A few years ago, I decided to go back to school. I wanted to invest in my professional development and boost my translation career by acquiring new skills, staying current on digital trends, and gaining an insider’s perspective on marketing. My goal was to not only be a marketing translator but also a translating marketer.

In early 2018, I signed up for my first course in the Digital Media Content Creation certificate program at UCSD Extension, and I eventually also enrolled in the Digital Marketing certificate program at the same university. Now that my studies are coming to an end – all my assignments for my last required course are turned in – I am reflecting on the benefits of my recent educational journey. Here are five ways in which going back to school has helped my translation career:

New Skills

Over the past few years, I’ve acquired many new skills and have honed existing ones, from web publishing, copywriting, and search engine optimization to photography, data visualization, and graphic design. While some of these skills are essential or at least beneficial in translating marketing communications and localizing websites, others come in really handy for my own branding and marketing efforts.

New Tools

Both certificate programs have allowed me to explore a range of marketing and content creation tools. Some of them I now use for promoting my own translation services, others I rely on for my day-to-day work activities in translation and localization and even for my research endeavors.

A More Efficient Translation Process

As search engine optimization plays such an important role in my fields of specialization, learning about additional tools and techniques has made quite a difference for me. Being able to effectively use various SEO tools – and approaching projects from an SEO’s point of view – has led to a smoother and more efficient translation process.

Better Communication and Decision-Making

My marketing and content creation studies have helped me speak the same language as marketers and creatives and have allowed me to view assignments from their perspective. This has made it much easier to communicate with everyone involved in any given project, and it’s empowered me to make more decisions independently by seeing the bigger picture and understanding, in depth, how the world of marketing and its creative assets are connected.

Easier Negotiation

Negotiating rates has become easier, too. I attribute this, in part at least, to my ability to market my services better now than before. My newly acquired skills and my expanded network have also opened up more options, giving me the opportunity to walk away from less desirable offers without hesitation.

The Bottom Line

When I first started weighing my options, going back to school seemed a bit daunting. Several years of studying, spending evenings and possibly weekends completing assignments – what a commitment! Looking back, it really was a lot of fun, actually. Would the money, time, and effort spent on courses pay off? I believe they have. And I didn’t have to wait long to reap the rewards – each assignment, each course brought with it the benefits of new skills, knowledge, and insight. The bottom line, however, is that going back to school hasn’t just helped drive my career forward; it has also transformed my personal life (but that’s for another post 😉).