During my recent webinar with eCPD webinars, I mentioned that I’ve seen tons of CVs as a project manager in my last in-house job. I was then asked by one of attendees what to do to become a project manager. Just one sentence of warning before we start: project management has very little to do with translation.
Project management seems to be the Lost Paradise for many freelance translators. Some of us really believe that project management is a step higher in our career. We keep being translators until we are experienced and mature enough to become project managers. This thinking is so wrong. I’m not saying that a translator can’t or shouldn’t become a project manager. I’m only suggesting that if you are a good translator, you won’t necessarily make a good translation project manager. And you may even hate the job!
What does a translation project manager do?
Before you even start dreaming about becoming a project management, take into account your future responsibilities. You’ll have to negotiate with the clients, issue quotes, assign jobs to translators, punish them for typos or late deliveries and find good excuses for your clients, give answers to any questions translators may have, call here and there, have a broad smile during skype conferences with clients on the other side of the world. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll get to read or revise the final text, but very well you may end up managing a project into a language you have no idea about.
I’ve browsed some PM job offers in London, and here are their responsibilities:
It’s not that there’s anything wrong about management skills. They’re just different from those that you need to become a translator.
What are the requirements to become a translation project manager?
Surprise! In 80% of cases a translation or language degree is not required! Why? Because project managers don’t translate too often. Have a look at these requirements posted online:
How to become a translation project manager?
Don’t be a translator to start with. Go and do your management or business degree, get a couple of years of experience in any kind of management (ok, apart from your local coffee shop. But wait! Customer service counts.). Speak another language, but proficiency is not required. Practice your customer service, as well as all soft skills (everything that ends with management: time management, office management, self-management, people management, etc). Be a good manager, develop your managerial skills. Then try in translation.
How much will you earn?
Apart from security, 9-5 working hours, and tea with your colleagues, you can start with something between £18,000 to £25,000 pa in London. Don’t we get roughly the same (or more) translating from home?
Is it that bad?
There are still decent agencies out there that want project managers with translation background, and they are prepared to pay at least £30,000 pa. If you are a manager, and happen to be a translator at the same time, you have best chances to get a respectable project management position.
How did I feel about it?
I had almost no time to translate at all, or I had to ruin nights. I didn’t enjoy the ok-it’s-10:30-let’s-have-a-coffee atmosphere and the fact that I had to stay in the office even after I’ve finished with all my duties. I am used to making the most of my time.
About a week after I quit I told my friend: “If I have to do that once more in my life, it will be for my own company”.
What are your views on translation project management? Do you see it as a natural consequence of becoming a better and better translator?
Marta Stelmaszak
Marta Stelmaszak is a translator between Polish and English, combining language skills with a thorough understanding of economics and business to help SMEs make as big an international impact as possible, providing translation and interpreting services for the legal, business and marketing sectors. Read Marta's book on business.
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10 Comments
Hi,
I think you are absolutely right: translation project management is NOT a natural consequence of becoming a better and better translator.
Best regards,
Jan Snauwaert
Thanks for your comment, Jan!
In relation to what you said, I keep wondering why so many translators dream of becoming project managers… Any ideas?
Hi Marta,
I am of course interested in your lessons, but this particularly caught my attention. My career started in freelance translator and now I work as a project management in a translation agency. Of course my previous knowledge in translation business and languages help me in the process of communicating with freelance translators when assigning them jobs and tasks. Definitely it’s not mandatory to be proficient in languages to be a good project manager (the opposite it’s also true) but it will certainly help, especially because in my case I work at a small (but very good and hardworking) company and the project manager always works in “multitask” mode, i.e. assigns projects, answer translator’s doubts, asks questions to the clients, proofreads, sometimes even translates (not often but whenever possible), administrative and tasks, delayed payments, invoices and receipts, etc. Translation and translation project management are two different things but I love what I do as a project manager as much as I loved to work as a translator. It has its pros and cons like Marta already stated and it can be very stressful but I have to confess that it brought me more stability than when working freelance (between 2006 and early 2010) I learn something new everyday, probably more than in my freelance years, and in being part of the daily agency routine one can better understand how business and companies work. Enjoy your week and thank you for sharing your knowledge on this area, Marta. Just a quick question: do you know any good books on translation project management?
Dear Rui,
I totally agree with you! Smaller agencies DO prefer their PMs to have language or translation background, because they want to develop and become better and better.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to help you with translation project management BOOKS. Are there any out there? Perhaps someone could write one? 🙂
I’ve been a freelance translator and I am currently a project manager, working in a small (but growing) translation agency. Since it’s a small business, I get to translate too, and to proofread translations coming from our freelancers.
I think that by being in touch with direct clients all the time I am learning the dos and don’ts of how to deal with them and make them happy, not only thanks to the quality of our translations but the treatment they receive, the way I can help them understand their needs, etc… This happens a lot more now than when I used to be a freelancer and I worked with the occasional direct client, and with a range of agencies.
Another advantage of working in-house with other, perhaps more experienced, translators is the chance to learn from them, especially through direct feedback on your translations. In my experience, usually if you are a freelancer you don’t get detailled feedback on your work from the agencies you work for, unless you did a really bad job and they don’t want to pay you.
So perhaps we could say that translators who become PMs (or who work in-house for a while) become better translators?
Thanks for your comment, Daniela! It’s a new and interesting perspective, and your situation really helps in becoming a better translator. But I’d say it’s very rare…
Hello, Marta.
I like this post which is very interesting. It provides information of translation project management and, more importantly, emphasises the ever-growing myth about better translators becoming PMs. Actually, this has been so commonplace that it almost appears as a Gospel truth. Maybe it has to do with the words “manager” or “management”, which imply that input from the “managed ones” might be of lower quality.
The more I learn about our industry, the more I feel sorry for PMs…
Hi there,
I have recently started researching project management in the translation industry and came across this post. I have no experience in this industry but I have previous experience in management, project management as well as a Language Master’s degree. I would love to find out whether it is possible at all or even achievable for me to move into this industry as I am absolutely passionate about languages and as I get more experience in my working life, I start to realise what I am passionate about. I look forward to hearing your response and advice!
I think anything is achievable if you want it enough! You seem to have solid foundations, read as many translation blogs as you can, maybe think about getting a course. You will get where you want to be 🙂