There’s a moment in every professional’s career when you sit back and think: “Is this really what I wanted to do?”
I am sure it happened to ALL of us in 2025.
Maybe it’s the fifth request of the week for “AI-quality at half the price”.
Maybe it’s a client explaining again how “this shouldn’t take more than an hour”, or sending 5 highlighted sentences to translate out of a 24-page documents (who’s paying for the scrolling time?),
Maybe it’s yet another wild deadline.
This is when cynicism creeps in.
But here’s what I’ve learned, after two decades in this industry (yes, this is why I added “seasoned” in my bio) and after seeing this industry twist itself inside out too many times through MT revolutions, new tools, and the eternal hunt for more-for-less:
The best antidote to cynicism is not a better tool, a bigger budget, or a longer holiday. It’s mentoring. It’s teaching. It’s helping someone else grow.
Cynicism thrives when purpose fades
Language work is beautiful. It connects humans through language, reshapes culture, enables understanding. But somewhere between “beautiful” and “urgent change request free of charge”, purpose simply evaporate.
And when purpose is gone, everything starts to look transactional, everyone becomes a resource, and cynicism grows stronger. Teaching, stopping to show someone why something matters, instantly reverses that process. Mentoring reconnects you to the why.
Mentoring reconnects us to each other
Cynicism is lonely.
It makes us suspicious, defensive, sarcastic. It makes us hopeless.
When I teach in universities or mentor someone, I have to be present: to listen, to adapt, to be human. I hear people’s fears, hopes, ambitions. I see the excitement of someone starting to imagine their place in this beautiful industry.
In a world that keeps saying “AI will replace you”, mentoring puts the people back in the equation. It builds trust. It reminds us that behind every project, there are human beings trying their best.
And I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to stay cynical when a student is grateful for what I say.
Teaching keeps curiosity alive
The localization industry moves fast. We can either keep learning… or become the “back in my day” or “we’ve always done it this way” type.
Teaching forces me to stay sharp.
If I want to explain post-editing, MT, AI, or workflow optimization, I must understand them, deeply, and challenge my own habits. Cynicism hates curiosity.
Many times I found my spark simply because I needed to prepare a training session.
When we mentor, the industry has a future
Let’s be honest: this business behaves like talent is replaceable. Spoiler: it isn’t.
Strong professionals don’t magically appear on the market with perfect skills, perfect rates, perfect resilience. Someone must invest in them.
Every time we explain the new roles our industry needs…
Every time a PM coaches a newcomer…
Every time a leader gives young people room to try, to fail, to try again…
…our industry gets a bit more hopeful.
Without mentoring, the cynics win. With mentoring, the industry survives.
Of course, mentoring is not all unicorns and freshly localized rainbows. It takes time you never feel you have. It requires vulnerability, because you don’t have all the answers.
Some days, the cynic inside will tell you “Why bother? They’ll quit in six months anyway.”
And sometimes they do.
But the moments when they don’t, or when they bloom, whatever they do, when they step up, when they become your colleague, your peer, your successor, those moments remind you exactly why you stayed.
Creating a culture that fights against cynicism
At Creative Words, I’ve tried to build a company where mentoring isn’t an extracurricular activity. It’s part of how we grow: together, not in isolation.
I still teach at universities. We still onboard new talent. I still sit in rooms (and Zooms) where I ask, “How can I help?” Because the day I stop learning with others is the day I risk becoming the cynical type I don’t want to be.
If your job has started to taste bitter, or if you don’t have any at the moment, try helping someone who’s just starting to acquire the language for it. Let their enthusiasm remind you that what we do matters.
Mentor someone. Teach something.
The energy you give away will return in unexpected ways.
