Poll: Do you ever have more than one job going at once?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Sep 13, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you ever have more than one job going at once?".

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Rossella Arena
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 23:04
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes, often Sep 13, 2019

Having several projects at the same time is a very common scenario (occasionally with different language combinations: mostly EN-> PT , FR->PT and ES->PT). I work regularly with small jobs (less than 1,000 words) for some of my long-standing customers and occasionally with very big jobs for other clients (over 50,000 words). Often everything happens at the same time: as a freelance translator it’s not easy to have a control over the workflow. Now and then sticking to various deadlines require... See more
Having several projects at the same time is a very common scenario (occasionally with different language combinations: mostly EN-> PT , FR->PT and ES->PT). I work regularly with small jobs (less than 1,000 words) for some of my long-standing customers and occasionally with very big jobs for other clients (over 50,000 words). Often everything happens at the same time: as a freelance translator it’s not easy to have a control over the workflow. Now and then sticking to various deadlines requires extreme juggling but I love having a long term project with a comfortable deadline and in parallel a good bunch of shorter projects.Collapse


Philippe Etienne
Iwona Budzynska MCIL
Liena Vijupe
Yaotl Altan
Michael Harris
 
Wolfgang Schoene
Wolfgang Schoene  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 00:04
Member
English to German
+ ...
Do you ever have more than one job going at once? Sep 13, 2019

You bet.
More than one job going at once for the last 40 years or so.


ahartje
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 00:04
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Yes Sep 13, 2019

all the time... up to eight

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 00:04
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Not often Sep 13, 2019

Most of the jobs I do are small - many under 1000 words. I can often complete them at one sitting for translation and one for proofreading, so there is not a lot of sense in doing more than one at a time.

However, I also take on larger jobs, and need to take breaks from them - I get too bored to carry on after doing the same thing for a week or so!
On other occasions I take rushed jobs, and stop whatever I am doing to get them off as soon as possible.

Those are th
... See more
Most of the jobs I do are small - many under 1000 words. I can often complete them at one sitting for translation and one for proofreading, so there is not a lot of sense in doing more than one at a time.

However, I also take on larger jobs, and need to take breaks from them - I get too bored to carry on after doing the same thing for a week or so!
On other occasions I take rushed jobs, and stop whatever I am doing to get them off as soon as possible.

Those are the exceptions. I prefer to concentrate on one job for as long as it takes, and then do something different.
Collapse


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 00:04
French to English
. Sep 13, 2019

It never rains but it pours!

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:04
French to English
No Sep 13, 2019

The deadlines usually mean that I have to concentrate on one at a time. Besides, I'm not great at multitasking.

Josephine Cassar
 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 07:04
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Do I ever not? Sep 13, 2019

The answer to that is no.

 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
Always Sep 13, 2019

Low-priority, current, high-priority, sub-tasks, collaterals...

 
Rossella Arena
Rossella Arena
United Kingdom
English to Italian
+ ...
Often Sep 13, 2019

I have always loved languages and working as a freelance interpreter and translator has always been my dream, in order to help people to better express their thoughts. Unfortunately actually we need to pay rent, bills and to be independent and that's way for two years I've been trying to keep two jobs.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 20:04
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
All the time Sep 14, 2019

I have several regular clients, some of which send several small projects at once regularly. I usually have one or two bigger projects and several smaller projects keep coming in regularly. This month, I had to decline three medium jobs because I simply could not fit them in. I don't like doing this, but I always indicate friends for them.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 16:04
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Sometimes Sep 14, 2019

That's one reason why I try to bargain for a loose deadline with large jobs. So far this year I've worked on more than one job at once about 6 times.

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 00:04
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Yes, well, why are the poll questions so ambiguous these days? Sep 14, 2019

ProZ.com Staff wrote:
"Do you ever have more than one job going at once?"


What the point of having polls if the questions lend themselves to so much misunderstanding? What on earth does "going at once" mean?

I can typically do only one job at a time. I have trouble switching. The only time I do two jobs at once is if the one job is via some web-based service that is so slow that it takes more than a couple of seconds to move to the next segment -- then, but only then, would I consider doing a second job at the same time. Otherwise, I do only one job at a time. I may have several deadlines at the same time, and I may do a little bit of each job at a time (an hour on job #1, an hour on job #2, then an hour on job #1 again, etc), but never more than one job at the same time. I can "blind type" while carrying on a conversation with someone, but I can't translate one thing while editing or translating another thing at the same time.


[Edited at 2019-09-14 08:59 GMT]


 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 07:04
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
. Sep 14, 2019

Samuel Murray wrote:

ProZ.com Staff wrote:
"Do you ever have more than one job going at once?"


What the point of having polls if the questions lend themselves to so much misunderstanding? What on earth does "going at once" mean?


What, were you expecting people to communicate using unambiguous and effective language on a website for language professionals? Don't you think that's a little unreasonable?

[Edited at 2019-09-14 09:13 GMT]


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Poll: Do you ever have more than one job going at once?






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