Can I add the importance of patience and trust/faith here?
I think a lot of non-standard career paths involve doing a lot of standard stuff to build skill and reputation, while maintaining a connection with EA ideas and values and keeping an eye open for unusual opportunities. It may be 10 or 20 years before someone transitions into an impactful position, but I see a lot of people disengaging from the community after 2-3 years if they haven’t gotten into an impactful position yet.
Furthermore, trusting that one’s commitment to EA and self-improvement is strong enough to lead to an impactful career 10 years down the line can create a self-fulfilling prophecy where one views their career path as “on the way to impact” rather than “failing to get an EA job”. (I’m not saying it’s easy to build, maintain, and trust one’s commitment though.)
In addition, I think having good language is really important for keeping these people motivated and involved. We have “building career capital” and Tara MacAulay’s term of “Journeymen” but these are not catchy enough I’m afraid.
Can I add the importance of patience and trust/faith here?
I think a lot of non-standard career paths involve doing a lot of standard stuff to build skill and reputation, while maintaining a connection with EA ideas and values and keeping an eye open for unusual opportunities. It may be 10 or 20 years before someone transitions into an impactful position, but I see a lot of people disengaging from the community after 2-3 years if they haven’t gotten into an impactful position yet.
Furthermore, trusting that one’s commitment to EA and self-improvement is strong enough to lead to an impactful career 10 years down the line can create a self-fulfilling prophecy where one views their career path as “on the way to impact” rather than “failing to get an EA job”. (I’m not saying it’s easy to build, maintain, and trust one’s commitment though.)
In addition, I think having good language is really important for keeping these people motivated and involved. We have “building career capital” and Tara MacAulay’s term of “Journeymen” but these are not catchy enough I’m afraid.