First, how does one become a project manager? There is no specific major or degree that clearly would put you on a path to become a project manager. What is necessary is mostly experience. But what kind of experience, you might ask. Project managers come from a variety of different backgrounds, but the majority of them have some kind of management experience or knowledge of the different moving parts in the translation process. To become a skilled project manager however, takes plenty of time and honing of skills such as attention to detail, organization, great communication, and assertiveness (willingness to take control of situations).

To become a good project manager, it is important to have many different kinds of skills, but one of the most important ones are communication and a passion for the job. With good communication, it will be easier to effectively coordinate with your team so that there are no misunderstandings during work. In addition, with good communication, you are able to effectively converse with the client so that they feel valued and heard. Then, with a passion for the project manager job, it will be much easier to be careful with details, organized, and move things forward. If the project manager is passionate about their job, they will no doubt treat it with a good amount of care and effort.

So what does a project manager do specifically? Project managers are a jack-of-all-trades and help to manage projects from start to end with highest quality and as little issue as possible. Project managers work with clients to clarify project scope and details, so there would be no surprise to any part of the project as it is progressing. By doing this, the project manager promotes transparency and a level of trust that could not be gained without them. The project manager also helps create a single talking point for the client so that communication is simplified.

Project managers also help to oversee all moving parts in projects and make sure that they are operating with the best team within the allotted budget while staying on schedule. This means that the project manager has to have a clear picture of what is happening with each part of the team as well as their capabilities. Without a clear picture of the entire project, it is not realistic to expect that the project will be handled well. To have a quality plan is a key to project success.

Being a project manager can be a very busy and demanding job, but it is rewarding in the sense that you get to work with every part of the process and have control of the final product. With successful planning, the potential downside to a project can usually be avoided. But even if issues or problems did happen, an experienced project manager knows how to solve problems and makes everyone happy or understand. Being a project manager is an exciting experience that is rife with new challenges and people. If you stick to this career path, you will become confident with yourself, your work, and life ahead of you.

It was quite interesting and enlightening to hear students’ stories. They come from all over the world and have incredibly diverse backgrounds, both personally and professionally. Many students have come to MIIS to begin their careers in the language industry, and show clear excitement for their current course of study and potential career paths. Other students already have years of experience in translation or interpretation, and have come to MIIS to hone their skills in a certain specialty or even to change their career trajectory entirely, for example by moving from a linguist to a project manager. Whatever the case may be, we were happy to connect with these talented people.

Students at MIIS, whether they are studying Conference Interpretation, Translation and Interpretation, or Translation and Localization Management all share a passion for languages and a keen desire to put what they are learning at school to work. We are glad to see that so many of these young professionals share our goal of bridging the world’s languages and cultures.

We are always looking for talented freelance translators and interpreters. We are also looking for Office and Project Assistants. During the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, Monterey Language Services is poised for action – we have years of experience working remotely. For us, every challenge, downturn, or recession is an opportunity to reflect on what we can do to improve and move up to the next level. While most people and companies are focusing on the tasks at hand or cost cutting, we are thinking about what our contributions to the future would be and if we will be ready when our clients need us. Now is indeed a good time to think about all of this, and try to figure out how we can make better contributions to the environment we are in and to the people who we care about. We don’t lose faith in a crisis, and we believe those who survive the crisis will stand out when the crisis is over. To us, our career is a long journey. What’s most important is that we are ready to help when our help is needed, and staying connected to help each other out in a time like now.