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.
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.
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.