I’m a High School Senior; my interests are very much concentrated in the arts, but those don’t seem like a promising route in terms of effective altruism. I have skills in the areas of math and science, but very little personal interest in them. Any advice on finding the balance for a career that’s effective, that I also enjoy sufficiently?
What type of arts do you enjoy? For instance, I always really enjoyed English and drama, and am now in a data science job where I am going to be writing up publications and doing talks in addition to my coding/stats work. If you go for a small or start-up company, you can often have a broader job like this where you can take on tasks that interest you—my perception is that larger companies tend to have more regimented roles.
If you’re more into visual arts, web design, marketing or some sort of community-building/social logistics could be good options. They’d also provide good skills in short supply to volunteer to the EA community.
So, don’t necc extrapolate from ‘communication skills are valuable’ to ‘study arts at university’. Work on your communication skills, but consider doing that in a more quant subject e.g. economics, or doing a joint major.
There are many career paths in the arts. You can have an impact in them through:
Advocacy—gain a platform and use it to spread important ideas e.g. journalist who sometimes covers neglected topics; TV producer who works an important social issue into a plot line.
Gain skills and use them directly to help effective projects e.g. many projects need design skills for websites, promotional materials etc.
Seek out higher earning positions and earn to give. I’m not sure exactly what these are though—it’s probably the less artistic stuff!
One concrete option that stands out would be learning web design with some basic front end web development. That’s widely in-demand skill set which you could apply to a non-profit, or you could freelance and do pro bono work, or you could use to earn to give.
It’s also worth keeping your options open. Many subjects are boring at high school, but turn out to be more interesting at university, when you start studying them ‘for real’. Or just lucking into a good teacher can make a difference. There might be other quantitative subjects like economics and computer science that few people study at high school but you turn out to enjoy.
If you want to keep your options open, bear in mind it’s easier to transfer from more quant subjects into more artistic ones than vice versa. So, if you’re uncertain, consider at least doing a minor in something more quantitative at university.
Finally, don’t forget that personal fit is always very important. If you’re going to excel in arts, but be average at science, it could easily be better to do arts. If you’re good at what you do (and it’s not totally random!), then there will likely be good opportunities to use your skills to have an impact in the future.
I’m a High School Senior; my interests are very much concentrated in the arts, but those don’t seem like a promising route in terms of effective altruism. I have skills in the areas of math and science, but very little personal interest in them. Any advice on finding the balance for a career that’s effective, that I also enjoy sufficiently?
What type of arts do you enjoy? For instance, I always really enjoyed English and drama, and am now in a data science job where I am going to be writing up publications and doing talks in addition to my coding/stats work. If you go for a small or start-up company, you can often have a broader job like this where you can take on tasks that interest you—my perception is that larger companies tend to have more regimented roles.
If you’re more into visual arts, web design, marketing or some sort of community-building/social logistics could be good options. They’d also provide good skills in short supply to volunteer to the EA community.
Thanks. English and drama and visual arts are all things I like, so I’ll look into these things you’ve said.
I think communication skills are very important. Some careers that 80,000 hours has explored relevant to what you are saying:
https://80000hours.org/career-guide/top-careers/profiles/foundation-program-manager/
https://80000hours.org/career-guide/top-careers/profiles/work-in-marketing/
https://80000hours.org/career-guide/top-careers/profiles/policy-oriented-civil-service-uk/
https://80000hours.org/career-guide/top-careers/profiles/program-manager-in-international-organisations/
I agree that communication skills are very important, though bear in mind that arts majors are much more likely to end up unemployed or in jobs that don’t require a college degree. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-economic-guide-to-picking-a-college-major/
And sometimes more likely to find their work unmeaningful too! Notice that visual comm and drama are near the bottom. http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/majors-that-change-the-world
So, don’t necc extrapolate from ‘communication skills are valuable’ to ‘study arts at university’. Work on your communication skills, but consider doing that in a more quant subject e.g. economics, or doing a joint major.
Hi Eli,
There are many career paths in the arts. You can have an impact in them through:
Advocacy—gain a platform and use it to spread important ideas e.g. journalist who sometimes covers neglected topics; TV producer who works an important social issue into a plot line.
Gain skills and use them directly to help effective projects e.g. many projects need design skills for websites, promotional materials etc.
Seek out higher earning positions and earn to give. I’m not sure exactly what these are though—it’s probably the less artistic stuff!
One concrete option that stands out would be learning web design with some basic front end web development. That’s widely in-demand skill set which you could apply to a non-profit, or you could freelance and do pro bono work, or you could use to earn to give.
Also I’d say that at high school, I don’t think you need to worry too much about knowing exactly what you’ll go into. Prioritise exploring different areas, personal growth, and building useful skills. https://80000hours.org/2014/12/stop-worrying-so-much-about-the-long-term/
It’s also worth keeping your options open. Many subjects are boring at high school, but turn out to be more interesting at university, when you start studying them ‘for real’. Or just lucking into a good teacher can make a difference. There might be other quantitative subjects like economics and computer science that few people study at high school but you turn out to enjoy.
If you want to keep your options open, bear in mind it’s easier to transfer from more quant subjects into more artistic ones than vice versa. So, if you’re uncertain, consider at least doing a minor in something more quantitative at university.
Finally, don’t forget that personal fit is always very important. If you’re going to excel in arts, but be average at science, it could easily be better to do arts. If you’re good at what you do (and it’s not totally random!), then there will likely be good opportunities to use your skills to have an impact in the future.