Career Conversations Week: July 21-27

I'm so excited for this event!! This past year has felt unusually unstable with AI feeling scarier to me and all the (bad) changes to the global health funding landscape. I want to know what other people are thinking career-wise. 

For a long time now, I have also really wanted more community-building for mid-late career professionals. I'm going to be posting a series on mid-late career transitions, with four profiles from some absolutely wonderful people who kindly chatted with me!!! 

I cam across EA just over a year ago when I was feeling dead in my job because I was not making an impact(the difference I wanted to see) just meeting deliverables. 

-I went back to school to study for masters in behavior research methods in 2023, 

- interviewed at open philanthropy for grants associate role but didn't get the job but still felt like a win to be screened, 

-applied to high impact professionals founding to give to start career guidance org, didn't get in.

-quit my job and started giving career guidance based on 80,000hrs principles tailored to high schools and universities. Couldn't reach  many students out of my pocket so I collaborated with ministry of education and other charities to run capacity building sessions for teachers. 

-completely ran out of money and my dad start panicking about my wellbeing. Had to play it cool. 

-applied to a government office (that is similar to DOGE, but not in the bad ways) as a technical program manager, didn't get the job (because the opening was closed) but the person I would be reporting to really wanted to work with so he helped me get  work as an intern at charity organization  that is doing  high impact supporting the government and the president in improving children's health through school.

-starting the new job at healthy learners i have paused my work giving career guidance, its a new experience because its not the remote work I have worked for 5 years. I am building new skills and working with a team that sees my potential and values my opinions. there are some politics and etiquettes that I am wrapping my head around.

-my old company where i quit also asked me to come back as an independent contractor to work on hourly basis which is helping manage my living expenses, which i wouldn't be able to do on my intern salary. Its still the same culture that made me leave but happy i am not as attached. 

-I have been thinking which is better, earning to give at a company you don't enjoy working at or working a high impact job where you don't earn enough to meet your living costs. 

-also haven't finished writing my reseaRch paper yet. I got good feedback and have to resubmit but trying to stay afloat has made me procrastinate on this. 

-All in all I am enjoying the growing pains  😅

Yay! The organizer in me hopes someone will write about:

• "What does it mean for a job to be an 'EA job', and how is that distinct from an impactful job or my ideal job?"
• "What seems missing or neglected in the professional EA ecosystem?" (e.g., talent, comms, funding, mid-level management, coordination mechanisms... pretty general question)

And the comms fiend in me hopes someone will write about:

• "How EA ideas or the community influenced my professional trajectory"

Hi all, I just posted about the current job/hiring situation within EA, before seeing this! So, it's a little ahead of time, but I'm still interested in your thoughts. 

This discussion comes at a really good time for me! I'm actually working on a project in this area.

For the past month(ish) I've been researching and building a post (or series of posts) about the AI Safety Pipeline - i.e. how we direct talent most effectively into and between organisations. My main goal is to get more people talking about this in public - a goal that many people I've talked to seem to share!

In particular:
1. How can we improve pipelines and encourage demand for non-technical support roles (e.g. People Management and Operations) in AI Safety?
2. How can we improve resources for the 'other 95%' who struggle to get roles within AI orgs but still want to make an impact?

I'm still deciding which of these areas to prioritize for the final post. I've had more conversations about #1, but I'm personally more excited by the potential impact of #2. I'd be very grateful to hear which of these you think is more pressing.

I'm writing to see if anyone else is thinking along these lines. If you'd like to have a conversation about the pipeline, or are even working on the same thing and would like to collaborate, please reach out to me! I have a low bar, and have spoken to people at all levels within the ecosystem.

I'm looking to publish towards mid-august. 

 

One area where I’d love to see more discussion is how fruitful working in AI governance is under the trump administration. Is there still a need for young liberals? Most writing doesn’t seem to square with the idea that the fed isnt interested in policy outcomes.

Me encanta esta propuesta. Precisamente de hace un tiempo para acá estoy en busca de mi primer trabajo, soy estudiante de Comunicaciones del 6to semestre de la carrera y ya me gustaría ir adquiriendo experiencia. Pero en todos los trabajos relacionados a mi carrera, a parte de pedir haber terminado la carrera, los sueldos son un chiste en comparación con las funciones que te piden cubrir. En fin, de ese tema escribiré y espero pueda llegar alguien a sentirse identificado. Gracias por la oportunidad!

Respond to this comment if you’d be interested in coming to a (virtual) co-writing session next week!

I am also keen to hear more about community-building for mid-late career professionals and the mid-late career transitions series. 

Thank you for this .

I am looking forward to this day!