Every once in a while, if you’re lucky, the perfect career opportunity comes along. For Julia, a multilingual woman who works from her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that opportunity came knocking when she heard from a former colleague named Graham, who told her about Metafraze and put her in touch with its CEO and founder, Aaron Alder.
From the first time that Julia spoke with Aaron, she knew she’d found the ideal fit. “We were on the same page from the start regarding processes, turnarounds, etc.” Julia accepted a position as a project manager in 2018 and hasn’t looked back. One of the many things she loves about her job is how she is always learning something new.
“The best thing about my job is being in touch with people from different parts of the world and picking bits of knowledge about their culture and their languages. You get to recognize several languages at a first glance (even if you cannot understand them or they don’t use the same alphabet you use), discover interesting facts (like “oh, look, this word is so similar throughout these six languages!”), talk with people with different customs in many time zones. There’s always something new to learn,” she said.
Her job also challenges her to solve problems. When she receives a request from a client, Julia will look for ways of making things work the best way possible for all stakeholders, draft a plan and see it through. “The moment you deliver to the client is very satisfying,” she said. “On occasion, it can be like staging a play: you’ll do a lot of work behind the scenes and your client will probably never notice it, but when it is showtime, it is very rewarding.”
Julia is a native Spanish speaker who learned English at school. In university, she dabbled in French and German. And last year, she began studying Italian, in homage to her family’s Italian heritage. “It’s a good way of being in touch with my roots while keeping my brain less rusty!”
A recent career challenge that brings Julia joy is helping clients keep their collaborators safe in 2020. “Time was of the essence as they needed to ensure basic safety instructions were quickly distributed to several territories — and the translations certainly needed to be spotless! We helped companies translate internal courses into several languages, which allowed equal access to knowledge to collaborators from countries that are very far away from headquarters, and many times forgotten. It is most satisfactory knowing there are companies out there which are willing to go the extra mile helping all their staff grow, regardless of their place of birth,” Julia said.
When Julia isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with her family and their cat, who “joined us some years ago when I decided to transition to a fully remote role.”
It is dedicated employees like Julia who help Metafraze shine. If you think you would be a good fit for Metafraze, we invite you to learn more about open positions here.
