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80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

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Re: 80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

#2
Before I got to the bottom of the document I wondered if this was a bigger thing I'd not heard of before, and indeed: creators of it: https://80000hours.org/career-guide/career-planning/.

I quite like the idea of an "ABZ" plan. It's often far too easy to think things will just carry on as is. Thinking about these things, for me the "Z" in particular, is something I don't think people do enough until it's too late. Thanks for providing a template doc like this as a low friction way to actually start doing it.

Re: 80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

#3
I can't help but feel career plans, even inherently flexible ones such as the 80000 hour plan, discourage serendipity and encourage sunk-cost thinking.

I'm not saying this is a bad idea, just that for the specific HackerNews demographic it may be a bit of an anti-pattern.

Re: 80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

#4
post #3

I can't help but feel career plans, even inherently flexible ones such as the 80000 hour plan, discourage serendipity and encourage sunk-cost thinking. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, just that for the specific HackerNews demographic it may be a bit of an anti-pattern.

Yeh, I'd also like to know whether the HN demographic really has a hard time at finding work?

Re: 80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

#5
post #3

I can't help but feel career plans, even inherently flexible ones such as the 80000 hour plan, discourage serendipity and encourage sunk-cost thinking. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, just that for the specific HackerNews demographic it may be a bit of an anti-pattern.

Related question, what's the opposite of sunk cost / escalation of commitment?

In this context, your comment made me think about the counter point, i.e. "I'll be able to make that decision later". Is there a name for procrastination bias?

Re: 80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

#7
When I was 25 years old I made the plan to move to SF, find a technical cofounder and start a fast growth company.

5 years later I achieved that goal.

My plan was nowhere near the detail of this but there were steps along the way. Things changed a lot, and not everything was done in the order I originally planned.

With that said, having a clear vision of where I wanted to be and loosely how I was going to get there meant that I could turn down opportunities that may have led me astray, or which didn't further my career/life goals.

YMMV.

Re: 80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

#8
post #4
post #3

I can't help but feel career plans, even inherently flexible ones such as the 80000 hour plan, discourage serendipity and encourage sunk-cost thinking. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, just that for the specific HackerNews demographic it may be a bit of an anti-pattern.

Yeh, I'd also like to know whether the HN demographic really has a hard time at finding work?

Some of them do.

Re: 80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

#9
post #7

When I was 25 years old I made the plan to move to SF, find a technical cofounder and start a fast growth company. 5 years later I achieved that goal. My plan was nowhere near the detail of this but there were steps along the way. Things changed a lot, and not everything was done in the order I originally planned. With that said, having a clear vision of where I wanted to be and loosely how I was going to get there m…

Care to share some details about how your business is doing today? Are you profitable?

Re: 80,000 Hours career plan worksheet

#10
post #4
post #3

I can't help but feel career plans, even inherently flexible ones such as the 80000 hour plan, discourage serendipity and encourage sunk-cost thinking. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, just that for the specific HackerNews demographic it may be a bit of an anti-pattern.

Yeh, I'd also like to know whether the HN demographic really has a hard time at finding work?

Finding work easily doesn't mean that you'll just be automatically swept into the career you want. Some thoughtful planning is important even if it just helps you know what to say no to.
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