We each typically spend 80,000 hours of our lives working. How can one use them to do as much good as possible? This presentation outlines some crucial considerations.

1. 80,000 Hours
How to do The Most Good in Your Career
Will Crouch
Faculty of Philosophy
University of Oxford
will.crouch@80000hours.org
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2. Why Think about Career Choice?
 80,000 Hours might sound like a long time.
 But it’s finite. And there are some big problems out
there.
 18 million a year die of easily preventable diseases; 1.4
billion people live on less than $1.25/day.
 50 billion land animals are killed every year.
 Mistakes we make now (like climate change) could
easily affect 10 trillion future people .
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3. Why Think about Career Choice?
 Really, 80,000 hours is no time at all.
 So we’ve got to prioritise. That means thinking
hard and thinking rationally about how best to use
those hours.
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4. Why Think about Career Choice?
 It would be nice if there was quality advice out
there on this issue.
 If you want to go out for a meal, there are thousands of
restaurant reviewers.
 If you want to give to charity, there are several charity
evaluators.
 Choosing a career is a far bigger issue than either of
these. But, there aren’t any career evaluators. Rather,
all you typically get is this slogan:
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5. Why Think about Career Choice?
Make a Difference
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6. Making the most difference
 This talk will discuss what making a difference
means.
 And it’ll discuss how you can make the most
difference in your life.
 Thinking about these issues led me to pledge to
give 50% of my income, change my research focus,
and set up 80,000 Hours. Hopefully it’ll encourage
you to take action, too.
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7. Categorising Career Paths
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8. Crucial Considerations
1. Replaceability
3. Making things happen
5. Flexibility
7. Having evidence-based ethical aims
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9. #1: Replaceability
 Making a difference requires doing something that
wouldn’t have happened anyway.
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10. #1: Replaceability
 Suppose I became a developing world doctor.
 If so, then I would save lives on a regular basis:

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11. #1: Replaceability
 BUT:
 If I don’t become that doctor, someone else would
do the same work instead of me:
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12. #1: Replaceability
 In contrast, as an influencer, professional
philanthropist, or researcher, you are often making
a difference that wouldn’t have happened anyway.
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13. Case Study: Viktor Zhdanov
 In the 20th century, smallpox
killed over 300 million people.
 That’s more than all wars, political
famines and genocides combined.
 Were it not for this man, it would
not have been eradicated when it
was.
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14. #2: Making Things Happen
Ethically,I shouldn’t care that it’s me saving lives; I
should just care that lives get saved.
Often I can pay or influence people to do more good
than I personally could have done myself.
(If
you can convince one other person to do what you
would have done, then you’ve done your life’s work!)
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15. Influencing
 By convincing others on college campuses, I could
persuade several people to become developing
world doctors:

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16. Professional Philanthropy
 By taking a lucrative career and donating the
proceeds, I could do the same.

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17. Case Study: Norman Borlaug
 Norman Borlaug, in
developing disease resistant
wheat, directly saved 250mn
people.
 Even taking into account
replaceability, his impact is
likely in the tens of millions.
Even though he wasn’t on the
front line.
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18. #3: Flexibility
 You shouldn’t be certain that the causes you think
are most important now are the ones you think will
be most important in the future
You might change your mind
You might gain new evidence
The opportunities might change
 So, other things being equal, you should pursue
careers that are flexible with respect to causes
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19. #3: Flexibility
 The earn-and-donate strategy is the clearest
example of this.
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20. #4 Going with the evidence
 Some causes are thousands of times more effective
with their resources than others.
 E.g. even within developing world health:
 $1mn spent treating Kaposi’s Sarcoma provides the
benefit of 33 years of healthy life.
 $1mn spent distributing insecticide-treated bednets
provides the benefit of 40 000 years of healthy life.
 So picking the right one is a big deal.
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21. Case Study: Bill Gates
 Donated over $30 billion.
 But first commissioned
substantial research into
intervention cost-effectiveness
 Ignoring the money he’s
influenced, he’s saved
upwards of 25 million lives.
 If he’d used that money in his
home country, he’d have saved
1/1000th that number.
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22. What does this mean for you?
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23. Potential Paths: #1 Pro Phil
 Finance
 Management Consultancy
 Actuarial Work
 Engineering
 Medicine and Surgery
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24. Potential Paths: #2 Influence
 Politics
 CivilService
 Lecturing
 Teaching
 Campaigning
 Grant-making
 Resource Allocation
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25. Potential Paths: #3 Research
 Development economics
 Cost-effectiveness research
 Certain areas within ethics
 Certain areas within agriculture and healthcare
 Certain areas within technology
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26. Potential Paths
Within these categories, I’d recommend going
back to some clichés (with some modifications):
 Keep your options open
 Go with what you could become good at
 Go with what you could become passionate about
 Go with a career where you won’t burn out or lose
your ethical ideals
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28. 80,000 Hours
Supports its members through a vibrant community
of like-minded people.
Provides careful research into the most effective
ways to make a difference.
Advises and encourages members to help you be
successful in your chosen career.
Hosts events for members to help you be a better
effective altruist.
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29. Current Members...
Tech Law and Politics Cost-Effectiveness
Entrepreneurship Research
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30. If you are convinced to
any extent by the
arguments given above,
please come and speak
with me afterwards.
will.crouch@80000hours.org
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