Producing the work was how judgement got earned. The ladder has lost its bottom rung — not because there is no work, but because there is no longer an obvious way to show you can do it.

A CV is a claim and a portfolio is evidence. The two objections people raise are both real, and neither is actually a blocker.

The old deal lapsed on both sides but only one side reorganised around it. What replaces it is unpleasant and at least honest — including the part about runway.

A one-page plan for anybody starting out or starting again. Three finished things, one of them for a real person with a real problem.

The switch stories that get told are the clean ones. The actual middle has no status, and that — not the money — is what makes it hard.

"Underqualified" and "overqualified" are the same move: a way of saying no without saying why. Telling a real objection from an empty one is much easier with other people reading the exact words.