When I Grow Up I’m Going To Be A Freelancer

Simply take a look on ‘Seek.com’ and you will be faced with the reality that if you’re after a job in the ‘New Media’ industries, you will be working as a freelance contractor.

Castells (1999, 402) frankly tells us that if you wish to work as a New Media professional you will be working on an ad-hoc, contracted, job to job basis. It’s a frightening concept but it’s certainly a rising reality. According to Castells (1999, 402) “Some studies in Germany project that in 2015, about 50 per cent of the labour force would be out of stable Employment”.

Worried? Don’t be. It’s true that you’ll probably be earning less than those traditional accountants and lawyers but not surprisingly, in a study by Gill (2007, 5), of those who work in New Media, “money was not cited as a key attraction”.

The nature of freelance work means that it creates freedom in workspace and time. Lee (2011) makes the point in her blog that that this means our “work/life balance is increasingly blurred”.

Some would suggest this is a negative, however people working in New Media are passionate about what they do (Gill 2007, 5). As such if you spend your life living out your passion and at times you happen to get paid for it, then that certainly is a positive.

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References:

Castells, M. 1999. “An Introduction to the Information Age.” In The Media Reader: Continuity & Transformation, edited by Hugh Mackay and Tim O’Sullivan 398-410. London: Sage.

Gill, R. 2007. “Informality is the New Black.” In Technobohemians or the new Cybertariat? New Media work in Amsterdam a decade after the web, 24-43. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures.

Lee, F. 2011. “The Networked Society,” Faithchantal’s Blog. April 17. Accessed April 18. http://faithchantal.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/the-network-society/

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