Markus Bencsits: The underestimated importance of passion in EA career advice

Summary: In the following, I will a) argue that EA-related literature underestimates the importance of passion and interest in determining one’s career path and b) why that should change.

Throughout the Arete Fellowship, and in particular in week eight, we touched upon the topic of what career path to pursue to maximize our impact. I found many of the inputs we received to be very valuable and helpful to look at my different career opportunities from a more impact-focussed angle. However, I think that EA career advice does not grant adequate priority to passion and personal interest. To be sure, this is not to say that EA sources completely neglect the role passion and interest can and should play in determining one’s career path, but that they underestimate it.

For example, the authors of the article “This is your most important decision” (80,000 hours, 2022) recommend to consider the person-job fit as only one of four factors in order to have an impact (along with the urgency of the problem, the effectiveness of the solution, and the amount of leverage one can apply to these solutions). But the term “person job-fit” in itself is a multifaceted term, suggesting that interest/passion are only two aspects among several ones (like intelligence, aptitude) to consider when determining whether a job is “fitting” or not. While I agree that there are several factors that determine the person-job fit, I do believe that interest and passion are the two dominant ones. After all, no matter how intelligent or skilled someone is, if they are not interested in the work they do, they will hardly consider their job a good fit. By contrast, interest and passion can go a long way in helping a person acquire the skills necessary to succeed in a job.

To my mind, a person’s interest/passion should be more strongly considered when giving EA career advice since both are ultimately helpful to reach EA’s overarching goal, i.e., to do good better and more effectively: Interest and passion lead to intrinsic motivation, which, in turn, has often been found to lead to better work performance and higher work engagement (Ryan & Deci, 2017). And more engaged and motivated workers are, I would argue, also more likely to make an impact.

I therefore believe that if someone does have a) the privilege to freely choose their career path, b) happens to be passionate about a subject that allows them to earn a living and c) aspires to a career based on EA-related values, they should consider their interests and passions more strongly than currently suggested by EA career advice.

Sources

80,000 Hours. (n.d.). This is your most important decision. https://80000hours.org/make-a-difference-with-your-career/

Ryan, R., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory : basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. The Guilford Press.