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Usage 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 articl

Usage 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 ago
Your stated aim is to change career plans. Why is that?
- eric-hu 10y ago
  I'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 ago
  We 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.

eterm 10y ago

Your stated aim is to change career plans. Why is that?

eric-hu 10y ago
I'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 ago
We 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.