Gen-X Isn’t Having A Career Meltdown — We’re Having A Career Remix
Turns out you can’t cancel the generation that invented canceling plans.
MariaDubova | Canva If you read the recent New York Times piece on the Gen-X career meltdown, you might picture us all standing in the rain, clutching our old media credentials, whispering sweet nothings to our mixtapes. The story makes it sound like we’ve been quietly laid off by the culture — creatively obsolete, professionally discarded, and now just hanging out somewhere between confused and extinct.
One source said, “The skills you cultivated, the craft you honed — it’s just gone. It’s startling.”
We’re not gone. We’re working. We’re adapting. And some of us are doing better than ever.
Just look at Taylor Lorenz, who, although on the Gen X-Millennial cusp, parlayed her journalism chops into User Mag, a sharp new platform on Substack, building community and commentary in equal measure.
Or Boots Riley, who went from revolutionary rapper to satirical filmmaker, disrupting industries with stories no one else was telling. Mike Mills started in graphic design and music videos before moving into indie filmmaking that bridges art, culture, and family histories. Or Christina Strain, who shifted from comic book colorist to TV writer, bringing a vivid, visual voice to screenplays for shows like The Magicians and Shadow and Bone. These aren’t one-off success stories. They’re proof points.
And they’re just the start.
Because those high-profile pivots are backed by thousands more stories of creative professionals evolving in quieter ways, that doesn’t make us relics. That makes us adaptable.
As one creative put it in the article, “There’s no way you can survive anymore being strong at one thing.” Gen-X was built for that. We came up during the fall of the music industry, the decline of print, and the explosion of the internet. We were the beta testers of disruption.
And here’s the thing, these generational panic pieces always miss: we don’t need to compete with the next generation.
We need to collaborate. Gen-Z and Millennials bring energy and new tools. We bring context, discernment, and institutional memory. One isn’t better than the other; it’s the mix that works.
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“The systems clinging to narrow definitions of success are the ones being left behind — not the people evolving within them.”
That mix matters more than ever because the biggest obstacle isn’t technology. It’s rigidity. As futurist Heather E. McGowan argues, “The future of work is learning,” and those who thrive will be the ones who can adapt, collaborate, and rethink their value in changing landscapes. The problem isn’t that Gen-X can’t keep up.
It’s that too many systems still reward fixed mindsets in a world that desperately needs flexible ones.
Whether it’s the preference for traditional career ladders, outdated ideas about age and innovation, or fear-based hiring practices that overlook adaptable talent, rigid structures make it harder for creative problem-solvers to thrive.
Carol Dweck noted in a 2014 Harvard Business Review article that companies with a growth mindset — one that rewards learning, experimentation, and flexibility — are more likely to attract diverse talent and spark bold ideas. Psychologist Mary Murphy reaffirms the idea in her 2023 book Cultures of Growth, showing how adaptable, learning-driven cultures consistently outperform rigid ones. The systems that cling to narrow definitions of success are the ones being left behind, not the people evolving within them.
We’ve spent years boiling generations down to buzzwords. Millennials are entitled, Gen-Z is chronically online, and Gen-X is invisible. But those caricatures fall apart when people actually work together. Gen-Z’s meme fluency doesn’t cancel out Gen-X’s media literacy.
And that so-called “invisibility” we’re known for? It’s often just focus. We’ve been building, mentoring, managing, and, yeah, occasionally rolling our eyes in the background while trends cycle faster than you could burn a custom mix for your car stereo.
“Gen-X was built for this. We were the beta testers of disruption.”
Gen-X also came of age during the rise of diversity as a workplace value, as a tangible shift in language and leadership. We were the first generation to enter the workforce after EEO policies and affirmative action began reshaping hiring in meaningful ways.
Many of us have spent our careers learning how to navigate differences and push for inclusion without always naming it outright. According to a 2023 Pew Research Center study, Gen-X workers are more likely than Boomers to view racial and ethnic diversity as a strength in the workplace and are often more likely than Millennials to value diversity of thought and lived experience alongside it.
That lived experience matters.
It means we understand diversity as a prerequisite for relevance and more than just an outdated buzzword, something that fuels sharper decisions, genuine trust, and the kind of creative momentum that actually matters in a working world that feels like it’s rewriting itself every five minutes.
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There’s a whole cohort of Gen-X creatives who didn’t melt down. We leveled up.
We took our storytelling skills into new places: nonprofits, associations, digital strategy, content marketing, consulting, academia. We built new lanes instead of waiting to be invited back into the old ones.
Former editors are now UX design leads. Ex-ad execs have launched purpose-driven agencies. Journalists are shaping strategic communications at major companies. Musicians, designers, and filmmakers are mentoring the next generation and experimenting with hybrid careers that would have sounded like science fiction in 1997.
We don’t need to reclaim our cultural relevance. We never lost it. We figured out how to build something new. Just ask Boots, Christina, Mike, or Taylor.
Reinvention isn’t a side effect of survival for us; it’s the engine. It’s how we’ve stayed in the game while everyone else kept changing the rules. We stopped waiting to be handed permission to evolve, to lead, to redefine success on our own terms, and started doing it anyway. Not loudly but with a kind of confident refusal to sit still and fade out.
So, no, Gen-X isn’t having a career meltdown. We’re having a career remix. And it still slaps.
Erin Looney is a communications strategist, podcast host, and professor with a two-decade career spanning broadcasting, higher ed, sports, and construction. She’s a National Press Club committee member, Marvel quote machine, and proud dog mom to Dusty Lebron James.
