As someone who recently did this myself I can highly recommend it! I also want to add that some people might be able to, and perhaps even benefit from, taking a “middle path” where they reduce their work hours. I did this which allowed me 1 day/week over a couple of months to try to make working directly on EA causes happen. It probably comes with reduced pay but does not require enough savings to carry you through unpaid leave. Moreover, you can do this right now even if you do not have enough savings for a continuous break.
Just wanted to echo this point about reducing work hours! In cases where this option is available + financially viable, I think it can be very worth considering. I did this a few years ago when I was in a non-impact-driven job, reducing my work schedule permanently from full-time to 4.5 days per week then later 3.5. I used the other time for small volunteering and consulting opportunities in EA (though finding them involved some luck), which I think really helped me towards eventually moving into a permanent direct work role later.
+1 part-timer here. I was very frustrated back then. Having learnt a lot of interesting ideas about using one’s career for social impact I felt that I do not have sufficient time to explore these ideas to the depth I wanted to. I wanted to head towards a transition but I felt that I got stuck. So earlier this year I told my employer that I’m thinking of quitting because of this (note that I’m in a furtunate position of having experience that is currently in high demand, so I could relatively easily find a job similar to my previous if needed). But they suggested that I could do part-time instead if I wanted to and I accepted their offer.
It did not just give me time to explore the research around high-impact careers but now also allows me to spend signifficant time on applications, work trials and volunteering projects for testing my fit and upskilling.
One thing that I’m still thinking about is that I was in a fortunate position of being able to afford this financially. It just does not feel right that I decided to “spend” these resorces (my time/the salary I did not earn) on this “project” without crosschecking with experts (e.g. grantmakers) that my “project” meets the bar of being an effective use of these resources. (Tried to summarize this here as my first forum post https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4TiBZxD7NLsSTsHDn/career-investments-vs-giving-in-the-short-term)
One more benefit of reducing working time: You might be more likely to be able to return to work afterwards if you need to. By eg going from 5 days a week to 4, you are probably still involved in pretty much the same work and thus less likely to be replaced by someone else or something else that could make s return after a sabbatical problematic.
As someone who recently did this myself I can highly recommend it! I also want to add that some people might be able to, and perhaps even benefit from, taking a “middle path” where they reduce their work hours. I did this which allowed me 1 day/week over a couple of months to try to make working directly on EA causes happen. It probably comes with reduced pay but does not require enough savings to carry you through unpaid leave. Moreover, you can do this right now even if you do not have enough savings for a continuous break.
Just wanted to echo this point about reducing work hours! In cases where this option is available + financially viable, I think it can be very worth considering. I did this a few years ago when I was in a non-impact-driven job, reducing my work schedule permanently from full-time to 4.5 days per week then later 3.5. I used the other time for small volunteering and consulting opportunities in EA (though finding them involved some luck), which I think really helped me towards eventually moving into a permanent direct work role later.
+1 part-timer here. I was very frustrated back then. Having learnt a lot of interesting ideas about using one’s career for social impact I felt that I do not have sufficient time to explore these ideas to the depth I wanted to. I wanted to head towards a transition but I felt that I got stuck. So earlier this year I told my employer that I’m thinking of quitting because of this (note that I’m in a furtunate position of having experience that is currently in high demand, so I could relatively easily find a job similar to my previous if needed). But they suggested that I could do part-time instead if I wanted to and I accepted their offer.
It did not just give me time to explore the research around high-impact careers but now also allows me to spend signifficant time on applications, work trials and volunteering projects for testing my fit and upskilling.
One thing that I’m still thinking about is that I was in a fortunate position of being able to afford this financially. It just does not feel right that I decided to “spend” these resorces (my time/the salary I did not earn) on this “project” without crosschecking with experts (e.g. grantmakers) that my “project” meets the bar of being an effective use of these resources. (Tried to summarize this here as my first forum post https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4TiBZxD7NLsSTsHDn/career-investments-vs-giving-in-the-short-term)
One more benefit of reducing working time: You might be more likely to be able to return to work afterwards if you need to. By eg going from 5 days a week to 4, you are probably still involved in pretty much the same work and thus less likely to be replaced by someone else or something else that could make s return after a sabbatical problematic.