Hey for sure, thanks for asking. LinkedIn is definitely a great option, and honestly I don’t think (or have any ideas for how) the Forum could provide better connections between individuals wrt career mentoring. More just calling out a challenge I face personally that others might share, but some thoughts on it:
LinkedIn is not great for getting meaningful conversations with senior people in my experience. It’s a very spammy site with most of my inbox being bots and unsolicited / irrelevant recruitment. Personally I even finding sharing my resume publicly with all my friends a little toxic, it’s too easy to spur jealousy and competition, though I participate as fully as anyone. So IMO when trying to connect with a senior person that you don’t know, LinkedIn is not a good option. They’ll see you alongside a bunch of spam and ignore you. (Open to other experiences, maybe I just need to get my game up.)
Cold emails are better, people check their emails more seriously thank LinkedIn, but not everyone is remotely likely to respond to a cold email. Personally I put a lot of effort into those emails, often more than an hour of research and writing for the individual person. I have maybe a 20% reply rate, which is wonderful and enough to make it worthwhile, but also much lower than I would like given the investment of time.
One idea that’s probably already been tried would be a list of people open to cold emails and / or giving career advice. When I write a good cold email explaining a question or decision I face and asking for specific advice, I often share it with a few people that might be able to help. Sharing with a few dozen, or with people who self identify as open to helping, might result in more replies. A curated spreadsheet or online group could definitely help (and again, probably been tried—does anyone know of attempts?).
EA at its best can be a bubble of trust goodwill and friendliness. PabloAMC’s recent post about meeting senior people in his field at EA Global is a perfect example—EA Global makes it much easier to find meaningful connections with senior people in EA fields. I would love if we had an online service that facilitated connections with the ease and quality of EA Global that could be used year-round over the internet.
Separately, and as context on my specifics—Anybody looking to give career advice to a young data scientist looking to break into AI Safety? I’ve got a great cold email I can send you explaining my upcoming decisions: classes, degrees, job opportunities, all that good stuff. Have emailed a few busy, senior people with no luck so far. Would love to chat!
Hey for sure, thanks for asking. LinkedIn is definitely a great option, and honestly I don’t think (or have any ideas for how) the Forum could provide better connections between individuals wrt career mentoring. More just calling out a challenge I face personally that others might share, but some thoughts on it:
LinkedIn is not great for getting meaningful conversations with senior people in my experience. It’s a very spammy site with most of my inbox being bots and unsolicited / irrelevant recruitment. Personally I even finding sharing my resume publicly with all my friends a little toxic, it’s too easy to spur jealousy and competition, though I participate as fully as anyone. So IMO when trying to connect with a senior person that you don’t know, LinkedIn is not a good option. They’ll see you alongside a bunch of spam and ignore you. (Open to other experiences, maybe I just need to get my game up.)
Cold emails are better, people check their emails more seriously thank LinkedIn, but not everyone is remotely likely to respond to a cold email. Personally I put a lot of effort into those emails, often more than an hour of research and writing for the individual person. I have maybe a 20% reply rate, which is wonderful and enough to make it worthwhile, but also much lower than I would like given the investment of time.
One idea that’s probably already been tried would be a list of people open to cold emails and / or giving career advice. When I write a good cold email explaining a question or decision I face and asking for specific advice, I often share it with a few people that might be able to help. Sharing with a few dozen, or with people who self identify as open to helping, might result in more replies. A curated spreadsheet or online group could definitely help (and again, probably been tried—does anyone know of attempts?).
EA at its best can be a bubble of trust goodwill and friendliness. PabloAMC’s recent post about meeting senior people in his field at EA Global is a perfect example—EA Global makes it much easier to find meaningful connections with senior people in EA fields. I would love if we had an online service that facilitated connections with the ease and quality of EA Global that could be used year-round over the internet.
Separately, and as context on my specifics—Anybody looking to give career advice to a young data scientist looking to break into AI Safety? I’ve got a great cold email I can send you explaining my upcoming decisions: classes, degrees, job opportunities, all that good stuff. Have emailed a few busy, senior people with no luck so far. Would love to chat!
That’s awesome, thanks! Will send you a message later this week.
Perfect!