity? I fear translators are exposed to a similar threat of being outsourced as Machine Translation is becoming better and better and there might only remain jobs that require creative thinking such as Literary Translation or Advertisement, but those jobs are usually horribly paid and not enough to sustain/cover costs of living. And my language pairs i.e. EN > DE and FR > DE aren't really that sought after either.... See more So, should I ditch Project Management then and try to do something involving creativity? I fear translators are exposed to a similar threat of being outsourced as Machine Translation is becoming better and better and there might only remain jobs that require creative thinking such as Literary Translation or Advertisement, but those jobs are usually horribly paid and not enough to sustain/cover costs of living. And my language pairs i.e. EN > DE and FR > DE aren't really that sought after either.
[Bearbeitet am 2021-06-14 19:47 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | The proof is in the mix | Jun 15, 2021 |
Matthias_2000 wrote:
So, should I ditch Project Management then and try to do something involving creativity? I fear translators are exposed to a similar threat of being outsourced as Machine Translation is becoming better and better and there might only remain jobs that require creative thinking such as Literary Translation or Advertisement, but those jobs are usually horribly paid and not enough to sustain/cover costs of living. And my language pairs i.e. EN > DE and FR > DE aren't really that sought after either.
[Bearbeitet am 2021-06-14 19:47 GMT]
Don't rule out advertisement. As Rachel said, good and creative copywriters can be in high demand. It's not my field so I'm not familiar with the market though. Rule of thumb: If you make money for your client, you make money for yourself. And you make money for your client if the project is about selling something (for example).
And as I said before, combine this with other skills. Don't rely on the arts alone, include some technical and business skills and a few particular fields of expertise. Machine translation is no threat for someone with subject matter expertise.
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| Many different roles in the industry | Jun 17, 2021 |
The language industry is so much more than just translation - I am sure many people in the industry will have jobs that nobody at university even told you existed. Find out what they are!
Of course you could consider starting out as a PM in a somewhat larger agency and consistently ask colleagues from other departments to tell you about their work over a shared cup of coffee. Also, please know that job descriptions for PM work vary, from relatively simple, repetitive "grunt work" t... See more The language industry is so much more than just translation - I am sure many people in the industry will have jobs that nobody at university even told you existed. Find out what they are!
Of course you could consider starting out as a PM in a somewhat larger agency and consistently ask colleagues from other departments to tell you about their work over a shared cup of coffee. Also, please know that job descriptions for PM work vary, from relatively simple, repetitive "grunt work" to highly complex projects worth millions.
Or, even before you apply, find people with different job titles in the industry via LinkedIn and again, ask them for coffee and get them to tell you what it is that they do.
Off the top off my head:
- linguistic engineering
- vendor management
- sales
- MT set-up
- quality assurance
- terminology management
- tooling specialist
- technical writing
- marketing & social media
- software engineering
- brand ambassador
- customer success manager for suppliers of linguistic software
- multilingual SEO specialist
- all kinds of roles with software vendors
Ask people what they like and don't like about their work, how they got where they are now, what types of people they work with, the timelines they work with... You'll get a much better idea of the industry and the roles that might be available for you. Bring chocolates or something nice to thank people for their time. You'll get a much better idea of the industry and you'll start buidling your network as well. Take initiative and also try to meet people offline if possible. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Adieu
Ukraina menyang Inggris
+ ...
| Purely subjective observations suggest otherwise | Jun 18, 2021 |
Gerard Barry wrote:
Adieu wrote:
Classical office positions prefer the young, attractive, eager, conformist, compliant, single, childless etc. newbies, and massively discriminate against mothers, minorities, LGBTQ, people who don't care for dress codes or social hierarchies, etc., while in remote work, if you can follow email etiquette and deliver results on time, nobody cares.
Many large corporations nowadays bend over backwards to hire more "minorities" and "LGBTQ" people. It's all part of their "diversity" drive.
My observations suggest otherwise. I've only ever seen remote PMs from Asia swap genders and start to sign emails with new names.
[Edited at 2021-06-18 10:56 GMT]
| | | | | Technical Writing | Jun 19, 2021 |
Generally, this involves writing user or product manuals from scratch, either for existing products or for products under development.
Shoot for high-tech companies, were the pay for these services is generally high.
This is an on-site job, but you can work as a freelancer as well. You will have to describe, in clear terms, the operation of a product that does not exist and create its documentation. You will have to interview the developers and put together the documentation... See more Generally, this involves writing user or product manuals from scratch, either for existing products or for products under development.
Shoot for high-tech companies, were the pay for these services is generally high.
This is an on-site job, but you can work as a freelancer as well. You will have to describe, in clear terms, the operation of a product that does not exist and create its documentation. You will have to interview the developers and put together the documentation yourself.
You will need a technical writing course to learn the ropes, but the terminology will be specific for each company and/or project and, although general understanding is an advantage, you probably won't need much technical training. What you will need is good writing skills in German and strong fluency in English.
This is a profession that will not go out of style, and if anything, will become more needed as companies will realize the importance of good user manuals to their sales.
The technical writer's salary is small potatoes compared to the costs of high-tech products.
HTH,
Sandra ▲ Collapse
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