Comments on: Separating the personal and the professional http://translationmusings.com/2009/01/05/separating-the-personal-and-the-professional/ featuring musings about my life and the translation industry Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:27:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Judy Jenner http://translationmusings.com/2009/01/05/separating-the-personal-and-the-professional/#comment-1050 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:57:21 +0000 http://translationmusings.com/?p=1132#comment-1050 Good points. I am currently trying to figure out how to have social media work more for me on the professional level. My current “rules” are that on LinkedIn, I don’t connect to anyone whom I either don’t know personally very well or whom I have had professional contact with. Facebook started out entirely for personal use for me. Some of my great translator friends (you!, thanks for coming to Vegas!) are connected to me, but no clients (thus far). I don’t have anything terribly controversial to post anyway, but I do think about the fact that anyone could read it, and that I am a public professional person on the Wild Wild West that is the Internet.

I joined Twitter a few days ago (finally, I joined the revolution!) and I have decided to keep that all professional, and I am feeding it into my translation blog. I have profiles on 30+ professional and social networking sites (Xing, MiGente.com, hi5.com, etc.) which I update regularly.

In terms of the blend of professional/personal: I like it. I am a recent convert from corporate America, so I actually enjoy being in both worlds at the same time. If I don’t want to answer the phone, I don’t have to. Most of the time, I do, though. After all, I am running a business. I really enjoy having the choice of accepting a project at say, 2 p.m. on a Friday or not. And I did not activate the e-mail function on my new BB. For now.

]]> By: Glenn http://translationmusings.com/2009/01/05/separating-the-personal-and-the-professional/#comment-1049 Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:44:13 +0000 http://translationmusings.com/?p=1132#comment-1049 Jill,

I like your post. I was recently brought, kicking and screaming to the mobile e-mail alter in the form of a blackberry. Prior to this I just never left my desk, so for now, it’s been a freeing experience rather than an enslaving one, and I’m trying to keep it that way.

Now that I’m my own boss, I don’t seem to mind my personal time being encroached upon by clients. When I worked for someone else, I hated being contacted on evening and weekends, and it happened rather often.

Interesting you mention facebook. I felt old the first time I visited it because I had trouble guaging personal vs. professional and public vs. private. I have the impression that young adults entering the workforce now don’t think in terms of, 9 to 5 belongs to someone else, the rest of the time is mine. It seems more fluid. I don’t know if they see themselves giving up more personal time because of technology, or actually re-claiming their personal time with technology.

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