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
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.
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!
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.
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.