I’ve been around long enough to write my own damn BBCode on BBS boards. Yeah, that’s Bulletin Board Systems — and if you don’t know what that is, that’s because back then you were still an itch between your parents’ groins.
I’ve been building websites since 1995. Back when HTML was king, CSS was just crawling out of the womb, and JavaScript was a dangerous toy you only played with if you hated your life. Sites were static, clean, and raw — like steak tartare for the nerds.
And freelancing? Oh, freelancing was pure. No platforms. No “gigs.” No Fiverr clowns charging $5 for logos that look like they were traced from ClipArt. No cheap “uncles” from halfway across the world undercutting the hell out of everyone. It was me, my code, and clients who respected the craft.
Fast forward to today and freelancing has turned into a damn flea market. It’s the Wild West where everyone with a pirated Photoshop thinks they’re a “digital creator.” LinkedIn warriors slap “CEO” on their profiles after selling one Canva template. Upwork is a battlefield where clients throw scraps and freelancers fight like rabid dogs just to lick the plate clean.
Then: You were valued for skill.
Now: You’re valued for how low you’ll go.
Then: You had to know code.
Now: People brag about dragging and dropping boxes in WordPress like they invented electricity.
And don’t get me wrong — I’m not gatekeeping. The internet grew, freelancing grew, and more players came in. But let’s call it what it is: freelancing now is noisy, dirty, cheap, and oversaturated. Everyone’s “hustling” but few are actually building.
Here’s the kicker though: if you actually know your shit, if you’ve been around the block, if you’ve done more than copy-paste from Stack Overflow — this chaos is opportunity. Because while the masses drown each other in $5 gigs and endless revisions, the real ones — the ones who started in the trenches — still rise above.
So yeah, freelancing today isn’t what it was. It’s messier, it’s uglier, it’s nastier. But if you’ve got guts, skills, and the stones to say “No” to trash offers, you’ll still win.
And if not? Well, enjoy fighting for breadcrumbs on Fiverr.