Re point 1, as you say the career capital career guide article now has the disclaimer about how our views have changed at the top. We’re working on a site redesign that will make the career guide significantly less prominent, which will help address the fact that it was written in 2016 and is showing its age. We also have an entirely new summary article on career capital in the works—unfortunately this has taken a lot longer to complete than we would like, contributing to the current unfortunate situation.
Re point 2, the “clarifying talent gaps” post and “why focus on talent gaps” article do offer different views as they were published three years apart. We’ve now added a disclaimer linking to the new one.
The “Which jobs help people the most?” career guide piece, taken as a whole, isn’t more positive about earning to give than the other three options it highlights (research, policy and direct work).
I think your characterisation of the process we suggest in the ‘highest impact careers’ article could give readers the wrong impression. Here’s a broader quote:
When it comes to specific options, right now we often recommend the following five key categories, which should produce at least one good option for almost all graduates:
Research in relevant areas
Government and policy relevant to top problem areas
Work at effective non-profits
Apply an unusual strength to a needed niche
Otherwise, earn to give
You say that that article ‘largely contradicts’ the ‘clarifying talent gaps’ post. I agree there’s a shift in emphasis, as the purpose of the second is to make it clearer, among other things, how many people will find it hard to get into a priority path quickly. But ‘largely contradicts’ is an exaggeration in my opinion.
Re point 3, the replaceability blog post from 2012 you link to as contradicting our current position opens with “This post is out-of-date and no longer reflects our views. Read more.”
Our views will continue to evolve as we learn more, just as they have over the last seven years, though more gradually over time. People should take this into account when following our advice and make shifts more gradually and cautiously than if our recommendations were already perfect and fixed forever.
Updating the site is something we’ve been working on, but going back to review old pages trades off directly with writing up our current views and producing content about our priority paths, something that readers also want us to do.
One can make a case for entirely taking down old posts that no longer reflect our views, but for now I’d prefer to continue adding disclaimers at the top linking to our updated views on a question.
If you find other old pages that no longer reflect our views and lack such disclaimers, it would be great if you could email those pages to me directly so that I can add them.
Re point 2, the “clarifying talent gaps” post and the “why focus on talent gaps” article do offer different views. They were published three years apart. The older post opens with a disclaimer linking to the new one.
Just to be clear, I added the disclaimer to that page today after lexande wrote their initial comment. I don’t think Rob realised that the disclaimer was new.
Hi lexande —
Re point 1, as you say the career capital career guide article now has the disclaimer about how our views have changed at the top. We’re working on a site redesign that will make the career guide significantly less prominent, which will help address the fact that it was written in 2016 and is showing its age. We also have an entirely new summary article on career capital in the works—unfortunately this has taken a lot longer to complete than we would like, contributing to the current unfortunate situation.
Re point 2, the “clarifying talent gaps” post and “why focus on talent gaps” article do offer different views as they were published three years apart. We’ve now added a disclaimer linking to the new one.
The “Which jobs help people the most?” career guide piece, taken as a whole, isn’t more positive about earning to give than the other three options it highlights (research, policy and direct work).
I think your characterisation of the process we suggest in the ‘highest impact careers’ article could give readers the wrong impression. Here’s a broader quote:
You say that that article ‘largely contradicts’ the ‘clarifying talent gaps’ post. I agree there’s a shift in emphasis, as the purpose of the second is to make it clearer, among other things, how many people will find it hard to get into a priority path quickly. But ‘largely contradicts’ is an exaggeration in my opinion.
Re point 3, the replaceability blog post from 2012 you link to as contradicting our current position opens with “This post is out-of-date and no longer reflects our views. Read more.”
Our views will continue to evolve as we learn more, just as they have over the last seven years, though more gradually over time. People should take this into account when following our advice and make shifts more gradually and cautiously than if our recommendations were already perfect and fixed forever.
Updating the site is something we’ve been working on, but going back to review old pages trades off directly with writing up our current views and producing content about our priority paths, something that readers also want us to do.
One can make a case for entirely taking down old posts that no longer reflect our views, but for now I’d prefer to continue adding disclaimers at the top linking to our updated views on a question.
If you find other old pages that no longer reflect our views and lack such disclaimers, it would be great if you could email those pages to me directly so that I can add them.
Rob says:
Just to be clear, I added the disclaimer to that page today after lexande wrote their initial comment. I don’t think Rob realised that the disclaimer was new.
[Rob’s now edited his post to make that clear.]