It takes courage to share such detailed stories of goals not going right! Good on you for having the courage to do so :-)
It seems that two kinds of improvements within EA might be helpful to reduce the probability of other folks having similar experiences.
Proactively, we could adjust the incentives promoted (especially by high-visibility organisations like 80K hours). Specifically, I think it would be helpful to:
Recommend that early-career folks try out university programs with internships/coops in the field they think they’d enjoy. This would help error-correct earlier rather than later.
Adjust the articles on high-visibility sites to focus less on finding the “most” impactful career path, but instead one of many impactful career paths. I especially say this because sites like 80K hours have gotten a lot more general traffic ever since they vastly increased marketing. When you’re reaching a broader target audience (especially for the first time), it’s not as essential to urgently direct someone to the exact right career path. It might be a more reasonable goal to get them thinking about a few options. Then, those who want to refine their plan can be directed to more specialised resources within EA (ex: biosecurity → reading list).
To be more specific about what I mean by making content focus on “one of many impactful paths,” here are examples of content rewrites on 80K hour’s career reviews:
Original: “The highest-impact career for you is the one that allows you to make the biggest contribution to solving one of the world’s most pressing problems.”
Rewrite: The highest-impact career for you depends on your unique skills and motivations. Out of the careers that suit you, which ones increase your contributions to solving one of the world’s most pressing problems?
Original: “Below we list some other career paths that we don’t recommend as often or as highly as those above, but which can still often be top options for people we advise.”
Rewrite: Below, we list some career paths that we recommend less frequently than those above. However, they might specifically be a good fit for your unique preferences.
Original: “The lists are based on 10 years of research and experience advising people, and represent the careers it seems to us will be most impactful over the long run if you get started on them now — though of course we can’t be sure what the future holds.”
Rewrite: None, the ending clause on uncertainty is good :-)
Thanks for the kind words Madhav, but I do disagree:
Recommend that early-career folks try out university programs with internships/coops in the field they think they’d enjoy. This would help error-correct earlier rather than later.
I imagine that’s already suggested somewhere in the career guides, anyway it’s exactly what I did—as I pivoted my goals in the final year of undergrad I became a computer science research assistant and took courses like linear algebra and intro to machine learning, then did data science bootcamp over the summer. I believed I knew from experience that these were tough but survivable experiences.
I think most people would have error corrected in the same situation; few people would be as stubborn/selfless as I was.
Adjust the articles on high-visibility sites to focus less on finding the “most” impactful career path, but instead one of many impactful career paths.
My impression of public EA career advice is that it is mostly fine. At the time, I sometimes derided it for being too meek, and consciously held myself to a stricter standard than the vibe of 80k Hours. Had I read your rewrites I would have ignored them. I believed in utilitarianism long before I read 80k Hours.
It takes courage to share such detailed stories of goals not going right! Good on you for having the courage to do so :-)
It seems that two kinds of improvements within EA might be helpful to reduce the probability of other folks having similar experiences.
Proactively, we could adjust the incentives promoted (especially by high-visibility organisations like 80K hours). Specifically, I think it would be helpful to:
Recommend that early-career folks try out university programs with internships/coops in the field they think they’d enjoy. This would help error-correct earlier rather than later.
Adjust the articles on high-visibility sites to focus less on finding the “most” impactful career path, but instead one of many impactful career paths. I especially say this because sites like 80K hours have gotten a lot more general traffic ever since they vastly increased marketing. When you’re reaching a broader target audience (especially for the first time), it’s not as essential to urgently direct someone to the exact right career path. It might be a more reasonable goal to get them thinking about a few options. Then, those who want to refine their plan can be directed to more specialised resources within EA (ex: biosecurity → reading list).
To be more specific about what I mean by making content focus on “one of many impactful paths,” here are examples of content rewrites on 80K hour’s career reviews:
Reactively, various efforts have been trying to improve mental health support within EA. I look forward to seeing continued progress in creating easily-accessible collections of resources!
Thanks for the kind words Madhav, but I do disagree:
I imagine that’s already suggested somewhere in the career guides, anyway it’s exactly what I did—as I pivoted my goals in the final year of undergrad I became a computer science research assistant and took courses like linear algebra and intro to machine learning, then did data science bootcamp over the summer. I believed I knew from experience that these were tough but survivable experiences.
I think most people would have error corrected in the same situation; few people would be as stubborn/selfless as I was.
My impression of public EA career advice is that it is mostly fine. At the time, I sometimes derided it for being too meek, and consciously held myself to a stricter standard than the vibe of 80k Hours. Had I read your rewrites I would have ignored them. I believed in utilitarianism long before I read 80k Hours.