True Feelings from a Freelancer

Independent workers can match the output of several full-time employees, yet our very different ways of working breed hesitation on companies’ sides. That’s why I felt deeply humiliated whenever my resume disappeared into the void.

Things are nothing like your twenties. Back then, if you messed up, you could simply swallow your pride, learn humbly, and a door would open—“you’re still young” was enough for society to cut you some slack. Now the pace of change has accelerated, and once you pass thirty, you tend to become fragile, riddled with worries. You fear being seen as worthless and unvalued at your age; you fear shrinking income will erode your quality of life. In short, you just want to live with more dignity, while dreading the loss of it. This is the inner voice of many freelancers over thirty, and in a country like China, where freelancing still accounts for a modest share of the workforce, pressure from traditional expectations makes that yearning all the more urgent.