Recently, a case has attracted quite a lot of attention, involving Amsal Christy Sitepu. In one news report published on MSN from Tribunnews, it was mentioned that during the legal process, several work components such as concept/idea, cutting, editing, and even dubbing were considered to have zero value in rupiah.
Apart from the legal context, there is one thing that is far more important to discuss and is very relevant to the world of technology and business:
why are creativity and technology-based jobs often considered valueless?
This Is Not About the Video — This Is About How People Think
What happened in this case is actually not new.
In the real world, especially in the technology and digital industries, we often encounter situations like:
- “It's just video editing, right?”
- “It's just making a simple app, right?”
- “It's just connecting an API, isn’t it?”
Such statements seem simple but actually reflect one thing:
a lack of understanding of the complexity of the work
Invisible Complexity: The Main Problem in the IT and Creative World
Unlike physical work, work in the creative and IT world has a unique characteristic:
its main value is invisible.
What is visible:
- the application is ready
- the website is online
- the video is published
What is not visible:
- system architecture
- hours of debugging
- failed experiments
- complex technical decisions
- years of experience
And this is where the problem arises.
When someone doesn't see the process, they tend to assume the process does not exist.
Technology Makes Everything Appear “Easy”
Today, with the presence of:
- AI
- templates
- no-code tools
- drag-and-drop builders
many things indeed look faster.
But this creates a dangerous illusion:
if the result is quick, then the process must be easy
In fact, the reality is, tools only speed up execution, not replace understanding.
Experienced people can complete something faster, not because the work is easy, but because they have gone through the difficult phase for years before.
Why Are IT and Creative Jobs Often Lowballed?
There is a very consistent pattern:
people only want to pay for what they understand
If they don’t understand:
- system complexity
- technical risks
- long-term impacts
what happens is:
- prices are pressured down
- the work is considered trivial
- even compared to cheap solutions that are not comparable in quality
A Different Perspective: Expert vs Non-Expert
A non-expert looks at the result.
An expert looks at the process, risks, optimization, scalability, and maintainability.
That is why two people can see the same job but value its price very differently.
Lessons for Companies and Technology Professionals
Cases like this should serve as a reminder to all parties, especially in the technology industry:
- Education is part of the job. Don’t just deliver results. Explain the process.
- Don’t just sell the output, sell the value. Not just a website or application, but a scalable, secure, and ready-to-grow system.
- Positioning is important. If we are positioned as executors, we will have our prices negotiated. If we are positioned as experts, we will be valued as solutions.
Conclusion
When work like editing or even ideas can be considered valueless, the problem is not with the work itself.
The problem lies in how the value itself is understood.
And this doesn't only happen in the creative industry, it happens every day in the IT world.
In technology, the most expensive thing is not the result. The most expensive thing is the understanding behind that result.