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Soft­ware engineering

TagLast edit: 9 Aug 2023 4:11 UTC by Sarah Cheng

Software engineering comprises the entire range of activities used to design and develop software.

Software engineering as a career

80,000 Hours’ in-depth profile rates software engineering a “sometimes recommended” career.[1] The profile finds that a software engineer’s most promising path to impact involves doing direct work on AI safety or in highly impactful organizations, and that the value of this work is likely higher than via earning to give. A career in software engineering can also be a good way to gain career capital.

Further reading

Hilton, Benjamin (2022) Software engineering, 80,000 Hours, February 4.

Jones, Andy (2021) AI safety needs great engineers, AI Alignment Forum, November 23.

Related entries

artificial intelligence | data science | engineering | public interest technology | SparkWave

  1. ^

    Hilton, Benjamin (2022) Software engineering, 80,000 Hours, February 4.

Hire the CEA On­line team for soft­ware de­vel­op­ment & consulting

Will Howard14 Mar 2024 14:06 UTC
66 points
0 comments4 min readEA link

[Question] Who’s build­ing Soft­ware Prod­ucts?

defun15 Nov 2023 22:29 UTC
3 points
0 comments1 min readEA link

Re­think Pri­ori­ties’ Cross-Cause Cost-Effec­tive­ness Model: In­tro­duc­tion and Overview

Derek Shiller3 Nov 2023 12:26 UTC
209 points
69 comments13 min readEA link

NLNet, open source soft­ware fun­ders, are hiring as­ses­sors. I think their work could be im­por­tant.

mako yass8 Oct 2023 5:27 UTC
10 points
0 comments1 min readEA link
(nlnet.nl)

How Fo­rumMag­num builds com­mu­ni­ties of inquiry

Jim Fisher4 Sep 2023 20:20 UTC
5 points
0 comments1 min readEA link
(www.lesswrong.com)

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Arepo8 Aug 2023 19:11 UTC
7 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

An­nounc­ing Squig­gle Hub

Ozzie Gooen5 Aug 2023 0:55 UTC
131 points
3 comments5 min readEA link

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15 points
0 comments1 min readEA link

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Clark Urzo23 May 2023 8:03 UTC
22 points
3 comments1 min readEA link
(www.lesswrong.com)

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16 points
0 comments4 min readEA link

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23 comments3 min readEA link

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18 points
6 comments2 min readEA link

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2 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] Cause ar­eas di­rectly re­lated to com­puter sci­ence be­sides AI risks?

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2 points
0 comments1 min readEA link

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8 points
14 comments3 min readEA link

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7 comments3 min readEA link

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103 points
26 comments5 min readEA link

Google Maps nuke-mode

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11 points
6 comments1 min readEA link

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287 points
48 comments3 min readEA link

Time-stamp­ing: An ur­gent, ne­glected AI safety measure

Axel Svensson30 Jan 2023 11:21 UTC
57 points
27 comments3 min readEA link

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britomart18 Jan 2023 9:13 UTC
3 points
12 comments1 min readEA link

80,000 Hours ca­reer re­view: In­for­ma­tion se­cu­rity in high-im­pact areas

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56 points
10 comments11 min readEA link
(80000hours.org)

[Question] Con­cerns about AI safety ca­reer change

mmKALLL13 Jan 2023 20:52 UTC
45 points
15 comments4 min readEA link

ea.do­mains—Do­mains Free to a Good Home

plex12 Jan 2023 13:32 UTC
48 points
8 comments4 min readEA link

[Question] Should I work for a cli­mate tech com­pany owned by Shell?

Adelaida Creosteanu10 Jan 2023 16:16 UTC
19 points
8 comments1 min readEA link

ChatGPT can write code! ?

Miguel10 Dec 2022 5:36 UTC
6 points
15 comments1 min readEA link
(www.whitehatstoic.com)

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431 points
8 comments7 min readEA link

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NicoleJaneway9 Dec 2022 17:46 UTC
35 points
9 comments3 min readEA link

AGI with feelings

Nicolai Meberg7 Dec 2022 16:00 UTC
−13 points
0 comments1 min readEA link
(twitter.com)

Race to the Top: Bench­marks for AI Safety

isaduan4 Dec 2022 22:50 UTC
51 points
8 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] Who’s build­ing Soft­ware Prod­ucts?

defun4 Dec 2022 12:42 UTC
10 points
7 comments1 min readEA link

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Sam Watts22 Nov 2022 20:52 UTC
1 point
0 comments1 min readEA link

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dschwarz7 Nov 2022 21:19 UTC
9 points
0 comments1 min readEA link
(apply.workable.com)

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goodgravy2 Nov 2022 11:33 UTC
45 points
1 comment6 min readEA link

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Jobst Heitzig (vodle.it)31 Oct 2022 0:37 UTC
24 points
8 comments1 min readEA link

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David M22 Oct 2022 9:46 UTC
21 points
6 comments1 min readEA link

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Peter Wildeford19 Oct 2022 18:34 UTC
81 points
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Akara17 Oct 2022 22:09 UTC
33 points
19 comments3 min readEA link

Hackathon on Mon, 12/​5 to fol­low EAGxBerkeley

NicoleJaneway15 Oct 2022 0:06 UTC
38 points
52 comments1 min readEA link

Which AI Safety Org to Join?

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17 points
21 comments1 min readEA link

7 learn­ings from 3 years run­ning a cor­po­rate EA Group

Conor McGurk30 Sep 2022 16:03 UTC
64 points
5 comments8 min readEA link

Lon­don EAs in tech: Oc­to­ber meetup

Sam Watts29 Sep 2022 14:09 UTC
2 points
0 comments1 min readEA link

How Open Source Ma­chine Learn­ing Soft­ware Shapes AI

Max L28 Sep 2022 17:49 UTC
11 points
3 comments14 min readEA link
(maxlangenkamp.me)

Offer­ing FAANG-style mock interviews

dan.pandori28 Sep 2022 3:09 UTC
43 points
10 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] Ap­ply­ing data sci­ence/​ML to plant-based/​cul­tured meat

puratchi_vinnani26 Sep 2022 8:01 UTC
16 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] Soft­ware Eng­ineer: what to do with 3 days of vol­un­teer­ing?

Louis Mackenzie-Smith21 Sep 2022 15:37 UTC
1 point
5 comments1 min readEA link

Zzapp Malaria: More effec­tive than bed nets? (Wanted: CTO, COO & Fund­ing)

Yonatan Cale9 Sep 2022 7:38 UTC
117 points
20 comments5 min readEA link

AGI Safety Fun­da­men­tals pro­gramme is con­tract­ing a low-code engineer

Jamie B26 Aug 2022 15:43 UTC
39 points
4 comments5 min readEA link

A new view for 80k’s job board (plus some fea­tures)

Yonatan Cale24 Aug 2022 8:12 UTC
47 points
9 comments1 min readEA link

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deanspears22 Aug 2022 2:04 UTC
29 points
2 comments3 min readEA link

What is es­ti­ma­tional pro­gram­ming? Squig­gle in context

quinn12 Aug 2022 18:01 UTC
22 points
0 comments7 min readEA link

[Cause Ex­plo­ra­tion Prizes] Soft­ware Sys­tems for Col­lec­tive Intelligence

Open Philanthropy11 Aug 2022 11:22 UTC
16 points
13 comments7 min readEA link

I’m Offer­ing Free Eng­ineer­ing and Con­sul­ta­tion for EA Aligned Projects

Soof Golan10 Aug 2022 15:10 UTC
48 points
5 comments2 min readEA link

How much could a SWE at top com­pa­nies donate through­out their 20-year ca­reer?

SmallCat8 Aug 2022 14:09 UTC
9 points
0 comments2 min readEA link

An­nounc­ing the SPT Model Web App for AI Governance

Paolo Bova4 Aug 2022 10:45 UTC
42 points
0 comments3 min readEA link

An­nounc­ing Squig­gle: Early Access

Ozzie Gooen3 Aug 2022 0:23 UTC
147 points
11 comments7 min readEA link

arxiv.org—I might work there soon

Yonatan Cale18 Jul 2022 16:58 UTC
24 points
45 comments1 min readEA link

In­tro­duc­ing the Fund for Align­ment Re­search (We’re Hiring!)

AdamGleave6 Jul 2022 2:00 UTC
74 points
3 comments4 min readEA link

Soft­ware Devel­op­ers: How to have Im­pact? A Soft­ware Ca­reer Guide

Yonatan Cale19 Jun 2022 9:58 UTC
60 points
13 comments11 min readEA link

[Question] An­i­mal welfare orgs: what are your soft­ware and data anal­y­sis needs?

BrownHairedEevee4 Jun 2022 22:27 UTC
37 points
11 comments1 min readEA link

There are cur­rently more than 100 open EA-al­igned tech jobs

Sebastian Becker30 Apr 2022 16:25 UTC
100 points
21 comments3 min readEA link

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Yanjo14 Apr 2022 7:09 UTC
38 points
0 comments2 min readEA link

How To Be­come A Pro­fes­sional Soft­ware Developer

Yonatan Cale25 Mar 2022 13:28 UTC
40 points
16 comments9 min readEA link

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Yonatan Cale16 Mar 2022 13:19 UTC
103 points
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Vic­tim Co­or­di­na­tion Website

Bob Jacobs6 Mar 2022 17:21 UTC
11 points
5 comments5 min readEA link

Me­ta­verse democrati­sa­tion as a po­ten­tial EA cause area

Paul_Lang22 Feb 2022 0:42 UTC
26 points
13 comments3 min readEA link

Com­mon tech­ni­cal needs of EA organisations

Markus Amalthea Magnuson17 Feb 2022 23:33 UTC
24 points
3 comments5 min readEA link

Hiring EA Developers

Yonatan Cale15 Feb 2022 12:13 UTC
50 points
13 comments3 min readEA link

Soft­ware en­g­ineer­ing—Ca­reer review

Benjamin Hilton8 Feb 2022 6:11 UTC
92 points
19 comments8 min readEA link
(80000hours.org)

Altru­is­tic Agency – free tech ex­per­tise for effec­tive altruists

Markus Amalthea Magnuson12 Jan 2022 15:21 UTC
47 points
1 comment1 min readEA link

Pedant, a type checker for Cost Effec­tive­ness Analysis

SamNolan2 Jan 2022 6:47 UTC
99 points
19 comments11 min readEA link

Have your com­mu­nity no­tified of new EA Jobs

SamNolan21 Dec 2021 5:54 UTC
29 points
1 comment1 min readEA link

Effec­tive Devel­op­ers: The CV Blind Spot

Yonatan Cale4 Dec 2021 12:30 UTC
50 points
2 comments2 min readEA link

I’m Offer­ing Free Coach­ing for Early/​Mid-Ca­reer Soft­ware Engineers

jeffreyyun29 Nov 2021 4:52 UTC
41 points
5 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] Should I go straight into EA com­mu­nity-build­ing af­ter grad­u­a­tion or do soft­ware en­g­ineer­ing first?

SentientBunny1126 Nov 2021 4:49 UTC
24 points
15 comments2 min readEA link

Effec­tive Devel­op­ers: 1 Month Update

Yonatan Cale25 Nov 2021 14:52 UTC
43 points
16 comments5 min readEA link

AI Safety Needs Great Engineers

Andy Jones23 Nov 2021 21:03 UTC
98 points
13 comments4 min readEA link

Even More Am­bi­tious Altru­is­tic Tech Efforts

ShayBenMoshe20 Nov 2021 14:59 UTC
51 points
5 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] What Are Your Soft­ware Needs?

Yonatan Cale20 Nov 2021 13:29 UTC
31 points
46 comments1 min readEA link

Op­por­tu­nity Costs of Tech­ni­cal Ta­lent: In­tu­ition and (Sim­ple) Implications

Ozzie Gooen19 Nov 2021 15:04 UTC
46 points
7 comments4 min readEA link

Am­bi­tious Altru­is­tic Soft­ware Eng­ineer­ing Efforts: Op­por­tu­ni­ties and Benefits

Ozzie Gooen17 Nov 2021 18:12 UTC
109 points
31 comments9 min readEA link

Sim­ple com­par­i­son pol­ling to cre­ate util­ity functions

NunoSempere15 Nov 2021 19:48 UTC
46 points
13 comments6 min readEA link

BERI is hiring an ML Soft­ware Engineer

sawyer10 Nov 2021 19:36 UTC
17 points
2 comments1 min readEA link

EA Slack Groups—Men­tal Health, SW Eng, En­trepreneurs (and more!)

Alex Barnes 10 Nov 2021 3:35 UTC
6 points
8 comments1 min readEA link

Give Me Ca­reer Advice

Yonatan Cale9 Nov 2021 21:52 UTC
30 points
14 comments3 min readEA link

I’m Offer­ing Free Coach­ing for Soft­ware Devel­op­ers in the EA community

Yonatan Cale25 Oct 2021 4:33 UTC
115 points
42 comments4 min readEA link

Early ca­reer peo­ple should con­sider join­ing fast-grow­ing star­tups in emerg­ing technologies

billzito10 Oct 2021 17:23 UTC
87 points
11 comments2 min readEA link

[Question] How im­pact­ful is free and open source soft­ware de­vel­op­ment?

Erich_Grunewald9 Oct 2021 10:15 UTC
18 points
7 comments4 min readEA link

The LessWrong Team is now Light­cone In­fras­truc­ture, come work with us!

Habryka1 Oct 2021 4:36 UTC
65 points
2 comments1 min readEA link
(www.lesswrong.com)

Effec­tiveAltru­is­mData.com: A Web­site for Ag­gre­gat­ing and Vi­su­al­is­ing EA Data

Hmash11 Sep 2021 22:05 UTC
195 points
13 comments4 min readEA link

Philos­o­phy Web—Pro­ject Pro­posal

Ben Evans24 Aug 2021 15:37 UTC
9 points
2 comments3 min readEA link

A Pro­to­type Ap­pli­ca­tion for al­lo­cat­ing peo­ple to Effec­tive Projects

SamNolan22 Aug 2021 7:51 UTC
19 points
5 comments1 min readEA link

Writ­ing about my job: Soft­ware Eng­ineer at Wave

David Shepherd13 Aug 2021 17:20 UTC
38 points
3 comments6 min readEA link

Hack4Im­pact Cor­nell is offer­ing cus­tom soft­ware de­vel­op­ment for non-profits

Anusha Choudhury1 Aug 2021 19:05 UTC
13 points
3 comments1 min readEA link

Our plan to share “PR FAQs” for new Fo­rum features

Ben_West29 Jul 2021 4:10 UTC
48 points
2 comments3 min readEA link

Part 1: EA tech work is in­effi­ciently al­lo­cated & bad for tech­ni­cal ca­reer cap­i­tal

Arepo25 Jul 2021 13:03 UTC
59 points
13 comments14 min readEA link

A Twit­ter Bot that reg­u­larly tweets cur­rent top posts from the EA Forum

nikos25 Jul 2021 9:15 UTC
18 points
7 comments1 min readEA link

Type Check­ing GiveWell’s GiveDirectly Cost Effec­tive Analysis

SamNolan23 Jun 2021 6:35 UTC
108 points
2 comments6 min readEA link

My cur­rent im­pres­sions on ca­reer choice for longtermists

Holden Karnofsky4 Jun 2021 17:07 UTC
425 points
37 comments26 min readEA link

AMA: JP Ad­di­son and Sam Deere on soft­ware en­g­ineer­ing at CEA

JP Addison12 Mar 2021 22:54 UTC
53 points
56 comments1 min readEA link

Rank­ing an­i­mal foods based on suffer­ing and GHG emissions

VilleSokk20 Jan 2021 20:21 UTC
114 points
35 comments2 min readEA link

Mak­ing a Crow­dac­tion website

Bob Jacobs19 Aug 2020 15:18 UTC
14 points
2 comments5 min readEA link

[Question] What are some soft­ware de­vel­op­ment needs in EA causes?

BrownHairedEevee6 Mar 2020 5:25 UTC
10 points
5 comments1 min readEA link

Con­ver­sa­tion on fore­cast­ing with Vaniver and Ozzie Gooen

jacobjacob30 Jul 2019 11:16 UTC
38 points
4 comments32 min readEA link

Si­mul­ta­neous Shortage and Oversupply

Jeff Kaufman26 Jan 2019 19:35 UTC
41 points
10 comments2 min readEA link

Is the com­mu­nity short of soft­ware en­g­ineers af­ter all?

Benjamin_Todd23 Sep 2016 11:53 UTC
13 points
36 comments1 min readEA link