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Picture this: you are moving to a new country, trying to start a new chapter in your career as a translator. You don\u2019t know any translators based in your destination, have no previously established connections, and are struggling to find local opportunities. That was my situation about a year ago when I first moved to the US from Brazil. A month later, however, I would attend the world-renowned ATA conference, which significantly changed my career.<\/p>\n
I had heard about the ATA through Brazilian colleagues and online panels and decided to check out their website. Fortunately, the ATA63 conference was just one month away, so I decided to attend it despite my initial hesitation. I figured getting out there and meeting some people in my field couldn\u2019t hurt. Little did I know; this event would change my career significantly.<\/p>\n
I was sure I had made a good decision as soon as I attended the PLD\u2019s virtual session. It was like being invited to a reunion of old friends who were excited to see each other and spend some time together, and I started looking forward to being a part of that as well.<\/p>\n
The first day of the conference started out with the Buddies Welcome Newbies event, which is a great way to break the ice, have some laughs, and meet new people. I even heard that the ATA63 Buddies Welcome Newbies was one of the biggest ones yet. Being a part of that helped me feel more comfortable in the Welcome Celebration, which gave me a real sense of the event\u2019s scale. That was also when I met my PLD peers, and we saw a beautiful Los Angeles sunset.<\/p>\n
With so many people and sessions, the second day felt overwhelming at first. The ATA63 2022 app was vital for me to overcome that feeling and figure out what I would be doing each day. Once I started attending sessions and meeting other attendees, I began to understand how the conference worked and felt more comfortable.<\/p>\n
The sessions at ATA63 were great. They covered various topics, from specific technical subjects to marketing oneself as a freelance translator. The speakers were experts in their fields and provided valuable insights and advice to attendees\u2014in fact, I have the app installed to this day to check notes I took during different sessions. Each day, we had a networking session with a different twist, which was a fantastic idea, particularly for first-time attendees.<\/p>\n
Looking back, I realize that attending ATA63 was a turning point for my career. The conference allowed me to make significant connections and prompted me to learn about fields in translation that I didn\u2019t even know existed. Seeing our profession in a new light, I left Los Angeles, emboldened to find my place in the video game translation and interpretation field. A few months later, when I moved to Seattle to start my dream job at Nintendo (via Aerotek), it became even more evident that everything I had learned at the ATA63 bore fruit.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s to many more ATA conferences!<\/p>\n
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Editor’s Note:<\/p>\n
#ATA64 will be held in Miami, FL, October 25-28. Ew hope to see many of our PL members at our happy hour on October 25, 6:30, at the Riverview Bar & Grill (in the hotel lobby).<\/p>\n
You can learn more about #ATA64 and register here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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