Are White-Collar Jobs Just Artificial Reality?

Every so often a question will flash through our mind that demands attention. We can ignore it, of course, but thinking through these random queries can sometimes lead to interesting conclusions. While working on my 履歴書¹ the back of my mind asked: Do white-collar jobs trick people into believing they have a purpose?

The question took me a little by surprise but, thinking it through, it's a valid point. For much of the past six months I have invested a remarkable amount of time in trying to become self-sufficient. Given my work history and range of skills, one would think this a simple task, but nothing could be further from the truth. Very few people appear to be interested in the things that I've offered. It is almost as though working in a white-collar job where the things I offer were generally considered "interesting" or "a good idea" was little more than a bubble consisting of fellow Stockholm Syndrome captives.

Does nobody outside of a medium-sized organisation need a web developer? A database person? Someone who has developed entire Lesson Management Systems, digital textbook delivery systems, online educational game platforms, and the like completely from scratch? Guess not.

How about a semi-professional photographer? No? A writer? Double no? A guy who can drive long distances without complaining? Heck no?

Six months of hustling with various projects, numerous conversations, dozens of demos, and a plethora of phone calls all say the same thing: "We'll keep you in mind, but all signs point to 'no'."

It's not rejection‐it's irrelevance. The niche expertise I cultivated for decades is, to most of the world, a solution in search of a problem.

There have been job interviews for white-collar jobs in the meantime, of course, and a few of the companies would have likely offered some interesting problems to solve. But I'm utterly unmotivated to return to a cubicle and a schedule full of work-stopping meetings where the same 4 points are repeated ad nauseam while people communicate dishonestly, pretending like solvable problems do not exist while wholly-manufactured crises dominate the day. Yes, I am being rather selfish with regards to where I invest my time and energy, but if the bulk of my waking day is going to be spent doing a specific thing, I want that thing to be honest.

But this raises so many questions. Why is it that larger companies are interested in employing me as part of their workforce if smaller organisations see no value in my offerings? The independent companies did not say they were uninterested in my services in the short term, but altogether.

• "We don't need a system for our school. We use Excel."
• "Why would we want digital textbooks or online platforms for students? We have paper."
• "Everybody has a camera in their pocket, so why hire a travel photographer?"
• "We don't need any authors for our website because we use AI."

While the examples above are just summaries of what people have said to me over the past six months, they're perfectly reasonable reasons to give someone pitching their services. The modern office thrives on artificial complexity‐tasks that feel critical inside the bubble but vanish outside it. More than that, the things that I enjoy doing the most are all said to be under attack by AI-based tools. Sure, AI does not create things nearly as well as an experienced human being, but most people are not looking for a well-crafted, well-considered piece of work. They want something that's good enough, and they want it yesterday. AI is adequate for most people's perceived priorities. The only people who will be looking for well-considered effort will be those with deeper pockets, which means large organisations, which is odd given that many of the bigger companies generally insist upon using top-down methodologies to stifle unrequested creativity.

This post likely comes across as a "woe is me!" sort of article, but this isn't the case at all. The question of whether our niche skillsets developed over decades are still required in the current world needs to be explored. If the hype surrounding Artificially Intelligent agents is even half accurate, then a billion office workers across the planet could be seeking employment elsewhere in the coming decade or two. This will require most of us to invest some time and effort into learning some new skills to perform tasks that machines cannot yet accomplish. And, that means that the people who wait too late will discover that the things they know and can do are in demand about as much as shoe repair.

So What Now?

The answer isn't to rage at AI or romanticise cubicle life. It's to ask: What skills would matter if corporations didn't exist?

Because someday soon, for many of us, they won't.

1. Rirekishō - a Japanese-style résumé