Hey Kieran, I think that the main reason that philosophy is common in effective altruists is that effective altruism is, in-part, a philosophical idea, rather than as evidence that we are driven to study philosophy for its altruistic value. Rather, I think that effective altruists have left philosophy very commonly, and have entered it quite rarely. Obviously, that’s true for people in general, because there are more degrees in philosophy than jobs, but I suppose that’s just my point anyway...
Computer science and economics are both large fields with a lot of freedom, although computer science leads to better non-academic jobs.
For nonprofits in your interest areas, I’m not sure that a degree is very helpful, although software or business are generally pretty useful.
I’m not trying to make any wider point with the data science example. Rather, I’m just trying to get a map of what you do or don’t like about certain work-activities or certain jobs in order to apply those characteristics to other jobs. It’s like ‘sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!’ It’s just about getting a concrete idea of what you prefer to be doing!
And that’d be my final advice—I think it’ll be important to consider what concrete activities you actually want to do, and what aspect of ‘achieving your vision’ you can get paid for.
Hey Kieran, I think that the main reason that philosophy is common in effective altruists is that effective altruism is, in-part, a philosophical idea, rather than as evidence that we are driven to study philosophy for its altruistic value. Rather, I think that effective altruists have left philosophy very commonly, and have entered it quite rarely. Obviously, that’s true for people in general, because there are more degrees in philosophy than jobs, but I suppose that’s just my point anyway...
Computer science and economics are both large fields with a lot of freedom, although computer science leads to better non-academic jobs.
For nonprofits in your interest areas, I’m not sure that a degree is very helpful, although software or business are generally pretty useful.
I’m not trying to make any wider point with the data science example. Rather, I’m just trying to get a map of what you do or don’t like about certain work-activities or certain jobs in order to apply those characteristics to other jobs. It’s like ‘sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!’ It’s just about getting a concrete idea of what you prefer to be doing!
And that’d be my final advice—I think it’ll be important to consider what concrete activities you actually want to do, and what aspect of ‘achieving your vision’ you can get paid for.