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)
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)