I learnt about EA in 2013. I never felt that 80k was talking to me, simply because my talent set is ā¦ well, mediocre (plus some cultural things). Also, at 23, my CV was already unimpressive enough that it would be hard to catch up. The best thing I can do for the world, is to be born with a different brain.
I have a normal job as software tester and I call it āearning to giveā. I have been in normal jobs for 10 years. I never interned or worked at an organization aiming for direct impact, and barely even volunteered. I am very satisfied with my involvement in the community and the way I try to do good in the world.
Some other things I do:
being very excited about effective giving. I love to consume content about charities, charity evaluations, etc.
keep working fulltime so I have a decent donation budget. I live in an area where working part time is common even among some healthy non-parents. Working fulltime is already a challenge because I get distracted and overwhelmed easily. My job requires me to reliably get things done. I can be very reliable as long as I am not stressed out.
attend EAGx (no EAG please) and local retreats, chat with others about effective giving and earning to give. Sometimes these are people earlier in their career, or newer in the community, or have reasons to not dedicate themselves too much. I can make time for anyone. One might call it āmentoringā. (data point: I never got rejected for any event)
aim for small, very small, steps towards career progress. Aiming for big steps has failed.
be frugal. Keep track of my budget. Frugality matters. I donāt overdo it.
engage with the local community at in person events. People are much less intimidating in real life than on the internet. I rarely have the feeling that I am the least smart person in the room (partially, because I donāt care).
I agree with the examples, but for the record I think itās very misleading to claim Imma is a āmediocre EAā.
If I understand correctly, she moved to a different country so she could donate more, which enables her to donate a lot with her ānormalā tech job (much more than the median EA). Before that, she helped kickstart the now booming Dutch EA community, and helped with āDoing Good Betterā (sheās in the credits)
My understanding is that sheās not giving millions every year or founding charities, but she still did much more than a āmedian EAā would be able to
I donāt know Imma and so canāt evaluate her identification as āmediocreā in some way, but what youāre describing shows that being āmediocreā in some characteristics can be overcome with strength in others, like heart and commitment.
I think the only thing Imma might be āmedianā in is weekly work hours, which I donāt think is what the poster meant. Most people couldnāt do these things
FWIW: I moved back for reasons fully in line with my (mixture of altruistic and non-altruistic) values and for kickstarting the Dutch EA community I would really really assign the credits to other people. Big thanks to them.
Iām really sad to hear you feel that 80k isnāt talking to you. Fwiw, I work at 80k now and think of myself as talking to you.
It seems like an understatement to say āI call it earning to giveā. What youāve done over the last decade seems like solidly, clearly earning to give to me.
I wish it were easier to get away from comparative style labels, and what can feel like an incessant pressure to always be doing more for the world. To me, the ways Iām falling short compared to others are particularly salient, compared to things Iām doing that are helpful. My intuitive response to your post is that Iāve always felt like you were a more āreal EAā than me. But it would be nice if we could just all feel glad about our contributions.
I am an older āmediocre EAā.
I learnt about EA in 2013. I never felt that 80k was talking to me, simply because my talent set is ā¦ well, mediocre (plus some cultural things). Also, at 23, my CV was already unimpressive enough that it would be hard to catch up. The best thing I can do for the world, is to be born with a different brain.
I have a normal job as software tester and I call it āearning to giveā. I have been in normal jobs for 10 years. I never interned or worked at an organization aiming for direct impact, and barely even volunteered. I am very satisfied with my involvement in the community and the way I try to do good in the world.
Some other things I do:
being very excited about effective giving. I love to consume content about charities, charity evaluations, etc.
keep working fulltime so I have a decent donation budget. I live in an area where working part time is common even among some healthy non-parents. Working fulltime is already a challenge because I get distracted and overwhelmed easily. My job requires me to reliably get things done. I can be very reliable as long as I am not stressed out.
attend EAGx (no EAG please) and local retreats, chat with others about effective giving and earning to give. Sometimes these are people earlier in their career, or newer in the community, or have reasons to not dedicate themselves too much. I can make time for anyone. One might call it āmentoringā. (data point: I never got rejected for any event)
aim for small, very small, steps towards career progress. Aiming for big steps has failed.
be frugal. Keep track of my budget. Frugality matters. I donāt overdo it.
engage with the local community at in person events. People are much less intimidating in real life than on the internet. I rarely have the feeling that I am the least smart person in the room (partially, because I donāt care).
I agree with the examples, but for the record I think itās very misleading to claim Imma is a āmediocre EAā.
If I understand correctly, she moved to a different country so she could donate more, which enables her to donate a lot with her ānormalā tech job (much more than the median EA). Before that, she helped kickstart the now booming Dutch EA community, and helped with āDoing Good Betterā (sheās in the credits)
My understanding is that sheās not giving millions every year or founding charities, but she still did much more than a āmedian EAā would be able to
Big +1, thanks for bigging up Imma (and the Dutch EA community!)
I donāt know Imma and so canāt evaluate her identification as āmediocreā in some way, but what youāre describing shows that being āmediocreā in some characteristics can be overcome with strength in others, like heart and commitment.
I think the only thing Imma might be āmedianā in is weekly work hours, which I donāt think is what the poster meant. Most people couldnāt do these things
Your comment makes me smile :)
FWIW: I moved back for reasons fully in line with my (mixture of altruistic and non-altruistic) values and for kickstarting the Dutch EA community I would really really assign the credits to other people. Big thanks to them.
I agree with Jason though, in general terms.
Iām really sad to hear you feel that 80k isnāt talking to you. Fwiw, I work at 80k now and think of myself as talking to you.
It seems like an understatement to say āI call it earning to giveā. What youāve done over the last decade seems like solidly, clearly earning to give to me.
I wish it were easier to get away from comparative style labels, and what can feel like an incessant pressure to always be doing more for the world. To me, the ways Iām falling short compared to others are particularly salient, compared to things Iām doing that are helpful. My intuitive response to your post is that Iāve always felt like you were a more āreal EAā than me. But it would be nice if we could just all feel glad about our contributions.
Hm, maybe I exaggerated a bit, the reality is a more complicated, I should have phrased it differently.
Oh yes!