Thank you for taking the time to answer questions! Do you have any advice for someone who is trying to get into EA but doesn’t have the typical quant/research heavy background? I have worked in social impact my entire career (10+ years at this point) in organizations of all shapes and sizes from international humanitarian organizations to local community based organizations and even local governments, mostly in Monitoring & Evaluation/grants management. My work has been somewhat similar in that I’m constantly trying to answer the question of “is any given intervention worth dedicating time and resources to?” but not as rigorous in terms of design. Additionally, many places I’ve worked with in this space don’t make serious efforts to measure outcomes in a rigorous way and there is a tendency to shy away from data that proves the organization’s models wrong. I’ve also seen how measurement and implementation can break down in the field, especially when adapting across contexts. EA has piqued my interest as a field that strives to honestly and transparently evaluate interventions and uses data to truly drive decisions, not just as a requirement. That all being said, do you have any advice on how I can get started in EA/make my profile more competitive? Appreciate any insight you might be able to offer!
Hi Amy, thanks for your question! I can’t and wouldn’t claim to speak for “Effective Altruism” as a whole. The set of organizations within the EA community, or aligned with or inspired by effective altruism principles, is very large and diverse! Each organization is going to have a different view of what core skills are required for different roles on their teams. Some will of course lean more “quant heavy” based on their mission, industry/area, or internal culture. But I would think that there are many organizations and many roles that do not require deep research and quantitative skills. So I hope you won’t let that discourage you from trying to find ways to get involved and have impact in the cause areas that you care about.
Speaking for myself personally, I did not come from a research or quantitative background and I did not have much exposure to the effective altruism community when I joined Coefficient Giving back in 2022. I did have many years of experience as an in-house lawyer, which was relevant for the role I was applying for. I think professional skills & training tend to be transferable across roles.
And then speaking for GiveWell, we open lots of roles that don’t require research experience, and where the core competencies are less focused on quantitative skills and more on interpersonal, communication, organization, or project management skills. I think there can sometimes be a misconception that the only way to have impact at an organization is to be in a research or program role, but that is definitely not the case. Fundraising, recruiting, human resources, project management, legal/compliance, policy… in my opinion, impact comes in many different forms.
Good luck in your exploration of EA and your career search!
Hello Sai,
Thank you for taking the time to answer questions! Do you have any advice for someone who is trying to get into EA but doesn’t have the typical quant/research heavy background? I have worked in social impact my entire career (10+ years at this point) in organizations of all shapes and sizes from international humanitarian organizations to local community based organizations and even local governments, mostly in Monitoring & Evaluation/grants management. My work has been somewhat similar in that I’m constantly trying to answer the question of “is any given intervention worth dedicating time and resources to?” but not as rigorous in terms of design. Additionally, many places I’ve worked with in this space don’t make serious efforts to measure outcomes in a rigorous way and there is a tendency to shy away from data that proves the organization’s models wrong. I’ve also seen how measurement and implementation can break down in the field, especially when adapting across contexts. EA has piqued my interest as a field that strives to honestly and transparently evaluate interventions and uses data to truly drive decisions, not just as a requirement. That all being said, do you have any advice on how I can get started in EA/make my profile more competitive? Appreciate any insight you might be able to offer!
Hi Amy, thanks for your question! I can’t and wouldn’t claim to speak for “Effective Altruism” as a whole. The set of organizations within the EA community, or aligned with or inspired by effective altruism principles, is very large and diverse! Each organization is going to have a different view of what core skills are required for different roles on their teams. Some will of course lean more “quant heavy” based on their mission, industry/area, or internal culture. But I would think that there are many organizations and many roles that do not require deep research and quantitative skills. So I hope you won’t let that discourage you from trying to find ways to get involved and have impact in the cause areas that you care about.
Speaking for myself personally, I did not come from a research or quantitative background and I did not have much exposure to the effective altruism community when I joined Coefficient Giving back in 2022. I did have many years of experience as an in-house lawyer, which was relevant for the role I was applying for. I think professional skills & training tend to be transferable across roles.
And then speaking for GiveWell, we open lots of roles that don’t require research experience, and where the core competencies are less focused on quantitative skills and more on interpersonal, communication, organization, or project management skills. I think there can sometimes be a misconception that the only way to have impact at an organization is to be in a research or program role, but that is definitely not the case. Fundraising, recruiting, human resources, project management, legal/compliance, policy… in my opinion, impact comes in many different forms.
Good luck in your exploration of EA and your career search!