Why Did I Become a Freelancer Again?

When you have been freelancing for about 15 years, the days when you were a company employee start to feel like events from a very distant past.

I found myself thinking about this because, once again this year, all the bills for taxes and social insurance arrived at once.

It happens every year, but every time I open one of those envelopes, I still end up saying, “That is expensive…”

Things may work differently in other countries, but in Japan, employees usually have their companies handle the paperwork for taxes and social insurance. Of course, the money is actually being deducted from their salaries. But there is not much of a feeling that you are paying it yourself.

When you become a freelancer, you pay all of it yourself.

Every time I pay, it feels like the government is reminding me that I exist.

…Oops. This is turning into a complaint about taxes.

Complaining about taxes is probably irritating everywhere in the world, so let me get back to the main point.

“Why did I become a freelancer again?”

When I think back on it now, the reason was surprisingly simple.

The company I worked for was acquired.

And the person who became the head of the development organization in the new structure was what I would call a “man-hours management person.”

Management over technology.

Numbers over the people on the ground.

The kind of person who believes, “You can manage even if you do not understand technology.”

Of course, management matters.

But when the head of a development organization makes no effort at all to understand technology, the distance from the people doing the actual work keeps growing.

On the other hand, the direct manager I truly respected was an engineer.

If I was stuck, I could ask him for advice. We could also have real technical discussions.

He was the kind of manager who made me think, “I want to become someone like that.”

But he was the first person pushed toward resignation.

In Japan, companies cannot easily fire employees outright, so he was gradually pressured to leave. In the end, he left the company.

By that point, I had started to wonder:

“Is there any point in working hard here?”

I considered changing jobs.

But fortunately, a company I knew asked me, “Would you like to work with us as a freelancer?”

I started casually, without thinking too deeply about it.

That was the beginning of this life.

I think I probably assumed, “Maybe I will do this for a few years and then go back to being an employee.”

Before I knew it, 15 years had passed.

Life is hard to predict.

By the way, the company I left was later acquired and absorbed by Accenture.

The company name itself disappeared.

Almost none of the people I worked with back then are still there.

Come to think of it, the other day I saw a former colleague’s social media profile, and it said:

“Ex-Accenture.”

I get it.

Strictly speaking, the company may indeed have become Accenture in the end.

But from my perspective, I could not help laughing a little and thinking:

“You were someone who worked at a company that was bought by Accenture.”

Well, if you belonged there even for one day, it is not false.

Thinking about all of this, becoming a freelancer back then was one of the rare times in my life when I simply let the current carry me.

At least so far, I think that current has not been a bad one.

…Until I look at the tax bill.