How to find a fulfilling career that does good
You have 80,000 hours in your career. It's your biggest opportunity to have a positive impact on the world.
How can you best spend those hours?
Problem area
Focus on the most pressing social problems — those that are big in scale, neglected and solvable — rather than those that are popular or you just happen to stumble into. Examples of pressing problems are: alleviating global poverty, improving animal welfare, and reducing existential risk.
Career path
Think broadly about all the ways you might contribute to solving those problems to identify those where you can make the biggest contribution. Consider earning to give, research, communication, community-building, charity entrepreneurship, and government and policy careers.
Personal fit
Focus on paths that have the best personal fit, and that best meet your other personal criteria. To find your best fit, think like a scientist: make some best guesses at the most promising paths and jobs, identify key uncertainties, and do cheap tests to resolve them. Keep updating your plan every 1–3 years.
Resources and opportunities
Career guidance resources
Job boards and talent directories
Training and Fellowship Programmes
Community & networking
Podcasts, video's & boeken
Nicoll Peracha
I've seen the horrors of war and famine, which humanity aims to prevent. In contrast, factory farming is growing, subsidised by governments, and nonprofits receive far less funding. I realised animal suffering is even more neglected than human suffering.
Céline Kamsteeg
I think it is a valuable flow-through effect of starting a charity that more people can get the opportunity to work on something impactful.
Jesse Hoogland
AI Safety Researcher
"The huge network I've gotten in contact with through EA has been amazing. I've made this pivot much, much faster than I think I could have accomplished in other comparable fields."