This is the 5th launch from 80,000 Hours Career Quiz. View more
80,000 Hours career planning course
Find impactful work with research-backed articles & prompts
Each week receive one article and some questions to answer, drawing from academic research and our experience advising 1,000+ people over ten years. In week 1 clarify what a fulfilling impactful career looks like, and by week 8 have concrete next steps.
Hey Product Hunt!
We're a nonprofit that does research and advises people to help them solve big problems with their careers.
*Motivation*:
In our experience, there are a lot of really talented people want to do good but have no idea how, or who are stuck on a few commonly talked-about options (like being a teacher or doctor) and miss other more impactful opportunities.
We created the course because we want to help these people think carefully about the *most* impactful work they can do and rigorously compare their options, as well as figure out the steps they need to take.
*Details*:
It starts by asking people what they think it really means to make a positive difference and what their most important priorities in life are.
The next 7 weeks aim to help readers
- Identify which global issues they think are most pressing
- Make a shortlist of longer-term career paths they can take to address those issues
- Clarify their strategic focus (e.g. should they focus now on building skills or opportunistically using the skills they have?)
- Make a shortlist of ideas for next career steps
- Write out nearby alternatives and backup options
- Rank key uncertainties and investigate their plans
- Decide the next actions they’ll take to get started
We tried to ground the course in published research where possible. For example we read research on:
- How to consult your gut in decision making without just blindly trusting it
- How much you should push yourself to come up with more options
- How neglected some global problems are compared to others.
The course comes with a template to fill in and a summary of the most important points for people who don't have time for the full process.
At the end, readers will have a full written career plan we think they'll be able to feel confident in.
Hey everyone! I'm Arden, one of the makers of the course. I wanted to add things we'd especially love feedback on:
- We know there's a ton that could be done to make it more usable from a design perspective, but what do you think is the smallest improvement that could make a difference/lowest hanging fruit?
- How's the new user experience? does the beginning of the course give enough context or does it move too quickly?
- What advice seems most useful in people's actual careers? What would be useful memes?
- Are there parts that can be slashed?
Thanks! Looking forward to hearing what people think.
80,000 Hours Career Quiz