Developer Diary 15: What Will Happen To The Open Mic In 5 Years? Just one guy's dream...




Greater than 5 minutes, my friend!

Have you ever had an idea?

An idea that is so insane and unrealistic that it might actually work.

When you look in the mirror and say: “Dude/Girl, this idea is nuts! I have to try it!”

Because that’s what The Open Mic is.

Just one man’s idea.

The idea of uniting the brightest minds of this industry.

The idea of bringing together the most altruistic writers and thinkers. People who deeply care about this industry.

The idea of building a community that will shape up the future of translation industry and help us raise the awareness about all the challenges and opportunities of this amazing profession.

This idea swallowed me whole and changed me. I am not the same man I used to be.

And I love that.

Because that’s what great ideas do.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Great ideas change who we are but more importantly they change people’s lives and make a difference.” quote=”Great ideas change who we are but more importantly they change people’s lives and make a difference.”]

And now you have the power to change things.

The power to speak and be heard.

The power to talk about things that matter with the audience that gets it.

This is the mark that The Open Mic will leave on this industry.

It’s truly a historic moment.

A moment that will define the future of our profession and change the way we interact with each other.

Because finally we have a platform that wasn’t designed out of corporate greed or for the sole purpose of profiteering.

The Open Mic will set an example. A new trend.

A trend where we’re the one’s in control of our destiny and not some business folks who don’t give a fuck about the future of the translation industry or translators.

The Open Mic was designed by translators and for translators and that’s how it will remain.

Yes, it will be hard.

Yes, it might take many years before it takes off.

But I’m not going to quit.

That’s not my style, you know.

I’m a hit hard or go home kind of guy. And I won’t rest until we get there.

So What Will Happen To The Open Mic In 5 Years?

I feel like I need to share my vision.

Because you deserve to know where this whole Open Mic thing is going.

Because you’re a part of this industry. You’re a part of our future.

That’s why I feel like you have every right to know about our plans, goals, and aspirations.

The Open Mic is all about transparency, openness, and honesty. And I want to show that from day one.

Building The Most Inspiring Translation Community

This is the essence of The Open Mic.

The Open Mic is a unique blogging platform for translators where anyone can be a writer.

Anyone can contribute and share thoughts, ideas, opinions, observations.

This will help us change the way we talk about problems.

Now we can have a universal platform where we can gather together and discuss all the challenges and opportunities of this profession, instead of doing it separately on our personal blogs or websites or at different conferences which only a few of us can attend.

Every translator is welcome on The Open Mic. And it doesn’t matter what your language combinations are or what kind of experience you have.

The Open Mic makes it easy to learn, write, share and inspire.

It will change lives.

It will make people think.

Leveraging The Power Of Community To Attract Clients And Help You Get Hired

Where do people find translators?

Where do they go?

Google? Proz? Gengo? Upwork? Professional Associations? Translation Agencies? Personal recommendations?

I think the answer is all of the above.

And in many scenarios it’s really hard to control these channels.

Proz is mostly a bidding platform with a race to the bottom that crushes your soul.

Gengo can’t be really called a platform for translators because it’s not. It is for people who speak several languages.

Upwork is a platform for freelancers in general and it’s not tailored to the needs of translators.

Translation agencies take their cut and put the downward pressure on OUR rates.

Professional associations can be influenced by third parties and rarely put translators front and center. And don’t even get me started on the outdated web design which is a huge problem in the world of professional associations.

If I was a direct client I would choose Gengo over ATA’s directory of translators any time of the day, simply because Gengo is user-friendly.

So what’s the solution here?

Building a professional website is the first thing that comes in mind.

Because you need one.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Every single translator should have a website. Until you do, no one will take you seriously.” quote=”Every single translator should have a website. Until you do, no one will take you seriously.”]

That’s true. Your personal website is the only thing that can improve your online visibility and attract clients that don’t haggle.

A professionally-designed website can also outperform any membership-based websites in terms of SEO.

But I realize that it’s not for everyone. Not everyone can be web-designers. Not everyone can afford to hire a professional designer (although the return on investment is insane).

That’s why I want The Open Mic to be the first community for translators that will put your skills, your abilities, your content front and center.

Because this is the future.

We need a community that works for the people and not for the sole purpose of generating profit.

A community that has a stronger emphasis on PEOPLE and their SKILLS.

A community that will change the way people look for translators and hopefully help us get rid of the job-bidding platforms that have been fostering price-based competition for years.

Can we build it?

Only time will tell. But I’m very passionate, and I believe in translators. I think WE can make that happen.

Improving The Image Of Our Profession And Raising Awareness

Go outside. Ask the first stranger you meet how much does he/she thinks translator makes a year.

Now ask the same question about lawyers or dentists.

I bet you 100 bucks that 9 times out of 10 that person won’t even know who we are or what we do.

My non-translator friends have no idea what I do. Neither do my parents.

Our profession is ridiculously underrepresented in the media.

And that sucks because:

[clickToTweet tweet=”The world, the way we know it, cannot exist without translators.” quote=”The world, the way we know it, cannot exist without translators.”]

We’re that missing link.

That bridge between people and cultures.

And everyone treats us like we don’t exist.

We can change that, you know. We can unite and raise the awareness.

And by building The Open Mic I’m taking that first step.

With your help we can educate people, we can show our clients that translation services are as expensive as the services of dentists, lawyers, architects.

We can show them the importance of quality.

We can show them that job-bidding platforms rarely yield any meaningful results.

That you can’t buy translation services on Fiverr, for fuck’s sake!

We can do all those things on The Open Mic.

And this is what I want to do in the next five years.

So, what do you say? Can we make that happen?

Dmitry Kornyukhov

About Dmitry Kornyukhov

Founder of The Open Mic. Video game localization specialist. I help video game developers, game publishers and localization studios bring their projects to the Russian-speaking gaming community.

2 thoughts on “Developer Diary 15: What Will Happen To The Open Mic In 5 Years? Just one guy's dream...

  1. Hi Dmitry,

    thank you for setting clear and compelling goals and for being so inspiring!

    I also appreciate your opinion on Proz and your honest stance on the mechanisms underlying that system.

    Elena.

    Report comment
    1. Thank you for your kind words, Elena! I believe in transparency and I think that’s what makes The Open Mic different. I also think that we need a place like this. Where we can be honest with each other and have real impactful conversations.

      Report comment

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