| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Now that I'm a freelancer, I find the job to be: Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:55
German to English
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| Never really thought about it | Mar 16, 2012 |
I've been freelancing for 15 years. Before that, I managed a 'proper' job for all of three months. So I guess the freelancing worked out OK!
| | | | A. Petrunova
Bulgaria
Local time: 03:55
Swedish to English
+ ...
| No expectations | Mar 16, 2012 |
I never really had any expectations. I've been freelancing for nearly 11 years now. When I first started, I didn't really have a choice. Now I have come to enjoy it despite the disadvantages, because there are certainly many advantages to freelancing as well.
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I thought it would be difficult to find clients and easy to do my job and now I found out that it is the other way round
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:55
Hebrew to English
| Other: More boring than I thought | Mar 16, 2012 |
...in the lulls between work mostly..(my language pair is a small market).
Also because of the isolation. I never really thought I was such a social bunny, but I crave a bit of office banter, a laugh and joke around the water cooler every now and then....don't really like the hermit lifestyle.
...but then again I don't miss office politics, incompetent power-crazed managers...
...so there is an equilibrium of sorts.
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 02:55
Member (2006)
German to English
Mary Worby wrote:
I've been freelancing for 15 years. Before that, I managed a 'proper' job for all of three months. So I guess the freelancing worked out OK!
Okay, I had been working beforehand a lot longer, but never thought about it.
I was very surprised how few people were able to translate properly in my language pair and fields though
[Edited at 2012-03-16 09:05 GMT]
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 02:55
Spanish to English
+ ...
| As I expected | Mar 16, 2012 |
Previously, I had only ever conceived of working as something one did for someone else, i.e. an employer. The notion of "setting up my own business" had never appealed to me, as I always saw it as much harder work than to just turn up at an office or factory somewhere and do a standard shift (or often, in many cases, simply going through the motions) then take the money and run.
However, thanks to technology a lot more people have the option to try doing things on their own and I do... See more Previously, I had only ever conceived of working as something one did for someone else, i.e. an employer. The notion of "setting up my own business" had never appealed to me, as I always saw it as much harder work than to just turn up at an office or factory somewhere and do a standard shift (or often, in many cases, simply going through the motions) then take the money and run.
However, thanks to technology a lot more people have the option to try doing things on their own and I don't think I could go back to working for a boss now, or commuting to and from a workplace every day, at least not without a very, very, very juicy incentive.
Nevertheless, I still don't see myself as "a business" or indeed all that "businesslike" and prefer a looser description, in fact something along the lines of "that translator geezer" would do nicely. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 09:55
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
| Other - Freer than I thought | Mar 16, 2012 |
Ty Kendall wrote:
Also because of the isolation. I never really thought I was such a social bunny, but I crave a bit of office banter, a laugh and joke around the water cooler every now and then....don't really like the hermit lifestyle.
...but then again I don't miss office politics, incompetent power-crazed managers...
...so there is an equilibrium of sorts.
Ty, I quite agree. I'm also pleased that I'm not the only who jokes and talks to himself. 
A huge luxury and advantage of our profession, though, is that that we have complete freedom to choose what to do, when and with whom.
Happy translating!
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David Wright
Austria
Local time: 02:55
German to English
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I've been in the job so long that it was harder than I imagined when I started but it has certainyl got a lot easier.
| | | | Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 02:55
English to French
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I never really thought of it and tested free-lancing part time before I went all the way: was I going to earn enough to support us? How would I cope with uncertainty and complete isolation?
Those questions were answered before I went full time. Cherry on the cake is the positive relationship I have with colleagues and clients... very different and much more gratifying than contacts with my hierarchy and colleagues at school.
In the translation community I am part of, professi... See more I never really thought of it and tested free-lancing part time before I went all the way: was I going to earn enough to support us? How would I cope with uncertainty and complete isolation?
Those questions were answered before I went full time. Cherry on the cake is the positive relationship I have with colleagues and clients... very different and much more gratifying than contacts with my hierarchy and colleagues at school.
In the translation community I am part of, professionalism is key, with a humane touch. Comparatively, school was some sort of a jungle where you constantly had to fight for survival: professionalism was not really the point; bureaucracy and backstabbing were the rule.
I gave up teaching (read resigned) after 23 years, when I started having less and less in common with my students. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Patricia Charnet
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:55
Member (2009)
English to French
| what I expected | Mar 16, 2012 |
it is much easier now to get started, as there is much more support than ever before.
However, I was surprised by the amount of criticism among translators, some of which is not always properly justified. A lot of people just criticise for the sake of it. Finding good clients is not always easy, and doing your job easily depends a lot on the quality of the text you translate from, in my opinion.
| | | | Lifeng Yang (X)
China
Local time: 08:55
English to Chinese
+ ...
| First Year Freelancing | Mar 16, 2012 |
To me, building trust with new clients is the heaviest part.
Everything else is all just breezy.
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XXXphxxx (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:55
Portuguese to English
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Ty Kendall wrote:
...in the lulls between work mostly..(my language pair is a small market).
Also because of the isolation. I never really thought I was such a social bunny, but I crave a bit of office banter, a laugh and joke around the water cooler every now and then....don't really like the hermit lifestyle.
...but then again I don't miss office politics, incompetent power-crazed managers...
...so there is an equilibrium of sorts.
To that end, I wonder if we shouldn't have a 'banter' forum? 'Off-topic' doesn't necessarily fulfil the function because it might be a language-related topic, just somewhere ' where we can muse without fear of being reprimanded for going off-topic (as I am currently doing)... 'Like' buttons would also be nice.
| | | | | not a surprise | Mar 16, 2012 |
I was a freelance journalist for years before turning to translation full time. In some ways, it's actually easier to find work and it's been more lucrative. I don't have to hunt people down; once i have clients, they come to me! and i don't have to come up with ideas. So it's been as I expected but easier in some ways.
| | | | | busier than expected! | Mar 16, 2012 |
I thought it would be harder to start...
I wanted the freedom but feared the lack of business. It took me less than 3 months to work full time, or at least not to be starving anymore (but 2 more months to get paid, which was another - bad, this time - surprise).
I was also fearing a more bossy relationship with clients, especially agencies. I now have clients with whom I have been working of about 6 months, and the relationship is laid-back and respectfull.
... See more I thought it would be harder to start...
I wanted the freedom but feared the lack of business. It took me less than 3 months to work full time, or at least not to be starving anymore (but 2 more months to get paid, which was another - bad, this time - surprise).
I was also fearing a more bossy relationship with clients, especially agencies. I now have clients with whom I have been working of about 6 months, and the relationship is laid-back and respectfull.
Actually, the bigger surprise is certainly that I did not know if it was the good choice a year ago, and now I am so much happier than before ▲ Collapse
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