People often ask me what is the career path for a manager in the globalization industry. While it is not always a linear trajectory, there are often three levels on the client side. L10n project managers who manage projects and not people. They may move to L10n Program managers that manage L10n project managers. The next step is managing the program managers and overseeing the globalization budget. This person may have the title of Director or VP of Globalization. The roles for client and vendor differ.

Odds are Googling your options hasn’t simplified things. Freelance linguists, professional translation agencies, “crowdsourced” translation portals, machine translation tools…there’s an ocean to navigate. (Even Google may have suggested you try Google Translate.) Much of this flood is driven by low-cost options, promising a relatively small investment is all it takes to open up your company to millions of potential customers around the world. Technology, it would seem, is working its magic, saving budgets, and connecting businesses to buyers at the click of a button.