There’s a hunger in EA for personal stories—what life is like outside of forum posts for people doing the work, getting grants, being human. Thank you for sharing.
(Note: personal feelings below, very proud of / keen to support your work)
I’m struck by how differently I felt reading about this funding example, coming from my circumstances. I work in private sector with job stability and hope to build a family. The thought of existing on 6-month grants / frequently changing locations, is scary to me. Health insurance (US), planning financial future, kids, etc. I’ve spoken to many EAs who are in a way more transient living situation than I could handle. Suspect that’s true for many, but not all, mid-career folks.
It possibly worth me mentioning that my level of transience is pretty whole-heartedly chosen: I gave up job stability for this (startup was successful). I picked 6 months because that seemed like a good amount of time to explore the possibility of doing this for longer, I considered applying for 12 months (which I don’t think would have negatively affected my application) but mainly worried about over-committing. I know people at TH who have 4 year contracts, which I’d consider relatively stable.
While I live on a boat, the boat doesn’t move that fast & I’m planning on Oxford being my UK base for the next decade (with some months abroad). Health insurance is a non-issue here, and since I now own the boat I don’t pay rent either. So I feel pretty stable, really, even though my home sways when the rowers come past.
There’s a hunger in EA for personal stories—what life is like outside of forum posts for people doing the work, getting grants, being human. Thank you for sharing.
(Note: personal feelings below, very proud of / keen to support your work)
I’m struck by how differently I felt reading about this funding example, coming from my circumstances. I work in private sector with job stability and hope to build a family. The thought of existing on 6-month grants / frequently changing locations, is scary to me. Health insurance (US), planning financial future, kids, etc. I’ve spoken to many EAs who are in a way more transient living situation than I could handle. Suspect that’s true for many, but not all, mid-career folks.
You’re very welcome, I’m glad you like it :)
It possibly worth me mentioning that my level of transience is pretty whole-heartedly chosen: I gave up job stability for this (startup was successful). I picked 6 months because that seemed like a good amount of time to explore the possibility of doing this for longer, I considered applying for 12 months (which I don’t think would have negatively affected my application) but mainly worried about over-committing. I know people at TH who have 4 year contracts, which I’d consider relatively stable.
While I live on a boat, the boat doesn’t move that fast & I’m planning on Oxford being my UK base for the next decade (with some months abroad). Health insurance is a non-issue here, and since I now own the boat I don’t pay rent either. So I feel pretty stable, really, even though my home sways when the rowers come past.
I have the same feeling about the idea of subsisting on short-term grants—it sounds awesome, but way too transient and unstable for me to really consider. I wrote a post about this here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KdhEAu6pFnfPwA5hf/grantees-how-do-you-structure-your-finances-and-career