TLDR: How to tell when it's time to leave the private sector for non-profits?
Background: I'm starting a software job at a big firm, and I'm pretty motivated to reduce x-risk. This job should give me the opportunity to learn/improve generally useful skills such as coding, management, and recruiting.
Based on 80K's articles, I think it's generally reasonable to start in the private sector and later move to non-profits. But, I'm worried that I'm just doing the convenient thing and sticking on my path.
Under what timelines does it make sense for me to leave my job now, in 2 years, in 5 years? I do worry about becoming joining the "cadre of depressed rationalists" in Berkeley; it's not obvious that I can just outwork / outcompete these other people, so what should I do?
FYI Critch in particular is pretty time constrained. I'm not sure who the best person to reach out to currently who has the knowledge and also time to do a good job helping. (I'll ask around, meanwhile the "apply to MIRI" suggestion is what I got)