We've recently produced a few significant pieces that we expect to be of interest to people who are quite involved in the effective altruism community:
- Career review of Working at effective altruist organisations
- Guide to working in AI policy and strategy
- The 80,000 Hours podcast. First episode: 'The world desperately needs AI strategists. Here’s how to become one.'
Other content that should interest folks here includes:
- June update to our Job Board
- Explanation of why being involved in the EA community is valuable
- Most people report believing it’s incredibly cheap to save lives in the developing world
- An exciting opportunity to learn more about China and get a Masters in Global Affairs
And for those who want to earn to give:
I would love to see some '40,000 hours' materials for mid-career people pivoting into EA work.
Our skills, needs, constraints, and opportunities are quite different from 20-somethings. For example, if one has financial commitments (child support, mortgage, debts, alimony), it's not realistic to go back to grad school or an unpaid internship to re-train. We also have geographical constraints -- partners, kids in school, dependent parents, established friendships, community commitments. And in mid-life, our 'crystallized intelligence' (stock of knowledge) is much higher than a 20-something's, but our 'fluid intelligence' (ability to solve abstract new problems quickly) is somewhat lower -- so it's easier to learn things that relate to our existing expertise, but harder to learn coding, data science, or finance from scratch.
On the upside, a '40k project' would allow EA to bring in a huge amount of talent -- people with credentials, domain knowledge, social experience, leadership skills, professional networks, prestige, and name recognition. Plus, incomes that would allow substantially larger donations than 20-something can manage.
Hi Geoffrey, we agree this would be very valuable. Our materials are already heading in that direction, but I think it will be at least a year or two before we do a major research push to produce that guide due to other competing priorities.
To keep it short: your articles on community-building (especially the social dynamics that come into play) have been highly valuable for me.
Are there any upcoming career profiles to be excited about?