Middlebury Institute graduates discuss where they are working today, how the Institute helped them get there, and what advice they’d give to current and future MIIS students.
My name is Wei-San Chiang and I will graduate with an MA in Translation and Localization Management from the Middlebury Institute in 2024. My language of study is English. Before pursuing my master’s degree, I graduated from National Taiwan University. I interned with Salesforce in San Francisco, California, and now I am an associate localization program manager at Salesforce.
The MIIS alumni network is no joke—many project managers on my team are Institute alumni!
I help with documentation localization at Salesforce and work closely with our content experience team such as technical writers, engineers, and product managers. I found my internship through Handshake, which then led to my current job.
Individual career advice from the Center for Advising and Career Services and the MIIS network are the two keys that helped me land this position. I had really insightful discussions with career advisor Winnie Heh about what companies are looking for in an intern, which gave me a lot of confidence and guidance when I was preparing for the interview. The MIIS alumni network is no joke—many program managers on my team are Institute alumni!
My best advice for current students is, don’t be afraid of dreaming big—shoot for the stars! Grad school doesn’t give you time to doodle around. It would be helpful if you could find out what you are genuinely interested in as early as possible, plan how to achieve your goals step by step, and execute them persistently. I strongly believe that curiosity and attitude go a long way. What professors teach in class is a basic introduction to the concepts. It’s up to you how deep you’d like to dive!
Translation and Localization Management graduate Cheng-Hao “Jimmy” Yang shares how coursework and an internship helped him launch a career as a freelance translator and localization project manager.
Translation and Localization Management graduate Jihong Zhou shares how a focused and strategic approach to her job search helped her launch a career in localization working on the Xbox product.
| by Gaya Saghatelyan MATLM ’17
Translation and Localization Management (TLM) graduate Gaya Saghatelyan describes how internships, networking, and Middlebury Institute faculty and staff helped her launch a career in localization.
