A recent post on the secondhand trading platform 'Jaeneung Exchange' community. Screenshot from Danggeun.

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The number of Millennials & Gen Z who are looking to learn new hobbies by exchanging their talents is on the rise.

According to Danggeun Market, a secondhand trading platform, as of October 28, 2025, posts related to talent exchange in the third quarter of this year increased by 6.9% compared to the same period last year. On "Lesson Info," another platform for talent exchange, 50 to 60 such posts have been uploaded each year over the past three years.

This culture of talent exchange appears to stem from the desire of Millennials & Gen Z, who value practicality, to reduce their self-development costs. In a survey conducted last year by Jobplanet among 323 people-including office workers, those on leave or seeking jobs, and university students-14.3% of respondents who said they did not pursue self-development cited the cost burden as the reason.

Another advantage is that people can learn more easily through communication with others. On Danggeun Market and various social networking services, there are numerous posts such as "I'll teach you programming if you teach me how to draw," or "If you teach me composition, I'll teach you personal training."

When entering "talent exchange" in the search bar of the secondhand trading platform "Danggeun," many related posts were viewed. Danggeun screenshot

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Some people seek talent exchange with future career changes in mind. Choi Wonho, a 30-year-old office worker, said, "If we use the web development skills I learned at work to teach each other, it would be a win-win," adding, "I plan to change careers to become a developer, so I want to learn Python."

Experts say this trend is an evolution from the days when hobby clubs were popular, now developing into a form similar to mutual aid. Kim Heonsik, a pop culture critic, explained, "These activities are based on trust and utilize lifestyle-oriented local platforms that are open to communication," adding, "Young people are filling in their gaps and achieving their goals by exchanging the talents they each possess, which aligns with the characteristics of a 'practical generation.'"