In the last decade, the number of people working from home has gone up by nearly a quarter of a million according to a recent study. With a multitude of jobs available online, more and more people are ditching the 9-to-5 routine and rush hour commute and trading them with a location-independent lifestyle. Translation has been listed by Entrepreneur as one of the 50 side gigs and jobs for those who want to make a living without leaving their homes.

This past April, we released a survey to get to know our active translator community better and find out what our full-time and part-time translators have to say about their Gengo experience. Among the respondents, part-time translators account for 72% of our community, 9% translate occasionally, while 19% now work full-time for Gengo. (Figure A)

We also wanted to know what motivates our translators to work on our platform and deliver quality translations. Both part-time and full-time translators cited the following five advantages of working for Gengo:

Office-free

Translators love that they can liberate themselves from an office cubicle and a tiring commute. With Gengo, all they need is a computer, a stable internet connection, and a place to let their creativity flow.

“I can work on the go from my phone.”

“No need to hire a babysitter for my children.”

“Location-independence. I’m traveling the world and can work anywhere I have internet.”

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Great translator support

Translators appreciate support teams, language specialists, and project managers who are dedicated to ensuring a hassle-free and enjoyable experience.

“What makes Gengo stand out is its excellent support for translators – it’s not just a customer-oriented platform but also takes close care of the needs of us translators (e.g. urgent error fix in translation tasks, very prompt reply to questions, ample online resources on how to work professionally… just to name a few!)”

“Pleasant company with an enthusiastic team of people who respond fast when you have a question! Feeling included and appreciated is great!”

“Gengo provided me with such a smooth experience that I thought every online translation company would live up to the same standards. Let’s just say I was wrong.”

Flexible and commitment-free

Translators like that their workload is their choice. They can pick up jobs whenever it suits them and enjoy a flexible side job or full-time job without contracts.

“I really appreciate that there is no pressure to translate a certain amount of words in a specified time. One can simply look for a job whenever one has the time and ‘feels like it’. This is what makes Gengo so attractive for me – I don’t have that much free time to spare but I enjoy translating very much. Gengo is the perfect solution for people who want or need to be flexible.”

“There is no obligation to do any particular job. Translators have the freedom to choose their favorite jobs and work styles.”

“It’s a big plus not to have a set commitment so that I can travel or take a day-off if I want or need to.”

Image by @raisazwart via Twenty20

Convenience

Managing clients and entire projects can be tough and painful. Gengo Sales and Project management teams take care of this, so translators can focus on doing what they love.

“No need to market myself or find clients.”

“A good advantage is that translators do not have to bid for jobs, which saves time.”

“I love that I do not have to waste time in sending quotes, waiting for replies, then waiting for payments etc… Gengo takes the risk of encountering bad clients away and I can concentrate on doing good translations! I love Gengo!”

Easy money and on-time payments

Our part-timers love that they can earn extra income in their spare time while full-timers can rely on fast and regular payments, with no hassles.

“Gengo provides me a source of income that is indispensable during the initial, unprofitable stages of running a startup.”

“Knowing that you will always be paid is one of the biggest advantages of working for Gengo.”

“The hassle-free automatic payment process without much red tape is great, keep it up!”

We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to answer our survey – thank you for sharing your Gengo experience with us and your fellow translators! Your opinions matter to us, so keep an eye out for more surveys and community forum discussions.

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