‘Round and round, and back to Coupang’ — Meet Tina, Interpreter at Coupang

‘Round and round, and back to Coupang’   

We often use this expression when former employees have returned to Coupang after switching companies to gain new experiences.     

Today, we met up with Tina, one of the boomerang employees at Coupang. She is an interpreter and translator for the EIT (Engineering Interpreters and Translators) team. Continue reading the interview below to learn more.  

Hi, Tina. Can you give us a brief introduction of yourself?  

Hi, my name is Tina. I have been working as an in-house interpreter for 7 years and am currently working in the EIT (Engineering Interpreters and Translators) team at Coupang. I first joined Coupang back in 2018 and worked as a junior interpreter for about a year as part of the PIT (People Interpreters and Translators) team. Then I came to think I wanted to seek new opportunities and continued my career as an interpreter outside of Coupang for three years, then finally returned to Coupang in 2023.  

This time, I joined the EIT team to interpret meetings for Coupang’s tech teams including E-commerce Engineering, Data Platform, App Infrastructure, and more.   

You joined a public organization fresh out of graduate school and then came to Coupang. Could you share more about your journey?    

I majored in political science and international studies in college. Due to my academic background in this field, I wanted to pursue my career as an interpreter in international relations. So I joined a public organization and worked in the Department of International Cooperation.    

However, there were no expats in my department, requiring very little interpretation support. Most of my time was dedicated to translating documents and doing research. Naturally, I developed a craving for simultaneous interpretation.  

When I heard there is a high demand for simultaneous interpretation from my friends that were already working at Coupang, I immediately knew Coupang is the place to quench my thirst for interpretation.    

I imagine a lot of changes have happened to the interpretation and translation teams since you first joined the company. What are the differences between then and now?  

When I first joined Coupang, there were only 70 interpreters and translators across the entire company. 70 seems like a big number, but it is less than half of the number we have now. There were only 2 interpreters in PIT at that time — my manager and myself.     

What surprised me the most is CouIST, an interpretation scheduling system. Now everything from scheduling to calculating the hours is automated by this system. Back then, we had to manually manage everything, which took so much of our time. This seemed to be the biggest change after I returned to Coupang.  

What did you do after you left Coupang? Can you also tell us why you decided to come back?  

Back in my old days at Coupang, I started to wonder about my potential career path after talking to senior interpreters/translators who joined Coupang after years of experience in other places. My family also moved away, so the commute became longer too. These factors added up and led me to make the ultimate decision.    

I left Coupang and joined a government organization. However, just like the early days of my career, I rarely had a chance to interpret as COVID-19 blocked all diplomatic activities.  So, I moved to a bank, where the working environment was quite similar to that of Coupang. However, I often felt that my job security was being threatened because the number of foreign leaders in Korea was decreasing by day. Besides, the bank did not provide basic infrastructure for interpretation the way Coupang does and although the interpretation booths and devices were outdated, it was difficult to request device purchases. These challenges were mainly because I was working as a freelancer, unlike Coupang where most interpreters and translators are full-time employees.   

In the end, I concluded that Coupang is the place I want to develop my career because it provides a systematic environment equipped with tools and systems for interpretation.   

You left Coupang as a junior translator and came back as a senior. Did you feel any changes at Coupang?     

The biggest change is “CouIST”as mentioned earlier. This in-house interpretation scheduling tool helps make the lives of interpreters so much easier. It automatically assigns interpreters to their respective domains. It also provides automated time and resource management. I’m always impressed by the interpreters who passionately work together with the development team to update and advance the features of “CouIST.”  

In addition, I feel less burdened as we pair up into a team of two to support longer and more challenging meetings. We can also participate in various team initiatives, such as new hire onboarding, feedback loop, (domain knowledge) book club, user enlightenment, and so on. Being able to contribute to our own initiatives through planning and execution gives us another layer of satisfaction and a sense of belonging.  

When I returned to Coupang, I was impressed by how Coupang offers a very systematic onboarding program. There were training programs backed by data and a checklist designed for onboarding new hires. In addition to domain knowledge sessions, a glossary of technical terms for each team was provided. I am proud to say that Coupang is creating a better working environment for interpreters and translators.  

I really appreciate your honest answers throughout the interview. Any last words?  

The theme for today's interview was “returning to Coupang.” Interpreters often joke about how we are divided into 3 groups: interpreters who had worked for Coupang in the past, currently working for Coupang, and those who will soon join Coupang.” It means that no matter where or how you start your career, you will eventually have a connection with Coupang at least once in your journey. I was no exception. So I’d like to say to all interpreters out there, do not hesitate to start your career at Coupang.   

I’d like to end today’s interview with a quote that I heard from the head of the team when I first joined Coupang as a junior, “Rather than trying to provide fancy interpretation, all you have to do is to make communication happen.”  

I will be waiting for those who want to join me on the journey of making communication happen.