Quick anecdote: I found this dynamic surprising in all the paths you mentioned: academia, research, EA research, and non-profit work. But I realized it very quickly for academia (one month) and painfully slowly for non-profits (several years).
In academia, the markers of success are transparent, the divide between “good” and “bad” jobs is sharp, and even very successful professors complain about the system.
On the other extreme, the non-profit sector is much fuzzier about credentials and career progression. So I might see an employee who graduated from a school like mine and think I could be that person, but not realize that they took on increasing amounts of responsibilities over various low-paid volunteer roles or not realize how much insider information they absorbed from their parents.
This caused me to underestimate how many skills I needed to build. Then I underestimated how long it would take to “make it”, which meant setting goals too high for myself and almost giving up too early.
Quick anecdote: I found this dynamic surprising in all the paths you mentioned: academia, research, EA research, and non-profit work. But I realized it very quickly for academia (one month) and painfully slowly for non-profits (several years).
In academia, the markers of success are transparent, the divide between “good” and “bad” jobs is sharp, and even very successful professors complain about the system.
On the other extreme, the non-profit sector is much fuzzier about credentials and career progression. So I might see an employee who graduated from a school like mine and think I could be that person, but not realize that they took on increasing amounts of responsibilities over various low-paid volunteer roles or not realize how much insider information they absorbed from their parents.
This caused me to underestimate how many skills I needed to build. Then I underestimated how long it would take to “make it”, which meant setting goals too high for myself and almost giving up too early.
Another random anecdote: I was reading the Wikipedia page of an ultramarathon runner, and apparently her father is a famous mathematician