I think just being dedicated enough to EA to want to spend a year working on it full time is a reasonably strong signal that you would have something to contribute
I think being dedicated enough to EA to want to spend a year working on it full time =/= being dedicated enough to EA to actually work on it full-time with minimal management. I agree the latter is a pretty strong signal, especially if you’re able to identify important things to work on. Holden’s post on career choice for longtermists say that this is an important milestone for researchers:
You’re successfully devoting time to this and creating content. (I expect this to be the hardest milestone to hit for many—it can be hard to simply sustain motivation and productivity given how self-directed this work often needs to be.)
I think being dedicated enough to EA to want to spend a year working on it full time =/= being dedicated enough to EA to actually work on it full-time with minimal management. I agree the latter is a pretty strong signal, especially if you’re able to identify important things to work on. Holden’s post on career choice for longtermists say that this is an important milestone for researchers: