a lot of the attitudes around career planning in EA sort of assume that you are formidable within a particular, rather narrow mould
This idea is something I’ve contemplated previously, but I really like that you put it into words.
If you will indulge me in rambling/ranting a little, I remember looking at 80k’s guidance on careers in the area of Improving China-Western coordination a few years ago. China is an area that I know a bit about and wanted to make a core of my career.[1] I was disappointed that most of their recommendations were not realistic for someone who wasn’t an ‘elite.’[2] I came away with the general impression that the authors didn’t really grasp the realities and challenges involved in a non-Chinese person building a career in China, but in retrospect it could have simply been written with Ivy League grads in mind in which case I was not the target audience. Many of the options listed that struck me as unavailable/unrealistic would be much more feasible if I had an undergraduate degree from Princeton or Yale or Stanford. So as a person who already had a decent amount of China-relevant knowledge and experience, I basically came away understanding that “there isn’t any way for me to contribute to this area” and that I would have to have some sort of an in with a professional network in order to contribute professionally.
Examples of these include recommendations to work as a foreign journalist (which is very competitive and prestigious in China), apply for top scholarships for special master’s degrees in China (one scholarship require applicants to be younger than 29, the other prefers candidates younger than 25), work at a think tank, work for the Ford Foundation, work for the Gates Foundation, work at top Chinese companies, and so on.
This idea is something I’ve contemplated previously, but I really like that you put it into words.
If you will indulge me in rambling/ranting a little, I remember looking at 80k’s guidance on careers in the area of Improving China-Western coordination a few years ago. China is an area that I know a bit about and wanted to make a core of my career.[1] I was disappointed that most of their recommendations were not realistic for someone who wasn’t an ‘elite.’[2] I came away with the general impression that the authors didn’t really grasp the realities and challenges involved in a non-Chinese person building a career in China, but in retrospect it could have simply been written with Ivy League grads in mind in which case I was not the target audience. Many of the options listed that struck me as unavailable/unrealistic would be much more feasible if I had an undergraduate degree from Princeton or Yale or Stanford. So as a person who already had a decent amount of China-relevant knowledge and experience, I basically came away understanding that “there isn’t any way for me to contribute to this area” and that I would have to have some sort of an in with a professional network in order to contribute professionally.
China was the main focus of my bachelor’s degree, which included learning the language. I had lived in Beijing for about eight years at that point.
Examples of these include recommendations to work as a foreign journalist (which is very competitive and prestigious in China), apply for top scholarships for special master’s degrees in China (one scholarship require applicants to be younger than 29, the other prefers candidates younger than 25), work at a think tank, work for the Ford Foundation, work for the Gates Foundation, work at top Chinese companies, and so on.