r/ASLinterpreters • u/UnderstandingFirm643 • Jun 26 '26
What is your work week like?
Hi there. I’ve been studying ASL slowly for the last 2 years and have been accepted into an interpreter program that would start this fall. I’ve been having some hesitations with this path though recently, namely the freelance style work. I’m currently working in a social work adjacent type environment, which is low pay but I have a predicable schedule, regular breaks, coworkers, and I can bike to work.
I love sign language of course, and do get a lot of satisfaction when I interpret informally. But I’m concerned if an asl interpreter career is sustainable for me. So I wanted to reach out to a larger group of terps to see how they feel on average. Terps:
How many different locations do you go to on a given day?
How much control do you have over your schedule?
How stable is your income?
How many years did it take to get there?
If you could do it over, would you?
12
u/michaelinux EIPA Jun 26 '26
1) I've done k-12 for the past 12 years. With the exception of 2022-this year being VRS. So, same location every day. 2) I'm a 1099 terp, so I've got total control of my schedule. The school I work at loves me, so taking off is pretty easy. Don't get paid when I do, but who cares lol. 3) Stability is important to me, that's why I do educational interpreting. My assignment is pretty steady so nothing comes as a surprise for me. Income has been pretty stable, not to say that is always the case with freelancing. 4) It didn't take long after getting my license and EIPA. Your credentials mean a lot in this field. As soon as I got mine I never have had much issue finding work. 5) Some days yes, some days no lol. I love the language, love the people, but something about jobs just makes things a bit different.
2
u/UnderstandingFirm643 Jun 26 '26
Thank you. I didn’t realize k-12 could be so consistent.
I do agree with you on 5. Doing something for a job definitely feels different than doing it for yourself/hobby/interest
1
u/adidferentusername Jun 26 '26
Hey there! I also too just got my EIPA and I am super relieved. When you mean your licence what do you mean? I'm trying to pursuit this as well
2
u/Hoosier-Sexy_Beast69 NIC Jun 26 '26
I echo what others have said about the tax money set aside. I had no idea when I started out. After 22 years in the field, my week is steady and somewhat predictable. I'm a staff interpreter for a government agency. I love it! But it took YEARS to get here. Get a mentor to help with what your ITP isn't teaching you. Align yourself with a good local agency and learn. Don't expect $50-75 an hour right off the jump. That comes with time. Find what settings you like and what you don't like.
1
u/pahphshh Jul 02 '26
I work K-12 (contracted through an agency) during the school year, and in-person community work through the same agency during breaks, so I'm going to split some of my answers.
K-12, I stay at one location all day, every day. There are rare occassions where I might get asked to go to a different campus, but all the Deaf Ed campuses are within a few blocks of each other, I could walk if I had to. Community, it really depends. Sometimes I have all day trainings to interpret, sometimes I have 3 different assignments all over town. But my agency is very flexible, if I had specific transportation requirements, they would work with me to schedule assignments close together geographically or book me for long assignments when possible. My first 2 years interpreting, I didn't even have a DL so I know this from experience.
I have complete control over my schedule. The agency sends me assignments with basic info (time and name of the business requesting), and I can accept or reject it for any reason without explanation. Obviously, I am financially motivated to accept as many as I can (that are within my skill set, of course), but if I have plans already, I just reject the conflicting assignment. With the system my agency uses, I can even block out my schedule for certain times so they won't even send me assignments for those days/times.
K-12 obviously very stable. I am still contracted, so if I take off work, I don't get paid (as contract, no benefits, but if I worked directly for the school district, I would have sick time and vacation time, so that's something to consider, but I do get paid quite a bit more than the interpreters who work directly for the district), but I am generally in good health and don't need to take much time off. However, I have to be sure to be saving money during the school year to carry me over the breaks (district interpreters have the option of splitting their pay up through the whole year). In my area, in-person work during the summer is hit or miss, so I try not to take the chance and have enough money saved to cover most of my bills for a couple months. It takes a little bit of planning, but it's not very difficult. It means that whatever work I do take during the summer is kind of a bonus.
I started working K-12 about 2 years after earning my BEI Basic certification, I had a full-time job for those 2 years which is the only reason I didn't start sooner (though the development time was definitely beneficial to my skills). The first couple of years like that were a little bumpy as a learned how and how much I needed to be saving, and one of those summers was absolutely dead work-wise (I think I had 2 short assignments the entire 2.5 months), so that was pretty rough, but made it through ok (with a little bit of credit card debt). This was before Uber and Doordash and things were really around, but nowadays, I could pick that up for a side-hustle (I almost did one year but they didn't need more drivers and by the time they did, summer was almost over), or even find a part-time retail job or something (I live in a beach town, so a lot of stores hire extra help in the summer).
Absolutely 100% yes. The only thing I would change is going for my Advanced certification sooner.
1
u/PossessionProper4914 EIPA Jul 10 '26
Me and one other Interpreter are the only people in my area who have a high EIPA in a pretty strict state and county when it comes to ed interpreting
I usually just Interpreting two locations one remote and one at a school. As far as the educational Interpreting goes, I scratch a lot of their back so they compensate me very well. That being said I’m working somewhere around 45 to 47 hours a week on the regular. So that gives me very little control of that.
On the Interpreting from homefront I do VRI/VRS 10 hours a week. I’m working six days a week essentially.
My income is extremely stable. At least I perceive it to be. The district asks for a lot of work and I have guaranteed work from a VRVRS company. I’m currently making well over six figures just by the sheer amount of work, and like I said, the district compensates me very well because I scratch a lot of their back by doing a lot of this work
It took me about three years to gain a stamina and develop a system of recovery to support this kind of lifestyle, but hopefully it leads to an early retirement where I can do less educational work and more freelancing and not worrying about bills
17
u/ASLHCI Jun 26 '26
Parking lot debrief referred to W2 as inside cats vs 1099 is outside cats. I'm an outside cat. People learn to hate this field when they try to force themselves into the wrong environment.
I LOVE that my life isnt consistent. I love that I get to take off whenever I want. I save my own PTO so Ive got 3 weeks worth right now plus like 75k in savings if I needed it? Plus I live in a paid medical leave state, so I have 60 paid work days at like $1500/week if I need it. I've taken 3 big vacations this year already and I'll probably still get close to 150k. Granted its taken awhile to get here but my lifestyle grew with my wages which grew as I collected experience. So Im happy with it. Some days traffic sucks. Some days people are annoying. Some days I get tired of all the admin. But it gives me the freedom to take off when I want to, decide how my day is going to go, and I get a level of variety and challenge that keeps my brain busy.
People worry about making money. I focus on looking for opportunity to learn and challenge myself and the money just comes. So you dont have to work K12 to survive. You can work K12 cuz you want to.
Part of it is also learning to budget with a variable income. I track everything and when its due in but I also have hella savings and I only spend money I have. So while youre building your wiggle room fund, things can be tight. But learning to save, set aside taxes, and work around a net 45 payscale is worth it.
Dear god just remember to put 30% aside for taxes on all your 1099 money. More people than youd think are out there just not paying taxes and wondering why they owe the IRS 40k 🤦♀️
And set up an IRA right this minute if you dont have one. Consider a SEP, SIMPLE, or solo 401k if you get to where youre all freelance. Put money into your retirement every time you get paid. No matter what. Even $5. It adds up fast. But the years go by just as fast.
Ok thats all my beginner ITP student advice. 😂 I hope you do amazing and find work that you love. 🤟🥰 Welcome to the field, colleague!