In the broader economy there are a lot of people who successfully do a job they’re not super passionate for many decades, simply because they don’t have much choice. Even inside EA there are a lot of roles that look just like an ordinary job at an ordinary corporation, except the employer is an EA org. If ordinary people, often viewing their jobs as a necessary evil to pay the bills rather than a vocation, manage to make entire careers doing those jobs, it’s a bit surprising if EAs can’t manage to do the same thing. Perhaps EAs have such good alternative options that this looks less attractive on a relative basis?
I generally agree, but can see a few reasons this might be somewhat different in the EA population:
People in the ordinary economy who “successfully do a job they’re not super passionate” about may not do that job very well. If your job is about advertising consumer goods or something, you are less likely to feel distressed by being a mediocre performer than if your job involves an EA cause area.
Most people have enough occupational flexibility to avoid jobs that are particularly ill-suited for them (e.g., that are too unstructured, too social, too mathematical, etc.). Indeed, many can choose (at some point) between several career fields with roughly equal pay and may be able to pick a field they are relatively well-suited for even if they lack any passion for that line of work. To the extent people feel they ought work in one of a very few number of fields or roles, the risk that they’ve talked themselves into something they are ill-suited for increases.
In the broader economy there are a lot of people who successfully do a job they’re not super passionate for many decades, simply because they don’t have much choice. Even inside EA there are a lot of roles that look just like an ordinary job at an ordinary corporation, except the employer is an EA org. If ordinary people, often viewing their jobs as a necessary evil to pay the bills rather than a vocation, manage to make entire careers doing those jobs, it’s a bit surprising if EAs can’t manage to do the same thing. Perhaps EAs have such good alternative options that this looks less attractive on a relative basis?
I generally agree, but can see a few reasons this might be somewhat different in the EA population:
People in the ordinary economy who “successfully do a job they’re not super passionate” about may not do that job very well. If your job is about advertising consumer goods or something, you are less likely to feel distressed by being a mediocre performer than if your job involves an EA cause area.
Most people have enough occupational flexibility to avoid jobs that are particularly ill-suited for them (e.g., that are too unstructured, too social, too mathematical, etc.). Indeed, many can choose (at some point) between several career fields with roughly equal pay and may be able to pick a field they are relatively well-suited for even if they lack any passion for that line of work. To the extent people feel they ought work in one of a very few number of fields or roles, the risk that they’ve talked themselves into something they are ill-suited for increases.