My notes on what I liked about the post, from the announcement:
Many people who want to do a lot of good are pursuing or will pursue careers that arenāt among the top suggestions of 80,000 Hours. Thus, it seems highly valuable to consider ways in which people can aim to increase their impact across a wide range of career paths.
Aside from tackling a promising topic, Buckās post also does some specific things I like:
He begins with an extended quote from another article, and later spends a lot of time addressing the particular example cited in that quote (the potential impact of anthropology). When content directly expands upon previous content thatās often a sign that weāre making progress in an area. Iād love to see more posts that explore the deeper implications of briefly-stated ideas in previous EA material.
He presents most of his concrete advice in list form, making it relatively easy for someone to revisit this post and skim through it to find suggestions that might be applicable to their current position.
He carefully points out the ways in which his advice does and doesnāt break with āstandardā advice. For example, while he discusses ways to make an impact in careers that arenāt standard 80,000 Hours recommendations, he also notes that doing so might be a lot harder, and that there are still strong reasons to consider recommended positions.
One thing Iād have been interested to see: More real-world examples of people in the community who have done a lot of good through unusual career paths. This could have provided evidentiary support (or the opposite) for some of the ideas Buck presented.
This post was awarded an EA Forum Prize; see the prize announcement for more details.
My notes on what I liked about the post, from the announcement: