As I can't find what I want here in Madrid, I have opened myself to outsourcing/home based or contract/freelence work that might require some temporary relocation. (Please don't ask me what's my specialty just yet). Any good web sites where I can post my resume to network with like minded global workers that might require collaboration and outsourcing ?
My son in law, who does home-based services (web design, marketing, etc.) has found Craig's List to be very helpful. It has a vibrant "services available" section, which also includes lots of "services wanted," which he responds to. They are in well over 100 cities now (including Madrid), and he puts his "services available" posting on some, perhaps many of them. No cost for this splendid thing. www.craigslist.org
I second Craigslist. Those of us with sort of "grass roots" sensibilities like Craigslist because it's truly a labor of love for its creator. It's worth millions (or so he has been offered for it), but he won't sell. He covers his expenses and puts a little money in his pocket by charging only for the help wanted posts. The rest is there simply because he felt there was a need... and that it needed to be free. Gotta' like that. So I also strongly recommend Craigslist. Strongly.
Don't gotta Actually, the reasons I like Craig's List are that it's useful and that its pages are designed to load quickly. I couldn't care less that the guy doesn't want to make boatloads of money off it. In fact, I have to admit that I think that's really weird. There's nothing wrong with making money from providing a valuable service. He could even keep to his idea of having everything be free and simply charging for preferred placement or display ads or the like -- he'd make a fortune without significantly changing the character of the service. But then, it's not Steve's List, is it? -=Steve=-
Re: Don't gotta Well, Rest assured Craig has a foot in both camps. Clearly he has passed on the big money that I am sure has been offered him. At the same time he has sold a signigficant part to eBay, what might be consider the MS of online commerce. In any case, I admire his goals, success, and profit. http://www.craigslist.org/about/press/ebay.stake.html
market, oyster, what have you... John Wesley (1703-1791) said "the world is my parish." He meant it, too.
Dave: "...he has sold a signigficant part to eBay..." John: Actually not. As the link says, it was one of Craig's founding partners who sold his minority share, apparently, according to the local stories at the time, against Craig's wishes.
Thanks, I hadn't realized that Craiglist had grown so large! It has a small section here in Madrid but it is definitively a very good source. Thanks, and honour to hear directly from you (you are one of the big ones for me in the distance education world--still got your 12th edition Earning degrees non traditionally back from 1995).
Are you a native Spanish speaker? If so, your English is quite good. With some more education -- a certificate maybe? -- you may be able to sell yourself as a document translator. You could get paid by the word and work from anywhere. It's not a terribly secure job and involves a lot of hunting down work, but it's a growing field with nice conditions.
Yes, native speaker. Is there really a market still for Spanish-English translations? I thought that was an over-exploited field, with all the bilingual Latinos living in the US, etc. Is "document translator" a specialized field in translation?
I meant document (written) translation as opposed to in-person translation, for example a courtroom interpreter. There are lots of bilingual Latinos living in the US (or not) who do translation. But just because you are fluently bilingual does not mean you will be a good translator. In parallel, fluency in English, native or otherwise, doesn't make someone a good proofreader/editor. An English speaker might have a beautiful command of English (native or otherwise), be extremely articulate and educated, yet proofread very poorly due to lack of capability, dedication and practice. Also, many second- and third-generation US Latinos have a very poor command of written Spanish, or practically no Spanish at all. I agree in general that Spanish/English translation is an overly exploited field... but also a really huge field. Any job in which you can work at home and pick your own hours is going to have tons and tons of competition! I think the trick in translation is to develop a client base or good agency relationships. Or, you could find a special niche. For example, you could specialize in Spanish/English pharmaceutical/medical with emphasis on European applications. I would try and find what kind of need is out there for translation before you totally write it off. It might not be feasible to jump into it, but if you can just line up a few jobs it will give you some pocket money and pad your resume too.
Thanks. I will keep it in mind. My specialty would be business and IT because of my studies and work experience. But it just seems nowadays that there are always tons of people with specific bachelor degrees in translation or linguistics which makes competing practically impossible. Anyway, about getting some home based work in general, my idea is to get into it as an extra besides having a normal job, mostly because I'm hoping that the telecommuting job style will broaden in the years to come, and it will be a nice thing to be into so as to, at some point, have the choice to dedicate fully to it, and be able to move out in the country and all that. I figure, that as with all things it may take a long time to establish internet contacts, relationships, partnerships, a potfolio, so it's good to start as soon as possible.
