Lewis Michael Hawes
Current Employer/Organisation Name
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now?
Living in Cologne, Germany, working as a translator first at a translation agency and now in-house for a scientific research institution.
Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work?
I am passionate about languages and helping people to communicate across language barriers. I have been lucky to find opportunities where I can put those skills to use in interesting fields.
Please tell us if you were a member of any societies, groups or sports clubs?
Committee member of German Society, member of Russian Society, DebSoc, Model UN, FolkSoc, recipient of music scholarship.
What did you enjoy most about your programme and what was the biggest highlight?
The year abroad in Russia.
What did you enjoy most about studying here?
The insightful teaching staff.
Why did you choose to study at Exeter?
Exeter gave me the most positive impression at its Open Day of any of the universities that I visited.
What skills and experiences have been most useful for your career?
Independent living abroad, spoken and written German, competence in French and Russian.
What advice would you give to a current student who wishes to pursue your career?
Get skills indirectly related to the industry. Machine translation is one particular aspect of growing importance in the business and programming/coding skills are certain to come in useful in keeping up with this competition.
What are your plans for the future?
Considering returning to university to pursue an academic career, moving into a career in machine translation software development or continuing as a translator in more specialised fields, perhaps literary.
