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Which jobs help people the most? | The 80,000 Hours career guide (2023 edition)

80,000 Hours
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  • Individuals with skills suitable for high-earning roles but not direct non-profit work may achieve significant impact by earning to give, potentially donating 10 to 50 percent of their salary, which could collectively amount to tens of millions of dollars in donations to effective charities in the coming years.
  • Direct impact strategies include communication and advocacy, which are highlighted as crucial for spreading ideas and influencing public opinion, often where the top 10% of elite contributors generate around 50% of total contributions; research is also emphasized as high-impact, with top researchers being roughly 100 times more prolific than the median and fundamental research expected to be more neglected than applied research.
  • Government positions offer substantial scale, with senior officials overseeing budgets of tens to hundreds of millions of dollars where minor efficiency gains can be worth millions, while policy changes can improve justice systems for millions and address coordination problems unmanageable by individuals.
  • Organization building involves developing operational skills such as management, fundraising, and finance, with the potential for impact to persist after an individual leaves, though experts in information security are identified as critically needed for AI and biological catastrophe prevention.
  • Earning to give is presented as a strategy suitable for approximately 10% of the population, serving as a baseline that can save hundreds of lives even at normal graduate salaries, though it is often viewed as secondary to paths like direct work, research, or policy for most individuals.
  • High-impact careers involve significant risks, including the corruption of power when earning vast sums, ethical trade-offs where harmful actions might be taken for greater good, and the potential for severe setbacks if high-stakes, neglected problems are mishandled by top contributors.
  • Career development requires building "career capital" through skills, connections, credentials, and character, with the expectation that finding a fit often takes years, while early career stages allow for exploring widely without being limited by current academic backgrounds.
  • The outlook suggests that while earning to give offers flexibility in changing donation targets or saving for later, it carries the risk that power may corrupt, mitigated by public pledges, formal governance structures, and advisors.
  • Future career trajectories may involve transitions between fields, as seen with a high-profile shift from a high-paying tech role to research on wastewater monitoring for pandemic detection, illustrating that initial choices are not permanent and that new ideas in research can be spread cheaply to change fields.
  • Personal satisfaction is integral to impact, with the view that doing good involves less sacrifice than initially perceived and that a satisfying job is necessary to avoid burnout and maintain productivity over the long term.