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25 July 2022

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Globalization and Localization Association

GALA Champion Xavier Maza Cid

In this series of interviews, GALA members share their insights on the pursuit of globalization & localization brilliance. This week:

Xavier Maza Cid

What’s in a Job Title

My job title is Client Services Manager, so this basically means managing and taking care of the services we deliver to our customers, and more importantly, finding out which services they need (or will need in the future) to stay ahead from competition and in a leading position. This is what most interests me. Also I am a bit of a creative person so I have hundreds of ideas boiling in my head and I try to get them done and move forward, some of them we do, some of them we can't.

Starting out

Back in 1988 I had just bought myself a computer, a PC XT 8088, and someone offered me to edit Bookmaster scripts where I had to replace translatable text with Spanish and leave tags and codes undisturbed, otherwise files crashed, could not be compiled and time and money was lost. I found it engaging. And got paid for it. I was in the university studying translation and this looked more attractive than literature translations. Also I soon started working for a company that offered me to travel to US labs and do product testing of their latest technologies... something called the internet browsers :-) Netscape, Gopher, Telnet for TCPIP suite in OS/2. I was involved in the testing of the first AVI viewers, (not much to view besides some garbled images and colors)... all that made me feel like we were pioneers in the latest technologies. Later I became a partner in that company that employed me and I started a 30 year relationship with my associates at iDISC.

Where GALA Fits In

We were trying to find windows to the world. We had a few customers and we were not able to reach any further. GALA allowed us to meet peers, customers, industry leaders, and have many more opportunities. The conference. Of course! But we are also very fond of the small local networking events that we have helped organize, locally, during Mobile World Conference, in pre-covid times, on the beach and overlooking Barcelona's skyline. Accomplishments Each and every customer I brought in and that is still with us after more than 25 years.

Why join GALA? Take a look at the member benefits.

Career-building Tips

Shut up and listen!

Networking Tips & Techniques

Be natural, be you. People do not want to be sold in networking events, but want to meet nice people. Business starts from there, from people you know, from trust and from need (when this appears). What I learned in these last 16 months... I can work from home in shorts and flip-flops and still be happy.

Finding Inspiration

My father was a source of inspiration for hobbies, most come from him in one way or another.

My Brilliant Second Career

1.- I would like to be the guy in charge of Movie Locations, travel the world finding the right spots for movies.

2.- Have an antique motorcycle and car dealership, collector's cars and stuff like that. And have the chance to try them all.

3.- Teach scuba diving to young people.

Life Beyond Localization

I guess the above already says a lot. I love traveling and meeting people from different cultures, I love old mechanical devices I can use, from watches to motorcycles and cars, and I like to ride, (so I collect watches, I have some cars and motorcycles too). As much as I like sharing my passion for the sea and the underwater world. Having the chance to show young people and introduce them to scuba diving is an incredible opportunity for me. I am a Scuba instructor for two Certification agencies at Advanced level (CMAS and SSI). I can say I have done, and I still do, all these in my private time.