For many people, having an EA job is pretty important.
It’s pretty competitive and many people who want EA jobs will not in fact get them.
There’s been some discussion related to this on the EA Forum, focusing in particular on jobseekers. I’m also interested in exploring this dynamic with people who are working in EA jobs.
I expect EA job scarcity not only have an impact on EA jobseekers, but also people who are working in EA jobs.
Given 1 and 2, it seems like for people working in EA jobs it will be pretty important for them to keep their jobs. If the job market is competitive it may not be obvious that they can get another one. (For people who have got one EA job, it will presumably be easier to get another, but maybe not guaranteed).
For someone who’s in a position of scarcity about their EA job, I can imagine this meaning they focus primarily on performing well/ being seen to perform well.
This becomes a problem if what counts as performing well and what is actually good to do comes into conflict. Eg. this might involve things like:
Agreeing with the organisational strategy or one’s manager more than one endorses
Focusing on ensuring that they have achieved certain outputs independent of whether that output seems good
In general I expect that under conditions of scarcity people will be less able to do valuable work (and I mean valuable here as ‘actually good’ as opposed to ’work that is perceived to be valuable).
(If I’m right about this, then one potential answer to ‘what is it for EA to thrive’, is: EAs aren’t in a position of scarcity).
Things I’d be interested to ask people who are working at EA jobs to understand whether this is in fact a thing:
How concerned are you about your perceived performance?
If your employer/ manager/ funder/ relevant people said something like: ‘We have full confidence in you, your job is guaranteed and we want you to focus on whatever you think is best’ - would that change what you focus on? How much?
If your employer/ manager/ funder/ relevant people said something like: ‘We have full confidence in you, your job is guaranteed and we want you to focus on whatever you think is best’ - would that change what you focus on? How much?
My personal impression is that significant increases in unrestricted funding (even if it were a 1-1 replacement for restricted funding) would dramatically change orgs and individual prioritisations in many cases.
To the extent that one thinks that researchers are better placed to identify high value research questions (which, to be clear, one may not in many cases), this seems bad.
EA Jobs, Scarcity and Performance
It seems like:
For many people, having an EA job is pretty important.
It’s pretty competitive and many people who want EA jobs will not in fact get them.
There’s been some discussion related to this on the EA Forum, focusing in particular on jobseekers. I’m also interested in exploring this dynamic with people who are working in EA jobs.
I expect EA job scarcity not only have an impact on EA jobseekers, but also people who are working in EA jobs.
Given 1 and 2, it seems like for people working in EA jobs it will be pretty important for them to keep their jobs. If the job market is competitive it may not be obvious that they can get another one. (For people who have got one EA job, it will presumably be easier to get another, but maybe not guaranteed).
For someone who’s in a position of scarcity about their EA job, I can imagine this meaning they focus primarily on performing well/ being seen to perform well.
This becomes a problem if what counts as performing well and what is actually good to do comes into conflict. Eg. this might involve things like:
Agreeing with the organisational strategy or one’s manager more than one endorses
Focusing on ensuring that they have achieved certain outputs independent of whether that output seems good
In general I expect that under conditions of scarcity people will be less able to do valuable work (and I mean valuable here as ‘actually good’ as opposed to ’work that is perceived to be valuable).
(If I’m right about this, then one potential answer to ‘what is it for EA to thrive’, is: EAs aren’t in a position of scarcity).
Things I’d be interested to ask people who are working at EA jobs to understand whether this is in fact a thing:
How concerned are you about your perceived performance?
If your employer/ manager/ funder/ relevant people said something like: ‘We have full confidence in you, your job is guaranteed and we want you to focus on whatever you think is best’ - would that change what you focus on? How much?
My personal impression is that significant increases in unrestricted funding (even if it were a 1-1 replacement for restricted funding) would dramatically change orgs and individual prioritisations in many cases.
To the extent that one thinks that researchers are better placed to identify high value research questions (which, to be clear, one may not in many cases), this seems bad.