AMA: Ask Career Advisors Anything
(about careers)
Note that advisors only committed to answering questions during Career Conversations Week. Don’t expect responses past EOD Friday.
As part of Career Conversations Week on the EA Forum, I’ve gathered together some impact-focused career advisors to answer any questions you might have.
Career Advisors from Probably Good, Successif, Animal Advocacy Careers and 80,000 Hours will be online throughout the week to answer your questions. Interested and knowledgeable readers are also welcome to chip in! Leave your questions as comments below.
If your question is about applications at impact-focused orgs, ask some recruiters directly, on this AMA.
Some details on our advisors:
Probably Good is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to helping people build careers that are good for them and good for the world. They offer online guides, a job board, and one-on-one advising, among other services.
Successif offers tailored one-on-one career guidance to experienced professionals interested in transitioning into technical AI risk or AI governance and policy work.
Animal Advocacy Careers bridges the critical talent gap within the effective animal advocacy movement, ensuring passionate, skilled professionals are matched with the roles where they can do the most good. By anticipating organisations’ staffing needs, AAC helps animal‑focused nonprofits accelerate towards their visions, thereby reducing animal suffering worldwide. AAC does this through its free career guide, free online course, numerous blog posts, targeted workshops, constantly updated job board, and one‑to‑one advising calls that empower individuals to transform their careers into powerful tools for change.
80,000 Hours is a nonprofit that helps people use their careers to solve the world’s most pressing problems. They’re currently especially focused on helping people positively shape the trajectory of AI, because they think it presents the world’s most serious and urgent challenges. They provide resources (including a career guide, job board, and one-on-one advising calls) to help people understand the issues, get jobs working on them, and make connections with others doing the same thing. You can sign up to 80k’s career advising here.
The kind of questions you might like to ask:
Don’t feel restricted by this list; it’s just here to get you thinking!
I’ve recently graduated from university with a degree in computer science, but I don’t want to work on AI. Where can I have the most impact?
I want to have an impact with my career, but I really just want to dance! What should I do?
I’ve got five years experience as a digital marketer, but I want to do something that helps animals. Should I volunteer?
Note that we can’t guarantee that the advisors will have time to answer every question.
- AMA with recruiters at impact-focused orgs by (22 Jul 2025 14:58 UTC; 50 points)
- Career Conversations: Highlights and Retrospective by (29 Jul 2025 8:10 UTC; 34 points)
- Advice to pivot into AI Safety is likely miscalibrated by (20 Oct 2025 15:50 UTC; 24 points)
- 's comment on Toby Tremlett’s Quick takes by (30 Jul 2025 9:37 UTC; 19 points)
- 's comment on Struggling to Transition into an EA-Aligned Job — Seeking Advice by (29 Sep 2025 10:41 UTC; 8 points)
- 's comment on AMA with recruiters at impact-focused orgs by (25 Jul 2025 16:51 UTC; 3 points)
- 's comment on AMA with recruiters at impact-focused orgs by (23 Jul 2025 13:52 UTC; 3 points)
What is your general advice for people with no formal education or qualifications?
It seems to me that most of the career advice, on 80,000h for example, concerns people with a university education or with good financial capital, because they are obviously over-represented in this field. But what advice can you give to ‘blue-collar’ people who would like to have a useful career in line with EA ideas?
As the question is broad and impersonal, I don’t know if you have any relevant answers to give.
Thanks for the question! I agree with what Tom Rowlands wrote in his response, and just want to add a couple things. The world is full of neglected problems that cause a lot of harm, and people working in the information economy don’t have a monopoly on identifying or solving them. For example, your question reminded me of Jesse Smith’s article in Asterisk Magazine about HVAC, indoor air quality, and pandemic prevention. Jesse is an HVAC technician that has been following the EA community and its ideas for years, and I think he thoughtfully applied the framework to his area of expertise. I’d imagine that firsthand arguments like this could help policymakers improve indoor air quality, such as Alex Bores’ bill in New York State.
So applying rare and valuable skills to a pressing problem can take many forms. I’m not sure what your version of this is, but I bet there is something. We’re lucky that for all its flaws, the internet helps us “work in public” to make our skills legible and apply them to real problems.
One obvious answer here that hasn’t come up yet—they can take the 10% pledge! And, of course, hustle at their current job, work their way up, and earn-to-give or build management skills that can later be useful for jobs at direct work organizations
I expect it’d be possible to build some good ops experience in blue collar roles.
Hi RobotDeChair. Thanks for the question—I always appreciate the chance to engage with people who don’t think they’re represented enough in EA.
As you say, it can be hard to give very broad advice here, but I think the first thing to say is that there are loads of ways you can have impact without formal education/qualifications. For starters, you can filter for jobs without formal education requirement on the PG jobs board, and as someone who has worked in and around recruiting in EA for a few years now, I do think hiring managers in this community put less stock in credentials than hiring managers in large swathes of the corporate world. Applying to some of these roles and doing work tests and interviews is unlikely to be wasted effort.
Of course ‘EA jobs’ are not the only way to have impact. Building demonstrable skills, experience, and connections is going to be useful in whatever sector you work in, and if you develop good career capital, there’s every chance you’re able to put that to good use in the longer term. It’s hard to be more specific without knowing more of your background, but I’d be excited to discuss that if you want to DM me, or apply for our 1:1 advising.
It’s not exactly what you were asking, but I also think it’s hard to say how a future with increasingly powerful AI will change the market for educational qualifications. My guess is that the value of some credentials will really drop, while others will increase, but I defer to Ben Todd’s excellent article on which those are.
Thanks again for the question!
There are some great replies here from career advisors—I’m not one, but I want to mention that I got into software engineering without a university degree. I’m hesitant to recommend software engineering as the safe and well-paying career it once was, but I think learning how to code is still a great way to quickly develop useful skills without requiring a four-year degree!
Hi, thanks for your question.
A good way to start might be to think about the transferrable skills that you are applying in your current job, as well as those that motivate you (motivational skills) and that you are curious and excited to learn. Having no further context on the type of blue-collar work, I try to give some inspiration:
An electronics specialist working in an electronics factory, motivated to learn more about how to make AI-hardware safe; eventually transitioning into an organization that builds safe AI hardware
A mechanic who became passionate about climate change mitigation, using existing skills in engineering and upskilling more in the direction of clean energy technology; then landing a job in an organization that builds a more efficient type of heat exchanger
Maybe a next step could be to find people with similar specialisations in organizations that inspire you, and connect with them. The larger your network, the more likely you are to find your next opportunity through a friendly referral.
Hi,
I am from a lower-middle-income country (Lesotho) and have a Masters in Public Health. I want to use my career to do impactful work related to Health, but there are few organizations in the Effective Altruism community considered as ‘impactful’ in the country, for example none suggested by Givewell. At the same time, the country faces high unemployment rates if I were to consider having an impact through civil service. Options to do good according to effective altruism feel out of reach for me as a citizen of Lesotho. How do I navigate having an impact in a low-resource setting? Thanks so much.
Hi Mokhantso, thanks for the question. I think some of the advice I gave in this other comment might apply: it can be hard to find opportunities in some situations, but no one has a monopoly on applying these principles to effectively reduce suffering and save lives. One option might be to look at Charity Entrepreneurship’s charity incubation program to start a health charity of your own inspired by these principles. If you are able to join the civil service, you might implement effective programs and build state capacity- for example I know Lead Elimination Project has worked closely with government officials in various countries to help implement their program. In the future I’d also encourage you to look out for regional EAGx conferences that you might attend to learn more and network with high impact health professionals, such as the EAGx Nigeria conference that just happened. And I’d definitely keep an eye on ProbablyGood’s job board and resources.
I’m not sure if this is a full answer to your question, though. I feel for your situation and admire that you want to use your career to reduce suffering and have a positive impact.
Thanks in advance for any nudges! I’m a 52yr old with 25yrs experience as a veterinary specialist and have already experienced compassion fatigue/burn out/depression/physical exhaustion as many other ER vets have), and am now semi-retired by starting my own veterinary consulting company (myself and my spouse only, no other employees). I am now 5 years into earning to give (GWWC pledge signed, giving ~$40k USD/yr, expected to continue this for ~10-15yrs). My life goal is to end factory farming. My question: Is there a monetary amount that you would say is “enough” that it would justify continuing to earn to give, rather than investing time in skills development/training to start a not-for-profit or volunteer part or full time in an aligned field? Thanks for providing us (via Magda’s post) with the Probably Good’s profile on veterinary medicine. I am quite certain that from a mental health perspective, I do not want to spend my time fighting with US policy-makers who support the carnistic approach to our US food system, nor am I willing to immerse myself in research to improve slaughter methods, but possibly could help increase enrichment/happiness for animals who are trapped within the system. I am reluctant to become an employee again (unless for my own organization), but maybe this is just a cop-out, as I’m used to working relatively little (earing ~$400k/yr working ~20hrs/wk). I have extra time to give, but don’t want to spend it doing something less impactful (it feels risky making a transition). Since career advice is appropriately heavily focused on those finishing school and in their early career trajectory, advice focused on us oldies and even retired folks with loads of career capital to volunteer, and loads of cash to offload, your advice may be particularly impactful! Also, a big hello to other vets in this AMA :)
Hi Heather—thanks for messaging, and for all you’re doing.
Firstly, I’m really pro earning to give, and if that’s the path that best balances you having impact, using your skills, and having a lifestyle that isn’t burnout-inducing, that might be the best thing. Sounds to me like you’re crushing it! One fairly obvious way of having more impact would just be to share what you’re doing with other vets, and try to gently nudge them to consider some of the same things.
To actually tackle the question, it’s hard to put a fixed number on it, and I suspect you’d get different answers from different organisations as to whether they’d value your skills or your money higher (and the answers would likely change over time).[1]That said, if you were to found an effective organisation tackling factory farming, I’d bet that would be more valuable than your donations, perhaps significantly so. It would be more full-on and likely more stressful, but I’d consider applying for the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation programme in future if you’re more interested in founding something than being an employee (and assuming you could make time for the 2-month programme).
A less drastic move might be to explore serving on boards of some organisations in this space. I spotted a couple of opportunities from a quick scan here, and without knowing the ins and outs of the requirements, I’d bet there are a bunch of organisations that would benefit from your experience and expertise. The Hive community is also a great place for you to learn more about what’s going on in the space, connect with other likeminded people, and perhaps offer mentorship to those earlier in their careers.
I’d be happy to chat about this more if you’d find it valuable (our 1:1 advising page is here), and selfishly I’d also love to learn more about your journey. Thanks again!
You could try asking e.g. some of the organisations on the AAC jobs board, but I’m not sure you’d get answers, or how confident and accurate they’d be.
Hi Heather, thank you for everything that you do. I would say that there isn’t a “magic number” at which extra money stops being valuable and you should directly switch to direct work.
First of all, unfortunately the movement is still seriously under‑funded. The entire farmed‑animal‑advocacy sector spent only about US $200 million in 2020 (https://faunalytics.org/funding-dynamics-in-farmed-animal-advocacy/) That is orders of magnitude less than is spent on companion‑animal charities. Until that budget rises dramatically, every additional highly targeted dollar remains important.
Second of all, in general the best charities still produce large welfare gains per dollar. A recent synthesis of Animal Charity Evaluators’ data on cage‑free corporate campaigns estimated that each U.S. dollar affects 9 – 120 chicken‑years of life (https://animalcharityevaluators.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/what-is-the-effect-of-cage-free-corporate-outreach-on-egg-laying-hens-welfare.pdf) On such numbers, your current US $40 000 annual giving could be improving conditions for hundreds of thousands (and up to a few million) animals each year.
Overall, I would say that earning‑to‑give is recommended so long as you 1) can earn unusually well and 2) do not have an alternative where your skills are clearly harder to replace.
Considering the above points, the “enough” threshold is not a money total, but rather the point where the next hour of consulting or the next dollar you donate does less good than an hour of direct work you that could sustainably perform.
I think that continuing to donate would be a good route for you that has likely already done a lot of good for farmed animals already. However, consider that board‑certified veterinarians are not easy to find and are generally scarce on farm‑animal welfare standard committees. If you were to join such a body, one hour of your time could unlock significant improvements; plus, you could still be donating as you’ve done in the past.
What % of roles are filled with job applications vs other methods (what are the other methods?)
What are some reasons hires did not work out and how did that affect the hiring process?
also posted on AMA with recruiters at impact-focused orgs
I’m curious what advice people have for confused undergraduates. It often feels as if the majority of the career advice is targeted to people who already show promising potential in one form or another, however some people like me might find it especially difficult to figure out their aptitudes and interests at an early level.
I dropped out of high school at some point and was somewhat of a delinquent. I used to do pretty well across the board back in middle school, but I don’t think that gives much insight (middle school is not that difficult). My state tests also showed that when I applied myself I similarly did well across a variety of domains. The GED was straight forward and I’d received good test scores without the need to study (but the GED is not too difficult either). I don’t have any actual skills. No programming, no handywork, maybe a modest bit of communication and people skills as I continue to work in customer service, but not much else. I don’t even really recall most of my studies. I’m not exactly sure how I passed the GED.
Now I’m trying to figure out practical steps to explore and build up something. But it’s especially difficult for me to figure out what to prioritize at this moment. There are so many things I want to learn, (not even necessarily for an impactful career, but rather in and of itself) yet I only have so much time and so much money to explore my interests. And I’m feeling like I might be running low on the later.
How am I supposed to balance my time and still be “effective”? How do I go on about and choose what I ought to do? Do I spend extra time at school and be extra active in extracurricular, student organizations, and non academic groups simply spreading myself out in order to find some promising paths? Is there any opportunity for people like me to work at one of these Effective Altruism organizations given the extremely competitive talent pool that hiring managers are fishing from?
I’ve been really interested to get more personal advising, but I’ve put the application process on hold for a while. Writing it out like this helps to calm my nerves down somewhat. But yeah, I feel like I’m in a hard spot and not sure how to proceed going forward.
Also I apologize if the writing comes across as messy. I haven’t been taking as good a care of myself as I probably ought to.
Hi Warren, thanks for this comment. I feel for your situation- in my undergrad I jumped between majors and wasn’t sure what skills I wanted to develop, and I was worried that coming from a non-prestigious public college in Canada that there wouldn’t be a place for me in these more competitive roles. This sounds like a cliche, but it was helpful for me at the time: relentlessly focus on what you can control. We don’t choose the cards we’re dealt to start out in life, but you have a remarkable amount of freedom in college to try out projects, explore different options, and get really good at something. College can be your ‘training montage.’
As you identified with the GED, there’s no speed limit. Once you’ve identified a rare and valuable skill that helps solve a pressing problem, you should try to obsessively improve at it. If you haven’t identified that yet, test your fit with small projects that let you try out different skills and interests efficiently, like taking a range of courses, writing something for a personal site, trying a weekend coding project, etc. You’ll want to balance explore/exploit strategies.
The specifics will really depend on your situation. One way to look for your advantage is to ask yourself “which things feel like work for other people, but energize me?” For myself it started with a political philosophy course that I loved (and which introduced me to Peter Singer), but maybe you just haven’t found that spark yet. I’d encourage you not to compare yourself to others who got luckier or are farther along, but to compare to where you’ve been and where you might have been if you didn’t step up. You should be proud of getting your GED and being where you are now.
Also, I don’t think your writing was messy. It seems like you’ve identified a feeling a lot of people have.
Thank you for doing this!
I am a software engineer with now 10 years of experience. While I think I am doing very well, one of my biggest issues always has been socially: I am a very introverted, anxious person who is immensely stressed out by travel, afterwork and other things that are considered essential for the “family spirit” as some companies like to call it. I can communicate well and get along with people inside the work context, but I need a lot of recharge time, so to speak. While I tried to just get used to it, it exhausted me too much and didn’t seem sustainable.
I’ve been looking into some job offerings in the EA sphere lately just out of curiosity for my future and unsurprisingly, the social aspect is usually very big. If you want to help people in poor countries, being there and seeing what you are working for is quite essential. And in general, altruism is about people connecting, so it seems natural that most jobs are very social.
Are there areas for meaningful jobs where someone like me could still fit in and do something good with their work, or is it better to stay in the corporate world in that case and give my money to those who do?
Hi Christoph, thank you for such an honest reflection. Your self-awareness about what energizes versus drains you is actually a significant strength that will serve you well in finding the right path. I suspect many others will resonate with your question too.
II think you’re right—many high-impact activities do require significant social interaction and can bias toward extroverted working styles.
However, the landscape is more nuanced. Some organizations actively consider inclusion across ‘diversity dimensions’, designing cultures that attempt to meet diverse needs. At Successif, for example, we’re working to identify and mitigate opportunities and barriers across gender, race, neurodiversity, and nationality—both for our team and advisees alike.
While general EA culture may seem extroverted, remember it’s not homogeneous—there are sub-cultures and streams with different working styles.
Areas where introverted engineers may thrive:
Technical AI Safety Research: Deep focus work, coding, mathematical analysis with collaboration primarily through written work
Data Science for Impact: Dataset analysis, modeling, insights generation for global health/policy organizations
Backend Infrastructure: Building robust technical systems for impact organizations
AI Governance (Technical Track): Writing reports, analyzing policy implications, building tools
A key suggestion here would be to treat organizational culture as a selection criterion. Use the application process (i.e. job requirements, work tests, interviews) to assess remote work policies, team structures, and communication norms—to actively weed out options that couldn’t be sustainable for you.
Questions to consider:
What aspects of your current technical work energize you most?
Have you explored applying your skills to any cause areas, even in small ways?
Would it be valuable to connect with other introverted engineers who’ve made this transition, or put out a call to find others navigating similar considerations? (Perhaps someone reading this will reach out!?)
On earning-to-give: Absolutely legitimate and impactful with your background. Consider starting small to explore direct applications—open-source contributions to EA projects, small freelance work, or informational interviews.
Finally, rather than seeing this as an either/or choice, consider starting small: What are some cheap tests/low hanging actions you could take on this week/month?
All the best,
Moneer (Career Advisor at Successif)
Your experience socializing is relatable. I am a former software developer and found socializing too complex. Are there people, groups and settings at work where socializing is easier? I am curious to hear more. DM me if you prefer. (I am not an advisor)
I joined a startup company that grew over the years until it was eventually bought up by a publicly traded company, so I basically just worked at one place so far and my experience is rather limited. At least within that I can say though: Bigger companies are better, so I would aim at something that has at the very least 50 employees.
The startup time was extremely tough, as I had to do a lot of overtime and be available for customers and colleagues alike. Chances are also higher that you have to visit customers while fulfilling multiple roles and have to represent the company at events because the pool of people is so small. There was also a lot of peer pressure to join afterwork events, to the point of having to tell the CEO why you cannot come. It definitely tested my limits.
As the company size grew, I basically moved away from customer projects and instead built the product itself, which meant a lot less pressure and less need for availability and travel. Approaching the 100 employee number was kind of the golden time for me, combining the positive aspects of a startup (colleagues you can trust, strong association with the product, laid-back culture) with the ones from bigger companies (more shielded from customers by managers, less peer pressure for anything because there’s now so many people). It was probably helping that I had proven myself to the relevant people already and got away with doing a lot independently, though. I basically rejected all offers/chances to move up into leadership or management positions, however, so basically holding back career opportunities to work more comfortably. My managers also tried to keep traveling demands away from me so that I can focus on my work.
After the company was bought up and the 100% remote time ended (that was kind of optimal for me), it feels like I am more at the mercy of the team tasks. In general, you have your team and mostly have to make sure that works out as long as you don’t go past a senior position. You don’t really need to join much outside of team events. However, you are just a number to the company and requirements can change. People come and go more frequently, buyups require sudden collaborations to integrate people and/or software, initiatives you want to do require you to convince managers instead of just doing it, etc.. Chances are also higher that you have to deal with very uncomfortable people, that colleagues don’t care about the product and leave you hanging, and so on.
At the moment, the social aspects are often less of an issue for me and more the lack of care most people have. To many, it’s just 9-5 and passing the hours. I’d love to work on something again that everyone is enthusiastic about. But depending on your role, this lack of enthusiasm also makes the social aspects easier because so few people care.
In short: Mid-sized companies with moderate team sizes seemed to be the best to me so far. Startups always sound the best on paper, but working there is actually the most demanding, I’d avoid them at all costs. But I’m pretty sure this all heavily depends on who is working there—the chances are just higher you won’t have as many anxiety-inducing situations.
I’m not sure if any of this was helpful. All the best for you career in any case :).
Switching from strategy consulting to high-impact strategy & ops roles – how to build traction beyond applications?
Hi all – quick background
Who I am: 5-year strategy consultant now based in Munich
Why I’m here: I want to learn what I can do beyond applying for roles to increase my impact and/ or prepare myself for those roles
Constraints: Must remain Germany-based; can travel/ work abroad up to 6 months / yr. Open to freelance or fractional roles
What I’ve already done
Applications: ~6 months of targeted apps (80k Hours job board, climate-tech start-ups, impact consultancies). → Very few interviews; roles are scarce
NGO pro bono program: Launched a pro-bono program in my firm: partnered with two EA-aligned NGOs
Networking: Warm intros inside EA / social impact circles
The ask – looking for concrete moves I’m missing?
Examples I brainstormed below. Please add more!
Freelance / fractional gigs—where can I find those projects?
Education: I am also considering some kind of upskilling/ formal education. My goal is to land a role in Global Health & Development.
Other levers: Anything else people used to break out of mainstream consulting and into high-impact roles faster?
Any pointers appreciated. Thank you!
— Kamil
Hi Kamil, this sounds like a great approach so far. I don’t have a complete answer, but wanted to flag a couple ideas. For freelance, fractional, or volunteer gigs, networking and building relationships can often really help. This might mean going to EAGx Berlin in October, doing outreach to organizations whose work you respect, or continuing to ‘work in public’ by putting yourself out there on the forum/twitter/substack/whatever. The EA Opportunities Board sometimes has cool projects as well.
You mention hoping to land a role in Global Health and Development. I try to flag to advisees that this is unfortunately a really difficult time to be job searching in that field- the USAID and broader funding cuts have led to thousands of people job searching all at once, and many orgs have had to cut back on hiring. You might’ve already known that, but I don’t want you to feel discouraged if you’re not finding traction at the moment. Keep focusing on core skills and getting ‘so good they can’t ignore you.’ I really like this post on what skills you need to be successful in operations, and how to identify and develop them.
Lastly, I’d also recommend Consultants for Impact, who have career advice tailored to consultants trying to use their specific skillset for good.
Hi everyone,
I’m Didem Özcakır, currently finishing my Master’s degree in Economics at Koç University in Istanbul. Before this, I completed a double major in Economics and Political Science at Boğaziçi University.
My academic interests are broadly in political economy, development economics, and how public policies, governance, and infrastructure shape social and economic outcomes. Over the next few months, I plan to apply for PhD programs in Europe or the US, aiming for an academic career at the intersection of economics, political science, and policy impact.
Right now, I’m at a decision point about:
• Choosing a Master’s thesis topic that is both impactful and manageable within the remaining time,
• Identifying the right PhD programs and advisors who align with my interests,
• And building the right skills and research experiences to be well-prepared for a PhD.
I’d love to hear from people here who have:
• Gone through a similar path (Master’s → PhD in political economy/development),
• Have thoughts on high-impact or underexplored research areas in development and governance,
• Or can recommend programs, advisors, or resources worth looking into.
If you’ve been in a similar position, or have any advice, resources, or personal experiences to share, I’d deeply appreciate it! Even small pointers can help me navigate this more effectively.
Thanks so much in advance!
— Didem
Quick context: I’m a philosophy graduate aiming to transition into AI governance/policy research or AI safety advocacy. As part of this path, I’m planning to work at for-profit companies to build experience and financial stability during the transition, and I’m seeking advice on which for-profit roles can best build relevant skills.
My question is: what kinds of roles (especially outside of obvious research positions) are valuable stepping stones toward AI governance/policy research? I don’t yet have direct research experience, so I’m particularly interested in roles that are more accessible early on but still help me develop transferable skills, especially those that might not be intuitive at first glance.
My secondary interest is in AI safety advocacy. Are there particular entry-level or for-profit roles that could serve as strong preparation for future advocacy or field-building work?
A bit about me:
– I have a strong analytical and critical thinking background from my philosophy BA, including structured and clear writing experience
– I’m deeply engaged with the AI safety space: I’ve completed BlueDot’s AI Governance course, volunteered with AI Safety Türkiye, and regularly read and discuss developments in the field
– I’m curious, organized, and enjoy operations work, in addition to research and strategy
If you’ve navigated a similar path, have ideas about stepping-stone roles, or just want to chat, I’d be happy to chat over a call as well! Feel free to schedule a 20-min conversation here.
Thanks in advance for any pointers!
Hi İrem,
Thank you for your questions. The key question to ask yourself is in how far a for-profit role can best set you up for any future roles that you listed? Although for-profit can support you with building more financial stability, it could be that there is a more direct way to build the career capital for your desired role.
Have you looked at the 80k job board (https://jobs.80000hours.org/) and could you identify some roles that you find interesting? Try to also include non-profit roles at first and try to figure out in howfar they match your salary expectations.
If it turns out that for-profit is the only route for you to go at the moment, you can look for consulting, project/product management, communications, operations jobs that overlap with safe/responsible AI development. On the for-profit side there is also a whole industry emerging around supporting organizations understand policy implications, and ensuring compliance with upcoming AI regulations.
If you feel you are still at the beginning of your ecosystem research, it might help you to look into most recent developments on the policy side (e.g. EU AI Act) or and other outputs from leading organizations (papers, etc.). Ask yourself: What sparks my interest here and where do I see myself fitting in?
Maybe this post from yesterday is also intersting for you: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/D6ECZQMFcskpiGP7Q/ten-ai-safety-proj
Hope some of that is helpful!
All the best,
Simon (Career Advisor @ Successif)
Hi everyone, thank you so much for doing this AMA – it’s incredibly valuable.
I’m currently tying to transition into the social impact space after 15+ years leading operations, project teams in sectors like banking, UX/UI, service design and innovation. My background combines private sector experience with community-building and political organising — including managing volunteer teams and co-leading a small political party.
Over the past months, I’ve been exploring the EA ecosystem more intentionally: reading, connecting with people, applying to impact-driven roles and applying to join the Introductory EA Program next month.
I’ve noticed that, despite my experience in leadership, operations, and user-centred design, it’s been hard to break into roles within high-impact orgs — possibly due to sectoral gaps or a lack of direct cause-area expertise.
My main questions:
For someone mid-career, with generalist skills (people/project/ops leadership, strategy, stakeholder engagement, etc.), what are the most promising entry points into impactful roles?
Do you see ops/strategy roles being open to career switchers from outside the EA ecosystem?
Would it be more effective to focus on upskilling in a specific cause area, or to double down on positioning my transferable experience?
I’d deeply appreciate any advice, or even feedback on how I might be framing my experience too narrowly or too broadly.
Thanks again!
Hi Tania! Your ops/strategy background is relevant for impact organizations—many of the challenges you’re describing (sectoral gaps, positioning transferable skills) are covered in our recent post “Challenges from Career Transitions”.
Your leadership and user-centered design experience could be valuable in impact orgs, though the transition often requires deep networking and strategic upskilling alongside applications—all with a ‘winning or learning’ mindset.
I went through a similar journey myself, which I wrote about in “To the Bat Mobile!! My Mid-Career Transition into AI Safety”—found that connecting authentically with people already doing the work was more valuable than cause-area expertise initially—although developing ‘context’ later in my journey proved essential.
Operations/strategy roles do seem open to career switchers in my experience. As a rough heuristic, worth noting that smaller orgs may expect more cause-specific familiarity since ops roles wear multiple hats, while larger orgs tend to have more specialized roles requiring less cause-specific knowledge (although not a hard rule!). Also, “ops” varies widely between organizations—always check the actual role description to see if it’s focused on finance, HR, compliance, etc or combines everything.
All the best,
Moneer (Career Advisor at Succesif)
Hi all!
I’m currently transitioning out of a senior nonprofit marketing and communications role and exploring how to apply my skills toward greater impact. Ideally, I want to be involved in global health, development, or effective giving.
I’ve led multi-channel campaigns, built donor journeys and messaging systems, and advised on org-wide strategy. I’m also pursuing an MBA in Global Sustainable Development and am open to joining an EA-aligned org or possibly founding one.
A few questions I’d love your thoughts on:
What kinds of roles or orgs could most benefit from someone with a marketing/strategy background in this space?
If I’m open to founding and have some relevant experience, but am still early in testing fit or intervention ideas, what are the most effective next steps?
Any tips for building EA-aligned career capital from a comms-heavy background?
I’ve recently completed the ProbablyGood advising application, joined the HIP directory and EA for Christians, and am working on getting more involved through things like the Forum.
Thanks so much for your time!
Hi Micah! Just wanted to share that I’m in EA Marketing & Communications as well. If you ever want to chat, feel free to message! Cheers.
- Danielle
Hi Danielle! Thanks so much for the kind offer to connect. It’s encouraging to hear from someone else in the EA marketing and comms space, especially as I’m exploring how to apply those skills in a more direct-impact context. I’ll go ahead and message you now. Looking forward to chatting!
Best,
Micah
Hey, I’m finishing my BCs in Computer Science with Math minor after having some AI experience in industry. I want to get into AI Alignment (AIA) research, either with independent funding, as a Masters / PhD student, or with an AI Company.
To this end, I’m publishing a “self study journal” on LessWrong. Basically giving myself assignments and trying to work up to the quality of AIA research worth funding. I’ve already developed some of my own research tastes, so I’m not looking for just any AIA position, ideally I can work on directions I am interested in and personally believe in the validity of.
Another detail. I’m hoping to work remote! I have little faith of finding a suitable position locally, (Victoria, BC, Canada) but I don’t want to move away from family. I feel like AIA research can be done remotely, perhaps flying to events occasionally, but I’d love to get second opinions on this.
Can you nitpick my approach? How much should I split my effort between studying and networking to find roles.
Thanks : )
Hi Tristan, thanks for writing in.
It’s great to have a plan, and work through various projects.
I think you correctly noted the need for “tight feedback loops”, but at the same time I didn’t see any work in a shape that you could actually get feedback on; perhaps you’re optimising too hard for completing something to 100%, when instead you could be getting feedback sooner?
You mention you’ve already developed your own research tastes—that’s great! Taking on something so ambitious is commendable, but I wonder whether you are again falling prey to not getting feedback often enough. Have you run your research ideas by folks who have been thinking about AI safety for a while? Are there similarities between your research and any agendas being explored (and have you talked to those people)? Have you articulated why popular research agendas are unlikely to work, and what missing pieces your research might add? Taking such actions create surface areas for folks to challenge your thinking, and help you improve your understanding of the core questions and what needs to be done to solve them.
There is lots of great advice about building the underlying tools/mindset/aptitudes/instincts needed for AI safety research, including on getting feedback; e.g. this piece by ARC/METR researcher Lawrence Chan states “touching reality requires receiving actual concrete feedback on your ideas.” I think it would be helpful for you to build relationships with folks who can give you high quality input regularly. (This is a central kind of value that many budding Alignment researchers get out of moving to the SF Bay Area for a few weeks/months.)
I’ll leave it at that for now; feel free to apply for an advising chat if you’re like to talk some more!
Thanks : )
Let me know if I should apply for an advising chat instead, but I have a few followup questions...
I’m hearing “(a) prioritize producing feedback-ready work, (b) making it more clear where my feedback-ready work is, and (c) campaigning to get people with relevant knowledge and skill actually give me feedback on my work.”
That’s totally the goal of my SSJ : )
-- Regarding (a), I do have work that I think is feedback ready, so I think I may have more of a problem with (b). For example, I failed to mention the paper I have on arxiv with video explanation and video presentation with followup work that I made for my honour project. I did write “I would love comments on my WIP here: OIS” in the section on a document I am drafting, but it is not prominently displayed. Do you think those are good examples of (a), or should I focus on making my work easier to give feedback on?
-- Regarding (c), I have had email discussions with the authors of papers that inspired my work, but I probably failed to emphasize a request for critical feedback. I admit I find doing this kind of campaigning quite exhausting and so do less than I should. Do you have any advice or links for how to “build relationships with folks who can give you high quality input regularly”, especially as an introvert?
Thanks again!
Quick thoughts:
Great that you have work like the arxiv paper! You could even explicitly ask for feedback on that work
Make it easy for people to understand your work: Try and answer questions like “Why did I do this? What did I learn and/or what update did I make? What is my theory of change?”, and so on...
Make it easy for people to engage with your work: Display it prominently, tweet about it, write a blogpost on lesswrong about it. Polish and publish the code base (see an example here), and so on...
Everyone has their own style of building relationships. I think a powerful way to do so is to try and add value to others: can you summarise/discuss their work in public, or give them feedback, or extend it in an interesting way? Are there volunteer or part-time opportunities that you can help out with? Can you identify issues in their codebases and improve them?
As a newcomer and CS undergrad student, I’m considering pursuing a career in safety research. I’d like to know how deeply I need to understand the core concepts of math (linear algebra, probability), machine learning (model training, loss functions, evaluation), and programming (testing, version control, reproducible workflows) to meaningfully contribute to a research project. I’d also like to know how can I succeed as a largely self-directed learner. Which resources should I be using to build and demonstrate these skills?
Hi Stormo,
Check out my earlier answer to Ronnie, who overlaps substantially with your situation!
“How deeply” is a hard question! A good process to practice (and get better at!) is “working backwards from a goal.” So in addition to laying a bottom-up foundation (e.g. through this guide on research engineering) , think about the top-down shortest path between where you want to be and where you are. This requires (by definition!) having a clear picture of where you want to go, so sift through various roles, orgs, theories of change, worldviews, etc. and think through what kind research projects/skills/experiences lie on the critical path to your targets.
Being a “self-directed learner” is often about trying stuff and figuring out what works for you, but there’s tons of high quality content on becoming better at this, e.g. this piece by a Google DeepMind AI safety researcher.
You can demonstrate your skills in many ways! Some ideas include: write a blog, post on youtube, do excellent projects on github, and work on open-source repos. This list I maintain has some more ideas, as well as some AI safety researchers’ githubs for inspiration.
I’m glad to hear you’re excited about this! I made a list of technical AI safety upskilling resources for someone in your position. I highly recommend the “Shallow review...” article to get a broad overview of the field and see which research agendas excite you and match your potential skillset. Testing your fit with small projects on evenings/weekends can help you do this as well. There are a few “expert advice” articles in there that can speak to object level skills, though it will vary by sub-field and by research engineer vs research scientist roles, etc.
In my opinion this is a great field for self-directed learners. There is so much out in the open on the internet (courses listed in the above link), so many arxiv.org papers to read, so much discussion happening out in the open on twitter or Alignment Forum or here on the EA Forum, etc. I’d recommend sharing your work in public once you have some cool results to throw on GitHub or in a post, even if you’re just implementing a paper or exploring part of a research methodology. It’ll be valuable to make your skills legible and get feedback as you develop them. Relatedly, networking can be really valuable for hearing what projects or research agendas others are excited about and getting more concrete feedback. Conferences can be one way to do this, but so can BlueDot courses, local university AI safety or EA groups, outreach to alumni or academics in your network, etc. Try to be succinct and specific when you do such outreach, engaging with their work in particular.
Hi! Thanks for this thread <3
What are your views on insider vs outsider strategy for someone who wants to have an impact on biosecurity/pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response (PPR) policies at the European Union level? - More specifically, how would you compare potential impact between landing a pivotal position in the EU where you could influence policy implementation directly versus for instance creating a think tank focused on advocating for a specific intervention (such as far-UVC)?
I know the short answer is probably ‘it depends’ (of one’s skill set, desires, luck, need for financial security, etc.), but I’m looking for insights on the insider versus outsider strategy discussion, as I’m wary that I might myself prioritize the former because of a lack of agency, thus missing on the possibility of doing work on more highly neglected/highly promising things.
I’ve talked to people who have opposite views on this matter, and I find it very important for me (and anyone maybe) to form a personal opinion. I love the work done at Blueprint Biosecurity for instance, and I know many EAs who do very cool advocacy/research work without relying on professional opportunities offered by already-in-place institutions. I admire them, and I’d be proud to showcase the same kind of commitment, but I really want to understand what path would lead me to a most impactful career, and i’m looking for advice on how to go about thinking about this.
Or maybe both strategies are not mutually exclusive? Maybe we need everyone doing cool stuff everywhere? Yeah, sure, but still, if you have strong opinions, please share (and not only regarding biosec) :)
I’m less familiar with the EU, but I can give my big picture overview of the “be in the room to shape decisions” theory of change versus “prepare great policy proposals to have ready on the shelf” theory of change. I think both are valuable and are sometimes two sides of the same coin. (In my experience) legislative staffers and key decision makers are busy, putting out five different fires at once and moving between various portfolios. They’re really sharp generalists who pull from outside expertise- sometimes from think tanks with capacity to do the deeper research and find the policy levers. Both are important, but to assess the need you might ask yourself “do we have a dearth of excellent policy proposals in a well-communicated package? or do we have many of them, but they aren’t breaking through to key decision makers?”
Also, a lot of this should come down to your personal fit: do you have more of a comparative advantage in generalist quick decision making, writing succinct action-relevant memos, acting as a ‘node in a network’ of other experts, using lots of social stamina, etc? If so, maybe working within established legislative/government role makes sense for you. Or do you think you’d be better at longer horizon research, deep wonky details, communicating technical insights to a broader audience, etc? Then maybe think tanks might be the right fit. I’d recommend looking at the job postings for roles in both areas and checking where your skills fit in.
I should note there can often be overlap and this is just a general picture—many civil servants are deep researchers, some legislative staffers’ jobs are different from how I described, etc. I really like this “testing your fit for policy” guide from EmergingTechPolicy.org to assess where your skills might best fit.
Hi, thanks to the forum team for running this and thank you to all advisors!
In December I get my MSc in Engineering Physics, where I’ve gone heavy on statistics, machine learning and mathematical modeling. I’ve also run several student orgs so I’m an adept administrator and leader. I want to leverage these skills to improve alternative proteins.
Core considerations currently:
Is it worthwhile to take a few years in conventional food industry to learn their needs and skill up?
Are any sub-fields (fermentation, cellag etc) in particular need of more engineers?
Which roles/companies are best for building career capital in this field? Non-profits, startups, industrial companies?
I’m also very thankful for any general advice or considerations I might not’ve thought of.
Thanks so much for sharing your background and questions. It’s great to see someone with a strong technical foundation and leadership experience thinking seriously about contributing to alternative proteins.
I’ll offer a few thoughts based on general trends we’ve seen and conversations with professionals, but I strongly encourage you to speak directly with people working in alt proteins—especially engineers and scientists—who can offer deeper, field-specific insight.
Should you spend time in the conventional food industry?
This can be a valuable path if you’re strategic about it. Some people build strong technical skills (e.g. in process engineering or regulatory work) that are directly relevant to alt proteins. But many others learn these skills on the job within mission-aligned companies. Whether this makes sense for you might depend on which specific roles you’re excited by and how motivated you’d feel in a less impact-focused context. People already in the industry can often share which early-career experiences they found most formative—or wish they’d pursued.
Which subfields are most in need of engineers?
Hiring needs change quickly, so I’d recommend checking in with people on the ground to understand current and likely future bottlenecks. The alt protein industry is in a very different place today than it was five years ago—or than it will be five years from now. If you can, seek out professionals with a longitudinal view of the field who can speak to how skill-specific needs have shifted over time. They’ll have a more nuanced sense of which engineering capabilities are most scarce and which are likely to be in high demand as the sector scales.
What types of roles or orgs are best for early career capital?
There are meaningful tradeoffs here:
Startups can offer broad responsibility and fast learning, but often come with less stability and mentorship.
Larger companies may provide more structured training and help you build deeper technical expertise.
Nonprofits aren’t typically engineering-heavy, but might be worth considering if you’re drawn to ecosystem-building, funding strategy, or policy.
In general, the best opportunities tend to be role-specific rather than org-type-specific. Talking to people who’ve taken different routes can be especially helpful in identifying which environments will set you up well for future impact.
Suggested next steps
Browse job boards like AltProtein.Jobs by Tälist or the GFI career portal to reverse-engineer what skills are in demand.
Reach out to 2–3 engineers working in different parts of the alt protein sector (e.g. fermentation, cultivated meat, plant-based) to get their take on emerging gaps and skill needs.
Keep in mind that your technical skills—especially in modeling, optimization, and data analysis—could be valuable across other high-impact areas too. That’s not to pull you away from alt proteins, just to encourage long-term flexibility if your interests evolve.
Thanks for facilitating this thread! The answers have been illuminating and a great source of resources.
I’m looking to get into AI safety, particularly strategy for reducing existing risk from AI.
I’m a math tutor and freelance software developer with a bachelor’s in Software Development and math coursework through multivariate calc and linear algebra. I’m reasonable we’ll versed in politics and history and good at strategy games. I write flash fiction on the side.
Which sort roles work on strategy for reducing existing risk from AI directly? Indirectly? What’s a good way to get guidance about how to proceed?
Thanks so much! 😊
Thanks for your question! Your background in math, software development, and strategic thinking—as well as familiarity with history and politics—may actually be quite relevant for AI governance strategy work, especially in technical policy roles that bridge the gap between research and implementation.
Without knowing specifics of your career profile (e.g. years of experience, location, etc), some very general direct roles for reducing AI risk:
AI Policy Research: at think tanks, developing concrete policy proposals
Government roles: Congressional staff or agency positions working on AI strategy
Industry governance: Policy roles at AI companies working on safety standards and internal governance
Indirect but valuable:
Technical communication: Translating AI research for policymakers (your flash writing background helps)
Strategy consulting: Helping organizations develop AI risk mitigation approaches
Resources to explore:
80,000 Hours AI Governance and Policy guide (80,000 Hours) - comprehensive overview of the field
Emerging Tech Policy Careers website (Horizon Institute for Public Policy) - specific pathways and opportunities
AI Governance Subfields guide (Damen Curtis)- overview of different specializations within the field
Next steps:
Are there insights/strategies from our recently published article that you see worth adopting into action?
Also, would you consider attending upcoming events to learn more about roles/people/orgs in the space, such as Zurich AI Safety Day and EA conferences/summits?
Finally, apart from reading available resources, consider applying to Successif’s services for tailored career advising/coaching.
All the best,
Moneer (Career Advisor at Successif)
Thanks for the reply Moneer, these are great ideas!
For more context, I live in the North East USA. Software-development-wise I’m at the junior dev level, so I’m early career.
AI Policy Research seems like a good idea to explore. Maybe these questions are answered in some of the reading you suggested which I haven’t had the chance to check out yet. Does that field need more people? In other words, is it more of a zero sum field where getting in means someone else doesn’t or is it more like I will I just add to the field? What sort of education is recommended: level? Subjects? Do you have any book recommendations for this field?
I’d love to attend a conference or summit (applied to EAG NYC but did not get in) but money is always an issue.
I recently (May 2024) graduated with two bachelor’s degrees in computer science and philosophy. Currently, I work as a software engineer for a utility company in my home state of Arkansas. I would like to do what I can to have a career that helps effectively. However, as someone born and raised in Arkansas, with all my family and friends here, I’m not really considering moving anytime soon. On the 80k Hours job board, most of the positions prefer relocation, at least for openings with my experience level (even the ones listed as remote). How can someone working in middle America contribute to effective causes without relocating?
Hi ! This is amazing.
I graduated from the LSE in Political Science and Political Economy and now am a Research Fellow at Stanford King Center in Global Development.I might embark on a PhD but I am not sure which topic to choose from since I want to make sure it is useful for others—esp in the EA space in development. Additionally, a lot of my peers go to the World Bank (DIME) for instance, but does that lead to any impactful jobs? The pro is being surrounded with competent people but the con is you are in a bubble and can’t see right through the tangible help your doing for others. What would be a really good course of action ?
Hi Cécile, thanks for the question!
A couple of quick plugs:
Effective Thesis is set up to try to help people answer exactly that question
This article from Horizon Institute has good ideas on how to test your fit for policy roles, which I think is a big factor in whether something like the World Bank would be an impactful route for you (the article’s mainly about US government institutions, but a lot still applies)
Hello, from Brazil, a low-middle income class. Also, I’m a rising Junior pursuing an Electrical Engineer Degree at NYU (in case there are other students that want to connect), I have been always interested in space. My specific ‘end career goal’ would be working on robotics or AI safety for Space Systems, to make sure the robots and AI being used inside and outside earth can be safe, aligned and prevented from hacked. I do feel sometimes that my major can give me a spike on that field but also I feel a lack of skills mainly related to algorithms. To solve that I’ve been focusing on coding projects and have been looking for opportunities to gather skills. What could be the best path that I could take for my end objective? In an EA perspective is a problem that the community is looking to address? What could be maybe people that I could contact or opportunities that I could apply to get skills or a glimpse of this field/research?
I’m still understanding if I would work on the implementation of AI/robotics or on safety research
Hi,
thank you for providing details about your situation and the questions asked.
Especially at the beginning of your career journey it can be valuable to build career capital towards high-impact AI Safety roles. You might also want to look at training programs / fellowships that you can find here, and apply to those that fit your background.
I will provide you with some more resources that could be insightful in terms of how to transition into the AIS Research space:
ML Safety Research Advice—GabeM
Levelling Up in AI Safety Research Engineering
How to pursue a career in technical AI alignment (Charlie Rogers-Smith)
AGI safety career advice (Richard Ngo)
Tips for Empirical Alignment Research (Ethan Perez)
2025 Engineering Reading List (Latent Space)
AI Safety Research Gaps (2025)
Some questions for you:
Do you already have more concrete ideas where your skills and motivation could have an impact on the AI Safety (research) space?
How technical (e.g. coding) vs. high-level (e.g. technical project management) do you want to be?
What did you most enjoy during your studies or past jobs? How could those underlying skills be translated into impactful work?
Hope this is a good starting point.
All the best,
Simon (Career Advisor @ Successif)
So, I used to be a research scientist in AI/ML at Huawei Canada (circa 2017-2019), which on paper should make me a good candidate for AI technical safety work. However, in recent years I pivoted into game development, mostly because an EA friend and former moral philosophy lecturer pitched the idea of a Trolley Problem game to me and my interviews with big tech had gone nowhere (I now have a visceral disdain for Leetcode). Unfortunately, the burn rate of the company now means I can’t be paid anymore, so I’m looking around at other things again.
Back in 2022, I went to EA Global Washington DC and got some interviews with AI safety startups like FAR and Generally Intelligent, but couldn’t get past the technical interviews. As such, I’m not sure I’m actually qualified to be an AI safety technical researcher. I also left Huawei in part due to mental health issues making it difficult to work in such a high stress environment.
I’ve also considered doing independent AI safety research, and applied to the LTFF before and been rejected without feedback. I also applied to 80,000 Hours a while back and was also rejected.
Regularly reading the EA Forums and Less Wrong makes me continue to think AI safety work is the most important thing I could do, but at the same time, I have doubts I won’t mess up and waste people’s time and money that could go to more capable people and projects. I also have a family now, so I can’t just move to the Bay Area/London and burn my life for the cause either.
What should I do?
Hi Joseph,
Thank you for explaining your situation. It sounds you could have an impact on the AI Safety space given your background and motivation. At Successif we support mid- and senior-career professionals to navigate such transitions. I encourage you to have a look at our website and see if this could be interesting for you. You can directly apply through the website.
Also we just released forum post, which gives more insights into common challenges faced by our advisees. Maybe you find some of your challenges reflected in there.
All the best,
Simon (Career Advisor @ Successif)
What are your thoughts on pursuing a PhD compared to 3-4 more years of work experience? How much career capital is a formal PhD degree actually worth?
This answer might depend a lot on the context, so:
I have a degree in pure mathematics and that is also where I would potentially pursue a PhD. I have high grades, but not from a top university.
I am living in Germany and am willing, but not eager, to move to another country in order to maximise my impact.
I am considering Earning to Give as my most impactful option (though I am far from certain yet). If I do not pursue a PhD, my next step would most likely be trying to asses my fit for quantitative trading: https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/quantitative-trading/ (To make matters more complicated, it is mentioned that you can enter the field with graduate degrees, but some roles do require a PhD. So if you are knowledgeable in this area, some advice would be especially welcome.)
I have neither a concrete plan nor a scholarship for my potential PhD (yet) and would change my university anyways. So it might also be a consideration to try some jobs and internships and pursue a PhD later on if worthwhile. However I am under the impression that returning into academia is more difficult than staying there.
Hi Marc, thanks for the question.
Lots has been said about the value of PhDs:
Lewis Hammond gives advice here about doing PhDs
Rohin Shah talks a little about PhDs here in relation to AI safety work
Adam Gleave makes a positive case here for AI safety
[Caveat: having dropped out of a PhD myself, I might be biased against doing one.] I think our piece on doing PhDs mostly holds up, but I’d make a few updates away from doing one:
AI things might happen soon, and in many worlds it would be better to do good soon rather than build a lot of skill first. (This obviously doesn’t apply if you are able to do good via your PhD as well.)
For many of us, we’re likely to really succeed at a PhD only if we are obsessed about it: an An advisee once said to me “Only do a PhD, if it’s something that you would do for free, in your free time, after work, on nights and weekends.”
A softer version of this: I think many of us are not calibrated about what attitudes and behaviours help to do a PhD—I certainly wasn’t! Before committing, try to come to grips with what you’re signing up for.
Finally, I subscribe to a PhD not being an end-in-itself, and instead a way to get some role/job/opportunity, which otherwise might be very unlikely without it. In impact-focussed spaces, I don’t think there are that many opportunities gate-kept by a PhD credential: academia/professorship, the “research scientist” title (but not necessarily the work), and maybe some policy positions. Orgs and managers who care about impact, care more about “can do you the work?” rather than “do you have the credential?”; could you get the legible skills to “do the work” in a paid job with better hours in fewer years, or do you have to do a PhD instead?
Hope this helps! All the best.
If you know anyone who drops out of a PhD, consider suggesting they apply[1] for Effective Dropouts! You’re invited too!
As an organization that strives to have “the values of Effective Altruism plus the inverse of the values of universities”, we don’t actually have an application process
Hi! I’m considering various job paths, but the three main ones are consultancy, operations, and M&E roles. I’m in various stages of various job applications for all three, but am facing the question of which career move (my first, having just graduated) will help me the most. Some people have said that consultancy will be the biggest up-skilling and career capital move, but equally some of the ops and M&E roles are for EA orgs which feels like immediate positive impact. I’d love any guidance you can offer for this. Thanks :))
Hi Libby! I’m glad you’re applying broadly to a range of roles. I think consulting can provide a solid foundation for generalist skills, but if you’re able to find work for a directly impactful organization that aligns with your values, I’d encourage you to consider that. Sometimes these organizations can provide valuable networks, growth opportunities, and context for the pressing problems you care about. In addition, many impactful causes allow you to work on personal projects in your evenings/weekends to upskill if ops isn’t your goal forever (BlueDot courses, personal writing projects, putting work on a GitHub, etc.) Depending on where you work, consulting sometimes provides less work life balance to continue this kind of learning.
Without knowing your specific cause area interests and longer term goals, it’s hard to say more. But I’d encourage you to check out Consultants for Impact’s resources on the pros and cons of a consulting career, as well as 80,000 Hours’ many guides (high impact ops, top problems, etc.)
Hello everyone
My name is Dr. Nnaemeka Emmanuel Nnadi. I’m a medical microbiologist and lecturer at Plateau State University, Bokkos (PLASU), Nigeria. A few years ago, I received some funding to establish a Center for Phage Biology and Therapeutics. While the funds were helpful, they weren’t sufficient to make the lab fully independent or commercially viable.
Over time, I’ve developed a strong conviction that phage therapy holds immense potential for addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Africa. Lately, I’ve been seriously considering leaving academia to start a for-profit biotech company focused on low-cost phage diagnostics, therapeutics, and biomanufacturing
But here’s my dilemma:
• Building a biotech company in a resource-limited setting like Nigeria feels daunting—lack of infrastructure, regulatory hurdles, unstable power, and limited investor appetite all compound the challenge.
• I worry whether investors outside Nigeria would ever see this kind of startup as worth supporting.
• And perhaps more fundamentally, I wonder: Can a Nigerian-born phage company realistically compete with counterparts in North America, Europe, or Asia?
I’d deeply appreciate your thoughts—particularly from those who’ve built or supported biotech in low-resource contexts. What frameworks, partners, or mindset shifts might help someone like me make this leap with a better chance of success?
Thank you.
Emmanuel
Hi,
I am a doctoral candidate in the final stages of my studies (finalising my thesis for print and submission at this point). I am looking for advise or maybe a direction on where should I begin from if I wish to pursue a postdoc especially from universities abroad, as my education from my undergrad and doctoral studies has been based in India.
In the last few months I have received rejections from every position/place I applied for. I believe that it is the lack of publications that is putting me behind in all these applications, but I am not sure. I do have some publications, but they are very interdisciplinary in nature, like one or two focus purely on a region based peace or conflict issue, while one or two are based on AI and its use in international law within context of my thesis. I would be happy to share my CV, if that is where the problem persists. So I would like to ask if any of you who were at the final stage of doctoral work how did you navigate the process of choosing a long term career/short term opportunity to enhance skillset.
Junior Software Developer with 2 years of experience looking to move into pro-animal welfare organization / spaces and happy for any advice Animal Advocacy Careers or other advisors can provide.
First, a little background:
Who I am: 2-year (currently employed) Software Developer / IT Professional (Python, Kubernetes, Cloud, for example) living in Berlin
Why I’m here: Currently highly motivated to find a more fulfilling role for an animal-focused nonprofit or project
Constraints: Must remain Germany-based, open to hybrid or remote
I love my job as a software developer. However, I am currently at a point where I am looking for a next step and challenge in my career, and at the same time, working on a project that is impactful and pro-animal, as this is the cause that I am truly passionate about. I’ve taken a look at various job boards, including that of Animal Advocacy Careers, and it seems though that this is a EA-Focus Area which is harder to find roles and impact as a software developer, or potential application/start-up ideas are also limited (I am not super creative in this sense though).
My questions would be:
Am I correct in this assessment, that it is harder to find roles in this sector as a software developer?
What recommendations would you have in terms of networking and potentially partnering with similarly ambitious people in this field, so that I get in contact with others that are using tech to improve animal welfare?
What would be some recommendations in terms of how I should develop my skillset in tech, in order to best align with the needs of pro-animal companies/non-profits/projects?
Thank you so much for taking the time!
Hi Paul,
I think it’s admirable that you want to apply your tech skills to help animals. In general, from my experience having now advised 138 people I can say that very few have strong IT backgrounds, although charities do need them. In fact, as AI, data, and online tools grow in importance, animal‑protection groups (especially those linked to Effective Altruism) are keen to hire people like you. I will answer your questions one at a time.
Am I correct in this assessment, that it is harder to find roles in this sector as a software developer?
Yes, mostly because most animal advocacy non-profits run on tight budgets and keep their tech teams small. This in turn means that openings appear less often than in mainstream industry. This doesn’t mean however that these roles don’t exist. For example, The Good Food Institute employs full‑time engineers like Patrick Landy to maintain and extend its web properties (https://gfi.org/team/patrick-landy/). Also, there are entire charities built around IT skills and their use to help animals, such as Vegan Hacktivists. So yes, the pipeline is narrower but not empty, and you simply have to monitor the right channels and be ready when vacancies surface.
What recommendations would you have in terms of networking and potentially partnering with similarly ambitious people in this field, so that I get in contact with others that are using tech to improve animal welfare?
I would bring up Vegan Hacktivists and their community again: they connect many volunteer engineers and designers that build tools for the movement, and several paid hires have come through that route. I would suggest you have a look at the community run by The Good Food Institute, which hosts many scientists and technologists and runs monthly online meet‑ups. Finally, follow careers pages at Berlin‑based organisations such as ProVeg International and the Albert‑Schweitzer‑Stiftung (I think they’re looking for someone with a background in IT right now); they advertise remote‑friendly digital roles when funding allows.
What would be some recommendations in terms of how I should develop my skillset in tech, in order to best align with the needs of pro-animal companies/non-profits/projects?
I would say that non-profits most often seek developers who can run and secure cloud infrastructure (e.g. manage public sites and internal tools), build data dashboards and automation (to track progress and mobilise supporters), and handle privacy‑sensitive content (such as undercover footage, so familiarity with secure upload portals and basic infosec practices).
I think that if you sharpen those areas and contribute to an open‑source project at Vegan Hacktivists, you’ll automatically have movement‑specific code to show when a role in Berlin/Germany appears. Good luck!
I have a fairly long career in IT infrastructure behind me; much of it has been working for banks and a few years ago I decided to try to use my skills for a bit more good. I ended up working for a moderately well-known SaaS company that specialises in helping small businesses.
I’ve recently quit in order to migrate back to the UK, where I did most of my education and built my career. My specialism these days: I have a lot of experience building cloud platforms and my skillset is biased towards today which is mostly useful to large enterprises: AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, Observability tooling, automated pipelines, …
I arrive back in the UK in a few weeks and will be starting my job hunt in earnest then. Where can I use these skills to the best effect?
Hi Adam, so exciting that you want to use your skills for doing good. I’d go even further and say that “doing good” is its own goal to shoot for, and I want more folks thinking about “What are the best opportunities to do the most good?” first, and only then filtering by some subset of their relevant skills that might make them a good fit.
This is described more in Part 4 our career guide, where we outline a framework—Scale, Tractability, Neglectedness—to identify global issues with some of the highest opportunities for positive impact. We’ve applied such an analysis in our work for many years, and have in-depth articles on what we believe to be some of the world’s most pressing problems.
We also host a job board to aggregate opportunities aimed at helping with these. If you’re looking for more “goal-directed” next steps, perhaps scanning through those jobs can give you a sense of what the world needs right now, and how you can help. All the best!
What is your general advice for people who are still in college and wanting to work in EA, but are not geographically in any EA heavy-areas?
I am guessing building career capital, but I guess that means accepting I will throw away my impact if AGI comes in the next 10 years. That is okay, I have pretty uncertain AI timelines. I am living in Texas and doing things like moving to DC / silicon valley would mean losing most of my network.
For reference, I just finished freshman year of electrical engineering. I am considering technical sales as an increasingly better way to earn career capital than regular engineering (I think the most impactful roles require social skills more than technical ones), plus many other benefits.
I am also asking this question on behalf of students who might join my university effective altruism group. We are struggling with finding EA aligned people at Texas A&M university, and my hypothesis is that we are attracting the wrong people. We will roll out the next round of recruitment next month, but I wonder what kind of majors are a good fit for EA.
To add on, a lot of engineers we recruited for our EA group just wanted an internship and resume points, and they bounced away. What kind of value could EA provide to those kind of people? Or are EA-adjacent careers just not a good fit to engineers (other than earning-to-give).
Hi Patrick, thanks for your questions. Not sure from the above whether you’re considering moving before finishing your degree or not, but unless you’ve already been offered a paid role, I’d suggest finishing college is worthwhile. I know it’s easier to move colleges in the US than it is in the UK, but don’t know the ins and outs of that process, and I wouldn’t have thought being at a college with more EAs is an overriding consideration here.
I would suggest that if you’re open to moving at some point, straight after college is a good time to do so. You’re early enough in your career that building a new network in somewhere like DC or silicon valley is likely worthwhile (and relatively easy), even at the cost of losing your existing network.
On the EA group questions, I suspect CEA community builders are better placed to answer, but happy to share my own thoughts for what they’re worth. Philosophy, maths, computer science, economics, and (I think) engineering have been overrepresented in EA, so could be good places to start for attracting new members. I wouldn’t worry too much about people bouncing off if they truly just want resume points (and maybe you are then attracting the wrong people), but it probably doesn’t hurt to share content like the how to get a job articles from PG and 80k and hoping they find some of the other content engaging too.
I do think EA-inspired careers are a good fit for engineers (and if you haven’t already, you could check out High Impact Engineers), even if you don’t go into specific engineering roles. Roles in operations, nonprofit entrepreneurship, some parts of AI safety, alt proteins, or international development can all be a fit for engineers, and without being too reductive I think there’s a decent amount of overlap with the engineering mindset and some EA-style first-principles thinking.
Thank you Tom.
To clarify, I am planning to finish my undergrad at A&M and I will use Karnovsky’s aptitude-based approach. So being in an area with EAs is not a big concern right now, but it is a long-term thing.
I also think that staying in Texas can let me network better with groups that EAs have a hard time reaching. Think O&G and conservative leaders. My university also has a killer alumni network, but only in Texas. I don’t think it will help me directly, but it can get me career capital quickly.
I’m going to look at what kind of jobs engineers at A&M in my EA group will like (High Impact Engineering). Earning-to-Give is still an awesome option for most people.
I am fourth year university student getting my bachelors in aerospace engineering (space systems design). Based on my trajectory, and the 80000 hours ranking, I think that I can have the most meaningful impact on problems in space tech and governance.
However, I don’t know how to orient myself within that space. My most notable technical skills are in computer vision and control systems. I would really appreciate some insight on which problems I am suited to meaningfully contribute to, and how I might direct my attention to deepen my impact.
Thanks
Hi Josh. I’m not a careers advisor but I’m working on some space governance projects.
I would recommend checking out the sections on space governance in this recent report from William MacAskill and Fin Moorhouse to get an idea of what some effective altruists are currently thinking about in relation to space governance: https://www.forethought.org/research/preparing-for-the-intelligence-explosion
I’d also really recommend getting involved with the Space Generation Advisory Council if you’d like to work on challenges in space tech and governance. They have lots of project groups you can get involved in on many different topics like space law and policy and space safety and sustainability.
I’m happy to have a chat about space governance and effective altruism if you want to book a chat: https://savvycal.com/AstroJordanStone/2cb3cbdb
Sounds really cool! I’d recommend the space governance career profile and checking out what the Center for Space Governance is working on. If technical governance is exciting to you, you might consider ways you can test your fit for various policy skills and decide which part of that ecosystem you think you’d best fit in with. As a student I’d encourage you to keep building career capital and getting ‘so good they can’t ignore you,’ even if it means your first job out of college is more about skill building than direct impact right away.
Hi, I’m 24 years old. Due to past mental health challenges, there is a big gap in my resume. I just started working as a freelancer in an AI tutor position 7 months ago. Also, I couldn’t go to university for the same reason.
My skills include:
Development Economics: MITx Online certificate for Data, Economics, and Development Policy
Cybersecurity: “hacker” rank on Hack the Box
Mathematics: Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus (Learned through MITOCW, not just watching, but solving problems)
English speaking skills: Upper-intermediate (B1 to B2)
Currently, my health issues are almost resolved, and I’m prioritizing improving English speaking skills. I applied for 80000 hours’ 1-on-1 career advising just before the Career Week started.
(it says it takes about 2 weeks to review, which is why I’m commenting anyway.)
Questions:
What would you do if you were in my position?
Should I start networking in the EA community? My English teacher says my English is good enough for the international community, but I’m still nervous. (I’ve never seen much about non-English speakers on the EA forum, and I don’t think EA Japan is active now.)
Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi alphaplus, thank you for the questions. I’m glad to hear your health is improving.
I want to start by saying: your (written) English seems fine! Even if you’re concerned about your speaking skills, you can always lean in to your written ability to connect, exchange ideas, and grow.
Without knowing more, it’s hard to give very tailored advice, so here are some messages I think more folks should take seriously:
AI could be a big deal, soon. It could create huge dangers.
In light of this, lots of stuff needs doing, e.g. technical research, governance, cybersecurity, international cooperation.
even if the most egregious risks of AI don’t materialise soon (or at all), I’ll claim (albeit without justification) that having an understanding of how these technologies are transforming the world puts one is a good place to help out in many future scenarios.
As a result, I advocate more people develop ‘situational awareness’, and make their plans keeping (the possibility of) rapid AI progress in mind.
To your main question of “What would you do if you were in my position?”, there are several ways to progress. One procedure is articulated here:
Make some best guesses (hypotheses) about which options seem best.
Identify your key uncertainties about those hypotheses.
Go and investigate those uncertainties.
The key point is to try things, get feedback, and update your beliefs, and try again. Once you have more clarity, you’ll be able to aim for and commit to specific paths.
Finally, there are no real barriers to entry to engaging with Effective Altruism! If you think you’ll find value in connecting with folks in the community, you absolutely should. In addition to this Forum, there are plenty of other spaces, e.g. EAG(x) events you can attend, or slack channels you can join.
Thanks for doing this! I’m a mid-career policy person currently in what I consider to be a relatively high-impact role in a non-ai cause area. I am good at my job but keep thinking about ai and and whether I should be pivoting to an ai policy role. I’ve been reading books about ai and I’ve listened to lots of 80k hours, Dwarkesh, and other podcasts on the topic. I have a strong sense of various threat models from ai but I still don’t have developed views on what good ai policy would look like. What should I be reading/listening to in order to develop these views? Do you think it make sense to apply to ai policy roles before my views on optimal policy are well-developed?
Hi, thanks for the question!
I’m not sure anyone is confident what “optimal policy” is! Waiting to develop your own views on optimal policy can take some time; in the meanwhile you could check out what some researchers and think tanks have to say, e.g.:
CLTR’s policy proposals
CAIS’s policy proposals
ARI’s recommendations
Some longer reads:
International AI safety report
MIRI’s AI governance research agenda
OpenPhil’s AI Governance RFP might have some pointers to some reasonable ideas
Finally, for U.S. citizens, Emerging Tech Policy Careers is great! Check out their AI policy resources.
In general, applying is a great way to get feedback and get calibrated on what you bring to table and what you need to work on, as mentioned elsewhere in these comments, so, yes, I think, you should be biased towards applying to things. There are some nuances to this, including being aware of when a rejection is likely to result in a ‘cooling off period’ where you may not be able to reapply for 6-12 months.
Hi all!
I am 31 years old with background in Biology/Biotechnology and pivoted to the world of Information Technology about 6 years ago with a Master’s degree in High Performance Computing & Data Science. I am currently based near Barcelona (Spain) working as a research engineer in a supercomputing research center.
Following on from this EA post, I decided I should identify impactful projects/organizations/people that are are doing exceptional work, and see if/how I could help with them. Can anybody point me to the right direction?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Paolo,
Thanks for the question! There are plenty of places to look at (potential) impactful projects, e.g.:
AI safety map
Biosecurity map
GiveWell top charities
Grantees of Open Phil, SFF, LTFF
...and so on. Of course, do your homework/due diligence, but these are probably already vetted by various sources who are skilled at evaluating the (potential) impact of a project.
Hi! I’m quite early in my career (and new to EA), as a 3rd year undergraduate completing a BA in Philosophy and Sociology. I am fairly sure that research (academic, industry or other) would be a good fit for me, and I have browsed through many lists of EA theses to consider whether I would be interested in pursuing any of them. It seems like the list that excites me most is the list here, compiled by Spencer Greenberg. I am very interested in completing a phD in either Philosophy or Psychology, with research interests in areas including moral psychology (e.g. expansion of the moral circle), life satisfaction (e.g. the measurement of happiness), or other areas within ethics, compassion and/or emotional intelligence.
I have read the page at 80000 Hours on Academic Research and will likely go down that path, but was just wondering if there are any obvious alternatives to academic research that I’ve missed, based on my research interests e.g., any EA organisations that explicitly research these areas?
I was also wondering the extent to which location affects impact i.e., whether my research/impact would be benefitted more by moving closer to circles of other EA academics (I am based in Sydney but open to relocating).
There’s much to research here myself, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask if there were any immediate pointers, and for any other general advice—thanks so much for reading and considering this!
Hi bgotyal, thanks for engaging! I don’t know how which EA orgs that do research you’ve already come across, so listing a few here in case there are any you weren’t aware of:
1. Rethink Priorities—gets commissioned to answer questions like some of those on the list you linked
2. Open Philanthropy—does research for its own cause prioritization and funding decisions. Has an internship each year (the next one will be 2026, this was the last one) for people interested in doing this kind of research
3. Forethought—focused on impacts of AGI
4. The AIM research programme is closing, but will be replaced with a fellowship
5. Happier Lives Institute looks into some of the problems it seems you’re interested in
6. Effective Thesis can help you decide on an area of research that would have impact
Research-adjacent areas you may want to consider too
Policy roles
Think tanks like CLTR or CLTR, GOV AI, RAND etc etc
Journalism
Research communication, or public intellectual type work
On location and impact
I would expect being in a research hub like Oxford would be valuable, everything else equal, but I suspect what is most needed is mentorship for early career researchers. Generally speaking, I would suggest getting as much feedback on your research as possible, ideally from someone who is already established in the field you want to be in, but you could try sharing things on this forum if not.
Testing your fit
I’d also recommend testing your fit for research before embarking on a PhD, due to the heavy time and financial commitment, and the competitiveness of academic careers. It sounds like you’re pretty set on the academic path, but it’s worth spending time really testing that before investing too heavily.
Thanks so much for this Tom! Much food for thought and it’s reassuring to receive some pointers, will definitely look into what you’ve suggested. Really appreciate it :)
Hi there, thanks for making this thread!
I’m considering working towards a career in medical engineering, specifically focusing on either frugal design or biosecurity. My question is, how do I get there?
At the moment I am studying for A-levels in Maths, Physics and Biology, expecting good results at the end of the year. I plan to do an MEng in medical engineering at university, but after that I’m lost.
How should I get the most out of uni? What should I do afterwards? What areas in global health need the most attention?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
What are your thoughts on the seemingly over aching demand but lack of supply for impactful work? It seems like most legs are encouraging highly impactful careers and once people are convinced, are left with minimal opportunities. Are there thoughts on encouraging other routes like ETG or Community Building?
@Sudhanshu Kasewa has enlisted me for this one!
I think earning to give is a really strong option and indeed the best option for many people.
Lack of supply is definitely an issue, though it can be helped by looking for impactful opportunities outside of “EA orgs” per se—I don’t know if this is your scenario, but this is often a problem. Knowing nothing about a person’s situation and location, I’d prompt:
Can you look for roles in government in order to work on impactful policy?
Are there start-ups or other learning opportunities you could apply to in order to develop career capital?
Is there a niche in the world you’re suited to fill? Could you find a co-founder and start filling it?I say a bit more here.
I am a fully qualified science teacher, took a break to do a PhD in Maths, which will be finishing in the next year or two, then will be looking to get into a longer term career. I have a lot of experience in the education sector, but am very interested in new challenges, broadening my horizon and even looking at the EA sector itself, because I find it all very philosophically interesting too.
I want to maximise my impact and don’t have much interest in AI (I find it very interesting in general, unrelated to the EA ‘interest’).
I enjoy thinking long term, difficult technical challenges, working with people, but unsure of what directions to pursue and what actions to start taking now. Any advice appreciated and follow up questions welcome!
Consider applying for the Impact Accelerator Program at High Impact Processionals—this is an excellent course to help you figure out an impactful career path. I did the course last year and it directly helped me to find a role in an EA-aligned organization
Brilliant, thank you, I’ll definitely do that, very much appreciated!
Hi! I’m a 22 year old with a Bachelor’s in English with software experience. I have a lot of free time on my hands due to living very frugally.
I’m currently interested in starting up an EA non-profit. I would prefer to help people in impoverished countries because the per-dollar impact would be higher. That said, I don’t want to leave my home state and know very little about international development. As such, most of my ideas pertain to the area I live in—such as encouraging people to go car-free to fight climate change or finding more effective ways to help homeless people. I’m curious if you have any thoughts about this.
Additionally, even if I don’t start my own non-profit, I’m looking to get more experience in the EA and non-profit space. I’ve considered applying to volunteer for an EA organization such as Shrimp Welfare Project, but I’m concerned that if the organization is more than like twenty people, my work will be narrow and repetitive, making it not a particularly helpful learning experience.
At this point in my life, I’m looking to get learning opportunities that also have impact and will lead to more opportunities in the EA space. Is this a good idea, is volunteering at a large EA organization a good idea, and how do I find very early stage EA organizations?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Hi James! Thanks for the question.
A great option if you’re thinking of starting your own non-profit is the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation programme, which will open to applications on 3 August. If you’re not yet set on a particular idea, they can help you work through that, along with pairing you with a co-founder, and providing various kinds of support. Having a look through their charities will give you a sense of the kinds of ideas people have pursued; not all are in LMICs, and many of the founders didn’t have experience in international development before starting.
Finding the ideal volunteer opportunity can be tricky, but my guess is that even if the work isn’t exactly what you want to be doing in the long term, you’ll likely learn useful things about what makes an organisation successful, what things you like and dislike about organisational culture, and some basic tools and techniques you can take into future work. That said, you might actually be better trying to start a small, low-cost project yourself in the areas you mention above, or even a for-profit enterprise to help you build and demonstrate your skills so that you could start your own non-profit later.
In terms of finding small EA orgs, you can check out the orgs on the Probably Good jobs board. We don’t (yet) have a way to rank them by size, but clicking through and learning a bit about each organisation is probably useful in building your knowledge anyway.
Could you say more about why you want to start a nonprofit? The way you describe your situation, you might consider earning to give.
What is your general advice for someone wanting to leave their job for one that is higher impact? I have a background in environmental governance (MSc from Oxford, BA from UBC). I’ve worked for an environmental consulting firm for about a year and half, and the lack of organization and reluctance to embrace AI is pushing me to leave.
I’m looking for advice for how to quit my job effectively (what kind of conversations I should be having with my managers), and how to move into higher impact (preferably in person roles). I’ve read the 80k book and have started my career plan (and spreadsheet) but any additional advice would be appreciated :)
Cheers!
Gabrielle
Hi Gabrielle, thanks for the question!
With the obvious caveat that some of this will depend on the specifics of your workplace and career plan (which we’d be happy to chat through in an advising call), hopefully the following general pointers are useful.
On the ‘how to move into higher impact roles’, we have a bunch of resources in our article on how to get a job. The fact of you being in a job already doesn’t change this too much, but probably allows you to be more patient and deliberate in your search, and might give you more leverage in negotiating on things like salary.
If you’re not actually sure on whether you should quit your job yet—and I’d generally advise anyone to take that decision seriously—then this article from 80k has some great advice. But assuming you know you’re going to leave, I’d expect it’s better to stay in your role until you’ve found your next thing, for the financial security and other reasons above. If you’re able to be open with your manager about the things you’re not getting in your current role, there’s a chance they’ll be able to shape things to better suit you, even if that’s only a short term improvement till you move on. There might also be opportunities within your current organisation to learn new skills, make new connections, or pick up qualifications that could be useful in future. Finally, the old advice of not burning bridges is worth bearing in mind. Even if you think you’ll never want to work at that organisation or with that person again, references can be really important.
There are times when it just makes sense to move on, even if you don’t know what you’re doing next. It can give more time for contemplation, learning, or just recharging your batteries. But that’s something probably worth discussing specifically in an advising call :)
Thanks again, and all the best with your move!
Thank you Tom :)
Hello. I have been working in the AI field for 18 months as an AI trainer. I am a freelance worker for a data company, reviewing model responses, and working to improve the model’s ability, helpfulness, and output. Before this, I worked as a freelance marketer and content writer. I moved into freelance work while my children were young and I became a single mother. Before I became a freelancer, I worked as a project manager at a digital content provider.
As my children grow and my time opens up, I would like to return to employment, using my skills as a writer, communicator, and project manager to help orgs that are shaping the future of AI, in safety and governance. My primary motivation is user benefit, and I believe my unique blend of marketing skills, knowledge of model output, and growing interest in AI safety make me a good fit for a coordinator or marketing role within AI safety and governance.
My technical AI knowledge is limited, as I work on the user end, and I have a BA in English Literature. What advice do you have for me, as I would like to expand my understanding of AI safety and return to work in a part-time, most likely entry-level role?
Many thanks for reading my question!
Jenny
Hi Jenny, thanks for writing in.
First off, it’s useful to gain context. Read through BlueDot’s Future of AI course, and this post which points to helpful attitudes towards working in high-impact roles.
Consider demonstrating that you “get stuff done.” Say “Yes!” to volunteer opportunities, and take ownership where you can. Read through these incredible pieces of advice that my colleague Laura put together.
Build networks from where to learn and find opportunities, and your own personal portfolio to make your skills legible. Both of these are also ways to get feedback on your own thinking/output, so invite/encourage folks to do so.
Apply to things! Yes, things are competitive, and usually one should expect that the most likely outcome is that you don’t get a role, but it still makes sense to engage with application processes, for a number of reasons, e.g. (i) they can be cheap and deliver a huge return if you get any feedback at all; (ii) they can force you learn about orgs and their work, building context; (iii) they can potentially build network and get you on someone’s radar for future opportunities, (iv) interviewing is a skill like any other, and requires practice.
As you make progress with the above actions, you’ll get a better sense of what it is that you’re excited to do, and where you’d be a good fit.
If you’d like to explore more strategies and options, read our career guide, or consider applying for advising!
I’m a journalist researching and writing about democratic reforms that would counterweight or constrain populism. The more I delve into this the more it seems like an urgent priority. I think the incentive structure created by today’s media-political environment encourages politicians like Trump to become more populist and that leads to lower quality governance, with visibly much less well informed people in charge.
But governance increasingly seems like an AI problem to me. If super intelligence is coming quickly it will radically increase the power of some governments (eg US) and could cause existing power structures to ossify. If politicians in charge have bad priorities or incentives, they could use AI to make the world much worse instead of much better. We may be running out of time to fix these incentives.
Reform in my mind means far greater citizen participation, using a mix of online platforms, “alignment assemblies” (online citizens assemblies + deliberation, but much faster and cheaper), sortition for citizen observers of government at all scales, and other ways to depolarise debate, build trust, and find consensus. A Tang-derived ambitious digital democracy.
But this is a surprisingly neglected problem, with comparatively tiny resources devoted to it, especially in comparison to the huge heft behind algorithms like those on social media which distort political debate.
Does this very rough sketch of my argument seem reasonable? Is this the sort of project EA orgs might fund some research on? If so, how could I contribute to that effort?
You might want to look into “AI for Epistemics”, which I think overlaps substantially with (or possibly complements) your concerns and approach. Some resources:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jPKoNFRowKJwGgGyy/what-s-important-in-ai-for-epistemics
https://80000hours.org/2024/05/project-idea-ai-for-epistemics/
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Gi8NP9CMwJMMSCWvc/ai-for-epistemics-hackathon (completed)
https://www.flf.org/fellowship (closed)
I think your arguments are directionally correct, but without more description, it’s hard to say whether I support specific conclusions or interventions. Also, unfortunately, I don’t think the buck stops at within-country governance, but there is urgent work required on international AI governance as well.
As a journalist, look into the Tarbell fellowship, or consider whether being an independent writer/thinker/commentator (e.g. Shakeel’s Transformer, Nathan’s Cognitive Revolution Podcast) is a path you’d be excited to traverse; there is so much room/demand for high-quality AI-risk-aware content, and so few players.
There are all kinds of other paths to pursue, e.g. in think tanks, civil service, politics, etc. that can help reduce AI risks, should you want to explore. Consider applying for 80k advising!
Hi; thanks so much for doing this! So, for a long time I had planned to try to become a congressional staffer in order to do good with my career, with my fallback being working as a software engineer at an organization working on one of the world’s most pressing problems. After I finished an undergrad degree in applied mathematics, about 2 years went by, and though I was able to find some work in that time, I wasn’t able to get a job on a congressional staff, so I decided to pivot to the software engineer plan. I started a master’s program in computer science, which I’m currently about halfway through, but when I began the master’s program I didn’t realize how quickly AI was advancing, or how much of the work done by software engineers would get automated. Between the master’s program and my part-time job, I have very little time for other things, like setting up my own, private projects to demonstrate my abilities to future employers, networking, and volunteering; and I’m starting to worry that things like those might be more conducive to me finding a stable, relatively-AI-resistant career than continuing in the master’s program. However, there is something I should note, which might be a good reason to finish the master’s degree: I currently have something that’s not technically a scholarship, but for all practical purposes it is; so funding the master’s degree isn’t an issue. If I leave without finishing, I’d say there’s a 60-80% chance I could get the “sort-of scholarship” again; but of course that means there’s a 20-40% chance I couldn’t. In light of all that, would you recommend that I leave the degree program before finishing, and/or try for a different career path than software engineer? I’m currently on track to finish in about August 2026; though we’re allowed to skip summer semesters if we want to, so I could also finish in December 2026. In case that affects your answers.
Thanks so much for your help! I really appreciate some guidance on this stuff.
Hi! Thanks for sharing your story. Some quick thoughts:
Could you quit your part-time job and instead use that time better? Could you take on a different part-time position that lets you build useful skills and networks?
I think it’s probably okay to finish your masters (since you’re already halfway through it); if you can find a job that’s going to get you hands-on experience on, say, LLMs, and/or build skills that could be robustly useful in a variety of roles, it might tip the scales in favour of dropping out (but by then you’ll be even closer to finishing, so maybe it makes sense to just complete it).
With or without your masters, with or without your job, I think it’s useful to get situationally aware about what’s happening in AI, and get comfortable (proficient, even) with using AI tools to enhance your own productivity and growth.
Benjamin Todd wrote about how not to lose your job to AI. I might not fully endorse this piece, but I think it’s directionally correct and has some good ideas to think about.
All the best!
Thank you for your thoughts! I’m reluctant to quit the part-time job, because I feel like I need to be saving up money right now, but I’ll consider the idea, along with your other suggestions. The help is appreciated!
I’m a recent graduate in political science / economics and am looking for internships/ entry level positions in Madrid or Spain more broadly. Are there any specific high-impact or lesser-known organisations you would recommend? Further, what are your thoughts on the impact of sustainability consulting? It is the area where I have found the most opportunities but fear the greenwashing aspect of consultancy. Thank you for taking the time!
You might consider the Talos Fellowship if EU AI governance is on your radar. I think the responsible and safe development of artificial intelligence is an incredibly pressing problem today. Consultants for Impact has some resources about how/whether to build skills for an impactful career in consulting. If you’re passionate about climate change, I’d recommend keeping a laser-focus on evidence-backed interventions that are tractable, neglected, and have a significant GHG reduction potential. Hannah Ritchie and Johannes Ackva have had interesting podcasts about this. Lastly, I’d want to highlight 80,000 Hours’ argument for why climate change, while still a very important issue, might not be the most pressing at current margins.
Thank you Matt!
What can I do to navigate well in my current place of work where I am being marginalized and faced tribalism. I’m a senior faculty member of the institution but my voice must not be heard because I don’t belong to their tribe. I’m altruistic in nature but this is their worst worry. I do work secretly and unnoticed for me to make positive impact or otherwise I face severe victimization and difficulty. Will resigning from the institution be the best option for me? What can I do to continue my career in Aquaculture and Fisheries in this situation I found myself. I need advice
Most impact career advice focuses on AI, animals, or global health. I’d love your thoughts on less-talked-about but highly impactful paths, especially around improving how social systems (like immigration, youth integration, or education) treat children and families.
I’ve spent the last 6–7 years working in early childhood, cross-cultural education, and informal programme insight roles, now transitioning toward more systems-adjacent work (like inclusion, programme relevance, or family wellbeing). How would you assess or prioritise this kind of work from an impact perspective? Are there underexplored roles here that deserve more attention?
How likely is it for someone to obtain early-career transition funding either via Open Philanthropy career transition grant or the LTFF (opens back again in August)? Also, how does someone boost their chances of obtaining such funding?
I have been involved in AI Safety for the past 1 year via a multitude of things (e.g. read Human Compatible/Superintelligence, completed AI Safety Fundamental by BlueDot independently, almost finished all of the ARENA content independently, engaged with AI Safety Hungary as a teaching assistant for their online version of ARENA, engaged with my local AI Safety group in Ireland by giving a talk, decided to have my MSc. thesis on AI Debate via Program Synthesis and probably most importantly, doing research as part of MARS 3.0 sponsored by Cambridge AI Safety Hub), but I am scared that I have not done enough for me to quit my job and obtain the necessary funding for next couple of months. Very recently, I have been approved for a 80k career advising session, but I would like more opinions on this specifically.
There are multiple possibilities here (given my target is around 20k funding in the next 9-12 months):
Get some limited funding (let’s say something around 10k) for the next 3-6 months, then reapply for more at a later date.
Apply for limited funding from different sources (let’s say 10k from Open Philanthropy and 10k from LTFF), which equals my desired amount (this could be dropped to something like 5k from each, and apply the strategy from the previous point).
Apply for the desired amount with the hope that they will fund as close as possible.
The main goal during this career transition period is for me to focus my full energy/focus on AI Safety and complete some research projects that can boost my chances of obtaining further funding (this is mostly governmental funding) for a PhD in AI Safety next year.
Hi Edy,
I’m afraid I don’t have any special insight into “how likely...” such funding is, but since the application isn’t very costly (between 1 and 4 hours), it probably makes sense to apply anyway? And it’s quite reasonable that you can reuse a bunch of stuff across applications too, so this investment at your end goes down.
Exciting that you’ve been doing so many things! I think it helps your chances if there is legible evidence of how your skills and thinking have evolved over the course of this year. I think it’s also useful for grantmakers to know what you’re aiming at: Which research agendas, what theories of change do you think are worth working on, and why? Do your career transition plans align with those?
Finally, I think you should also considering applying to jobs! You’ve done quite a bit of stuff, and you might already be a good fit for some roles, so you should apply to things to get calibrated on whether you even need the funding.
I have a more general question on CVs:
I’ve always held to the school of thought that you should highlight the things that are most relevant for what you’re applying for, and basically leave other stuff out—or refer to eg LinkedIn. I’ve done quite a lot across different areas, and this now leaves me readjusting my CV constantly! I’m also not necessarily sure I’m cutting the ‘right’ stuff—how do I know if the hiring team are actually interested in something I’ve done but they haven’t put it in the job ad as a requirement… A friend recently told me they were advised to condense the white space on their CV and add more content to it. What are your thoughts on this?
Hi Clare! I think this varies a lot by industry. For one example, here is a guide to policy/government resumes with some tips and examples. In general I think tailoring your resume to the specific posting and emphasizing the relevant skills can be useful, just be sure to accurately represent your experience. Paying close attention to the job posting can also help you try to get in the mindset of a hiring manager. But it can be hard to know specific answers from the outside. I think this is why networking among colleagues, peers, hiring managers in your industry, etc for informal advice and conversations can help model others’ expectations. For example I could see you discussing this at an EAG or EAGx conference.
[I’m just someone on the Internet, not a career adviser or anything]
Personally I think this question depends a lot on the specific circumstances. Keeping the resume brief is good general advice but I think there are plenty of situations where more information is good and helpful.
One thing you might consider is trying to put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager (for the specific position in question). Imagine you have to get through 200 resumes. What would you want to see as you look at each one? If you took a closer look at a resume, what green or red flags would you watch out for? It’s shocking to me how rare this perspective-taking is.
Hello,
I have recently graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in Physics. I have written my dissertation all about how ChatGPT works and also conducted an experiment on its effectiveness at marking physics lab reports. (If interested in reading, I have linked below)
I am really keen to start a career in AI safety, as I believe this is the most pressing matter that we face.
I am based in Manchester and would love some advice on what my next steps should be to choose a career in AI that will make the biggest impact.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ronnie-yaniv-921492346_dissertation-activity-7331315337654673410-UT0L?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAFaRe6kBQL90wPd3qWvu6aPqfdPVp5LhX4E&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=copy_link
Hi Ronnie,
I’d start by reading through BlueDot’s Future of AI course to get a better picture of the problem, and then continue to gain context by reading about various agendas, skills (e.g. research engineering), fellowships, organisations, and so on.
Along the way, I’d recommend doing some projects, hackathons, writing/commenting (e.g. on LessWrong and EA Forum on AI safety content), keeping an eye on (i) being useful, (ii) getting feedback and improving, (iii) creating legible evidence of your skills.
It’s also useful to speak to a lot of people, to (i) find and build relationships/trust with people who care about similar things as you, again, and (ii) get feedback on your understanding/plans/projects, and as a result, improve. You can find communities online and in person, e.g. here. I’ve written a little about this earlier here.
Finally, start applying, and quite broadly! Since you’re early in your career, it’s likely you can learn a lot outside of AI safety that can be meaningfully applied within AI safety. Look at target roles carefully, and consider also applying to anything that look like ‘stepping stones’ or ‘nearest neighbours’ to those roles.
Over time, as your context and understanding of AI safety grows, you can take sharper actions aimed at specific roles, agendas, and orgs; as you’re just getting started, consider getting a wide range of exposure to various pieces of AI safety. Here’s a list of resources that I maintain, but there are others, e.g. on 80k, and on aisafety.com
Hello! I’m a veterinarian (licensed to work in the UK and EU) with 14 years of experience (treating only dogs and cats). What job could I take on that allows me to work remotely and part-time? I already volunteer lots of my time with a small animal charity in a developing country, but I feel I’m not making that much of an impact. I want to be more useful for animals and/or people!
Hi Magda, thanks for your thoughtful question and for the work you’ve already been doing to help animals. It’s wonderful to hear that you’re looking for ways to use your veterinary skills in a more impactful way.
You may want to check out Probably Good’s profile on veterinary medicine, which explores several paths beyond direct clinical practice that could align with your interests and flexibility needs.
At this stage, it might be helpful to zoom out and reflect on the specific problems you most want to help solve, whether that’s a specific niche in animal welfare, zoonotic disease risks, or something else entirely. From there, you can explore the kinds of work already happening in those areas and consider where your skills and experience might best fit in, whether directly (e.g. veterinary consulting or public health work) or more indirectly (e.g. strategy, research, or advising roles). That kind of problem-first lens can be especially useful when you’re navigating a career pivot and want to maximize impact. And I think the more you dig in, the more you’ll be surprised by the options available to you, as well as the work of other former veterinarians.
Hi Magda, it’s great to hear that you want your work to help animals as much as possible. Have considered finding part- of full-time work at an animal advocacy organisation? Animal Advocacy Careers’ Job Board is one of the best places to look for opportunities in this field, and many of the positions advertised are remote-based.
I also suggest you have a look at Animal Advocacy Careers’ online course: it’s free and provides a nice overview of the opportunities available in the field of animal advocacy.
For skill-building and education, if you find you’re lacking specific skills, I would suggest taking free (or very cheap) courses at Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Candid Learning, or edX.
Finally, if you still find yourself struggling and needing 1:1 help, consider applying for Animal Advocacy Careers’ Career Coaching.
I’m finishing my MSc in NLP (using LLMs for Information Extraction) this December, and I do not plan to start a PhD immediately afterward. I will probably apply to PhDs in September 2026. Do you have any ideas on what I could do in the roughly 6 months in between that would strengthen my applications?
Additional information: I want to shift my field of study to sustainability/governance and currently lack academic experience in this domain.
Thanks a lot to the advisors and to the forum!
Hi John,
An AI governance fellowship might hold some weight with PhD admissions. Or perhaps you can do an internship in policy/governance.
Thanks a lot, a fellowship seems like a great fit :)
What are things orgs are doing to support working parents?
Can you name orgs you find very supportive of people managing a career and parenting?
Are there programs in EA to support people returning to a career after a parenting/caregiving break?
Some people want to switch to part-time for a few years or indefinitely, take a career break, or need flexible hours to raise kids.
Hey everyone,
I am Oğuz, and I am currently a political science/international relations PhD candidate located in Türkiye. My current research plan is to focus on how threat perception in politics works and why we see certain events as more threatening than others (even when the harm is less). Through this agenda, I believe we can improve collective behavior and create political institutions that are more effective at handling existential risks.
Previously, I have done some research work on biological weapons and how threats were framed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within EA, I have finished BlueDot Impact’s Biosecurity Fundamentals program and was also a summer research fellow in the Cambridge Existential Risks Initiative (now ERA) in 2021. One common discussion point about biorisks (and x-risks in general) was how often large-scale and concrete threats, such as AI misuse or climate change, were not taken as seriously in the public eye or quickly forgotten once the threat passes. As such, I decided to pivot to this research area as a more “meta” approach to x-risks.
In the near future, I have three career options in mind for my meta approach:
Policy: Working on policy ideas to help governments and institutions avoid being tricked by people who use fear and false threats to push their own agendas
Communication: Helping people spot when media or politicians are using scare tactics and teaching better ways to think rationally about which threats are more serious.
Research: Academic work to better understand why we worry about some risks in politics but ignore bigger, more dangerous ones
I would appreciate support on:
Career opportunities in EA/non-EA that are relevant to these career paths
People or institutions that I can reach out to that work in similar areas
Opportunities or recommendations for improving the skills that I might need for the communication track
Thank you in advance for any comments and recommendations!
Hi all,
I’m a 25-year-old PhD student (just finished my master’s) in Turkey, working in wireless communications, with a focus on signal processing, information theory, and physical-layer technologies. I really love the field, especially the math behind it, and while research is sometimes stressful (more than sometimes), I honestly don’t see myself doing anything else long term.
That said, I’ve been engaging with the EA community recently, and I’m unsure how to connect my work with any of the top EA cause areas. The one that feels closest is AI alignment, but I’ve never worked in AI/ML directly. Some people in my field are exploring ML for wireless systems, but that’s still pretty far from core alignment research.
So here’s where I’m stuck:
-Is there a way for someone with my background to make a meaningful contribution to EA-aligned cause areas, without leaving the field I love?
For example, would working on non-terrestrial networks (improving global internet access) be a meaningful contribution to global development or infrastructure resilience?
-Or should I consider earning to give as my primary contribution, while continuing a career I’m good at and love?
-Are there overlooked intersections between wireless/communications and critical EA cause areas like AI safety, biorisk, or catastrophic risk resilience?
-Or should I make a longer-term pivot toward more “core” EA paths, even if that means stepping outside of my comfort zone?
I really want to do something that matters, but I’m starting to feel like there’s no good path that lets me do impactful work and stay true to my core interests. I’d appreciate any guidance.
Thanks in advance!
Hello
I am a fourth year student of international relations. I am currently interested in research writing but I can’t seem to orient myself on how it works as well as how i can merge it with my career path to do impactful work to the society at large so i don’t know if you can recommend a point which i can start from-maybe online courses or advice .
Anything can go a long way. Thank you
What do you think of the world of development finance? How do DFIs, MDBs and associates impact investors/foundations rank with the lens of EA. And with that in mind, what would a corporate position within one of these organisations be a good career?
I’m 30 years old and for the past 4 years I’m “my own person” (after a long service in the IDF).
I’m a mid-level+ developer, mostly frontend, and I’m looking into making an impact on our local & global political system.
It can be a political impact also in a broad way, for example minimizing social network disinformation & polarization. The important thing driving me to act is to improve society’s democratic institutions and decision-making mechanisms—to be more aligned with social welfare.
Oh, and I finished 1 out of 2 years of M.A in Political Science. Not sure yet if it will benefit my career, but I had to give it a go.
Some things I’ve learned over the past years:
Realized I might not be a good entrepreneur / CEO material, since it requires a lot of guts, constant motivation and self-belief, resources that take too many days off in my inner system..
Working hands-on in an NGO in non-tech roles, is not playing to my advantage. I’ve done it for 1.5 years, and while it was very rewarding and motivating to work in an NGO that affects policy and public opinion—it felt like I don’t make a difference to the organization’s abilities.
I’m getting more tired from reading tons of articles than from programming
I currently feel like I have 2 main options:
Re-develop my dev career once again, work in organizations that combat fake news / disinformation and such. Might not be the best in it and might feel like I’m a hands-on nobody unless I manage to become a good (product / R&D) manager who steers something in the organization’s choices towards strategic directions.
Continue in my academic & research path. I have interesting questions that I think are worth investigating, and my tech skills can be unique and rare in this area.
I’m worried about
(a) How much being a researcher will affect me energetically—it might make me inefficient.
(b) Salary, future salary, the instability and uncertainty of the future, and my family
(c) Losing my dev-career “safety net” completely.
Basically, (1) is less ambitious but safer. (2) is more ambitious but less clear if will get me somewhere. Right now my idea is to go for 1 and somehow combine research along my daily life, or indeed steer myself into a manager position.
Would love to get any feedback and ideas—for maximizing 1&2′s tradeoffs and for possible R&D organizations to see myself in.
I wonder if you might have relevant skills and experience for AI safety research, and/or for high impact cybersecurity? It sounds like you enjoy working on technical problems and research projects directly. I made this list of technical AI safety upskilling resources which might help you test out whether you’d enjoy improving those skills.
I know you mentioned not being energized by policy work as much, but given your political science + technical skills, I wonder if emerging tech policy would feel more rewarding? https://EmergingTechPolicy.org is a great resource. Technical AI governance skills are often in demand. Our job board might have some cool ideas for you. As to your other uncertainties, I think you should practice doing “cheap tests” such as a small project over evenings/weekends, or talking to people who are already working in the roles you’re considering about what their job looks like. Conferences can be great for this.
Thank you Matt. Currently I’m more interested in social networks. Perhaps because their effects are already significant while AI is more futuristic and speculative.
I’ll consider these ideas. Much appreciated.
Hello!
Thank you for the opportunity to ask a question about career advice here.
I’m 35 years old and currently working in the field of human rights. I lead a project focused on human rights education for teenagers via social media. Recently, I also started a new role as project manager for a project that is developing an ethical AI chatbot.
I began my career as a social worker and, alongside my work, completed two master’s degrees—one in legal philosophy and one in law. During my studies, I worked at a university-based human rights institute, where I gained experience in legal research, created educational content for students, and co-authored a few articles.
After that, I transitioned into my current role, where I work on various human rights projects. For my final law thesis, I focused on AI bias and women’s rights, which sparked my deep interest in the intersection of AI, data protection, tech policy, and human rights.
Since then, I’ve continued building my knowledge in this area through various courses. I completed the AI Governance training by BlueDot, another training focused on the EU AI Act, and one that explored AI from a human rights perspective. As a final paper for the BlueDot course, I wrote a policy toolkit on applying a human rights-based approach to AI governance in content moderation -this really encapsulates my main area of interest. I also recently completed a policy writing course.
I would love to transition more fully into the fields of tech & law, tech policy, and/or advocacy in these areas. However, despite putting a great deal of effort into each application—carefully tailoring each one—I haven’t had any success so far. Over the past six months, I’ve applied to nearly every relevant fellowship and many early-career positions, including internships and traineeships.
I approach things with a strong intersectional lens, which I believe could be a unique asset in this field.
Could you advise me on how to move forward and where I should continue looking to make this career transition?
I’m currently based in Canada but working remotely for an Austrian NGO. I’m open to relocating to most European countries.
Thank you again!
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for writing in. It’s great that you’re thinking of using your career to help AI go well, and have been building skills and applying for roles to that end.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been struggling with landing a role. Here are some ideas:
Are you getting enough feedback on your application materials? It’s good to solicit input from trusted sources, mentors, others on similar journeys as you, so that you’re sure that you’re not missing some key pieces in your applications.
Are you talking/connecting to people in roles/orgs you’re interested in? As we get more experience, it’s more likely that we’ll find roles through our network and collaborators; so it’s useful to invest in those relationships, not just by being a jobseeker, but by aiming to help out and add value wherever you can (maybe by giving feedback/critiques, exchanging your expertise for something you want to learn, or volunteering in some way).
Are you continuing to make your skills and experience legible? As my colleague @Matt Beard puts it “you should obsessively improve at an in-demand skill set in a legible way”. Those skills could be within writing, speaking, research, analysis, code, hardware, interpersonal collaboration, project management, organisation building, strategic thinking, and so on. The idea here is analogous to “build it and they will come”, and countless folks have translated their visible expertise into high-impact roles. Check out our skills pages for more details.
A related thing is to use such public productivity and output as a way to increase your feedback surface area, to pick up on where you can grow. Aim to post your work in places where folks are happy to engage in good faith and offer constructive input. The EA Forum and LessWrong are great places for this!
Are you maybe the right person to start a new org working on something because nobody else is doing it, and it’s incredibly important? I often say in advising calls “You can just do things”, because it’s true and sometimes we forget that. Yes, it can be daunting, and it’s worth considering your own personal circumstances, but all things considered, I want more people to be willing to take those kinds of risks.
Similarly, you might even want to implement someone else’s idea, or replicate or improve on an existing project—there are plenty of excellent ideas out there that need more people executing them.
Some more resources:
Advice for mid-career folks looking for high-impact roles
What to do when the job market isn’t cooperating
A (maybe slightly stale) list of social impact job boards
Hope this helps! All the best.
Good day everyone,
My name is Chioma Madelin Ikpeamaeze from Nigeria.
My question goes this way.
I have been searching for job for years now. It seems like all the opportunities available requires AI knowledge. Why can’t companies hire people and train them , for people who are trainable in using AI tools for that specific job?
Secondly, I have 5 years of experience working with humanitarian organizations , under a program( National Home Grown School feeding as a food vendor, feeding Nursery and Primary school pupils ) in my Country. Since the program ended I have been applying for job but to no avail.
I have 2 years of customer service experience , right now , I want to transit to customer service representatives, is there any AI tool related courses used in customer service I can learn ?
Thank you
Good day, I’ve Masters in Public Health and have served mostly as research assistant for several public health projects which have equipped me with research skills. I want to continue in this field as a researcher and I’ve research ideas that can be useful to solve global problems. I’m not sure how or who to go to in real life to help me on how to achieve this desires. I need advice in this area, thanks.
Do you know any sources of funding that accept outside game strategies like mass protest, social media channels run by citizen journalists, supporting whistleblowers and so on?
All the big EA funders like Dustin Moswkowitz, Jaan Tallin, Dario Amodei, etc still clearly fund inside game strategies.
hi im a recent biotech grad but i have profound interest in ai alignment, cognitive science and computational modelling. how do i make an effective career pivot or shift such that my technical and mathematical fundamentals are solid and i can apply for an allied grad school program. Right now my math and programming skills aren’t up to the mark hence i would like to know an effective route to master it asap.
A similar question has been answered a couple times in this thread, so I’d encourage reviewing those comments. Hopefully this technical AI safety upskilling resources list can help- it has advice from experts, overviews of the field, fellowships and courses, etc.
Hi! Would any of the career advisors possibly be available for a 1-on-1 call?
I currently work in technical AI governance/safety research. I’m contemplating getting into fundraising or donor advising, as well as some other possibilities, and would love to talk through this with someone.
Thanks for considering! 🙏
1:1 career advising links that may be relevant to you:
Probably Good
80,000 Hours
Successif
You can speak to all of them; you don’t have to choose just one!
I applied to a couple of these using the pages you linked to. One of them already got back to me with next steps. Thanks!
You might want to try AI Safety Quest.
Progress in understanding the human brain could significantly advance our ability to treat neurological and psychiatric diseases, many of which currently lack effective interventions. Computational modeling and large-scale data analysis are increasingly central to neuroscience, but they are often limited by available computing power.
I want to work on the computer science side of this problem by specializing in High-Performance Computing.
I’m currently an undergrad, doing some research on program autotuning and compilers, which is the closest I can get to HPC at my university right now. This winter, I’ll be doing a Software Engineering internship at Amazon, and after finishing my degree next summer, I’m debating between:
Pursuing a master’s degree in HPC or related areas, to dive deeper into the technical problems.
Building career capital in big tech, and potentially reorienting toward brain-computation work from a stronger industry position later.
Does this seem like a sensible plan? Are there particular pitfalls or opportunities I might be overlooking?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Sven: Unfortunately this is a bit outside my wheelhouse, but you might want to reach out to the folks behind Integral—I bet Milan would have great ideas about what skills to build in order to work on this cause.
Hello.
Could you provide advice for someone wanting to work in strategic foresight for social/environmental good? Unfortunately I’m unable to just up-sticks and leave my current role for one paid significantly less (ie do an internship or suchlike) due to mortgage and family commitments. It’s also something that my current employers are not supportive of me embedding in my current role.
It seems that most of the courses and vacancies that I see come up are for senior level people. Is there scope for someone, with a good level of education (masters) but not a particularly strong track record of previous work (I’ve done lots of things but nothing for a particularly long amount of time), to get involved in strategic foresight?
Thanks!
Hey Sam,
Thanks for the question. You make a good point that many of the common ‘on-ramps’ into strategic foresight roles aren’t feasible for people with financial or caregiving responsibilities.
The good news is that foresight isn’t just a job title. It’s a methodology—a way to see and frame issues like environmental/social concerns. You probably can use tools like framing trends, horizon scanning, identifying second-order effects, or stress-testing assumptions in your current work (I recommend the Millennium Project’s Futures Research Methodology as a bescherelle of methods) . These can help you practice thinking about systems, uncertainty, and long-term stakes. I’d challenge you to approach new roles by asking yourself ‘how can I reposition this problem to help others see it differently, and how/why is that useful for the cause at hand?’
A better path into this space may be by building public artefacts of your thinking that can show your thought leadership. E.g. a blog post exploring alternative futures in your domain, a speculative memo reframing an industry issue you’re knowledgeable of, or a lightweight scenario sprint with a few peers.
I’d also say from my personal experience that having a ‘portfolio career’ with shorter stints of experience in multiple things can be to your advantage. By framing yourself as a generalist, you can connect trends from one field to another (e.g. animal welfare and journalism) with more credibility than someone who is deeply specialised in just one area.