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This is a Show HN because the article we link to is just one part of a much larger career guide (we checked with the mod). http://80000hours.org/career-guide/ h
by BenjaminTodd 10y ago
This is a Show HN because the article we link to is just one part of a much larger career guide (we checked with the mod). http://80000hours.org/career-guide/ http://80000hours.org/career-guide/
There’s 8 articles, each with a video, and a planning tool at the end. You can get it delivered over 9 weeks by email. It’s the main thing we’ve worked on building since Feb, and grew out of an in-person workshop that was changing lots of careers.
The guide aims to help people switch into careers that have a greater social impact. It covers what we’ve learned in five years of research at Oxford, including:
1. Why you can sometimes do more good by taking a higher earning career, like software engineering, and donating to effective charities.
3. How any reader of HN could save hundreds of lives in their career.
3. How to work out which global problem is most pressing.
4. What psychology says about how to find a satisfying job and make good career decisions.
See the full guide: http://80000hours.org/career-guide/ http://80000hours.org/career-guide/
- BenjaminTodd 10y agoUsage stats: * In the last month the guide has 140,000 pageviews. * From the cover sheet, the bounce rate is 50%. Of people who start reading the intro article, about 20% make it to the end. * Of people who land on the cover sheet, about 5% join the newsletter to receive the whole guide by email. * Ultimately the aim is to change career plans. About 1% of newsletter subs and tool users report plan changes. Our biggest challenge right now is increasing this conversion rate. We’re keen for questions and feedback.
- eterm 10y agoYour stated aim is to change career plans. Why is that?
- eric-hu 10y agoI'm not in any way associated with the site or the group who made it, but this makes sense to me. I'll offer my take. I read a book recently called "So Good They Can't Ignore You." One of the author's points is that a popular idea in the last couple of decades is that one can find their passion, then all will be well in the world. I bought into this passion principle and spent nearly a decade trying out, among other things, RF engineering, tutoring, cooking, and volunteering in a restaurant and in a drug rehab clinic. This was all after I graduated with good grades and a major in CS. I don't regret my path, but I also don't think I did much social good in that time. The volunteer work at the rehab clinic was social good, but it was low skill, so I now question it's effectiveness in the world. Another point in that book is that people develop a lasting love for fields they get good at. I'm finding that again in software, over time as I become a better developer. I believe people don't stumble across a happily ever-after career, which is what "find your passion" implies. As an aside, I'm glad to see this project, as it's a step in a well intentioned and more intelligent direction than "find your passion."
- BenjaminTodd 10y agoWe think the primary way we have impact is shifting people from options with lower social impact to higher social impact. Tracking "number of plan changes" is a reasonable proxy for that. We also evaluate what the plan changes were in more depth - doing a quick review every week and an in-depth review once a year where we interview a sample.
- robertwiblin 10y agoI'm another creator of the guide, look forward to fielding your questions and improving it with your feedback! :)
- tomp 10y agoDisable the popup.
- fiatjaf 10y agoThis is not a Show HN, it is an article!
- robertwiblin 10y agoHey fiatjaf, because it's part of a larger product that includes several interactive elements, the mods thought it should be a Show HN. :)
- fiatjaf 10y agoOk. I just wanted the mods to see it, you should have included a comment: "the mods have seen this".
- mbesto 10y agoThanks for sharing. I'm curious... > Find a fulfilling career that does good. 1. What do you define as "good"? > free guide will put you on the path to a good career, 2. What do you define as a "good career"? > can have a hugely positive impact on the world 3. What do you consider as a "hugely positive impact on the world?
- robertwiblin 10y ago1. What do you define as "good"? We explain that here: https://80000hours.org/career-guide/how-much-difference-can-one-person-make/#what-do-we-mean-by-social-impact https://80000hours.org/career-guide/how-much-difference-can-... 2. What do you define as a "good career"? We explain that here: https://80000hours.org/career-guide/job-satisfaction/ https://80000hours.org/career-guide/job-satisfaction/ 3. What do you consider as a "hugely positive impact on the world? Helping a lot of people in a really significant way!