Search for:

Career guide
Research
- Problem profiles Find out about the world's biggest and most neglected problems.
  See all →
  Top areas to work on
  Preventing an AI-related catastrophe
  Catastrophic pandemics
  Nuclear weapons
  Great power war
  Factory farming
  Global priorities research
  Building effective altruism
  Improving decision making
  Emerging challenges
  The moral status of digital minds
  AI-enabled power grabs
  S-risks
  Space governance
  Risks of stable totalitarianism
  Gradual disempowerment
  Civilisation resilience
  Wild animal suffering
  Other pressing problems
  Global health
  Climate change
  See all problem profiles →
- Skills The most useful skills for making a difference.
  See all →
  Top skills to build early in your career
  Policy and politics
  Organisation-building
  Research
  Communicating ideas
  Software and tech
  Engineering
  Experience with an emerging power
  Expertise relevant to a top problem
  See all our skills pages →
- Career reviews Learn about high-impact career paths.
  See all →
  Our list of top high-impact career paths
  AI governance and policy
  AI safety technical research
  Biorisk research, strategy, and policy
  Information security in high-impact areas
  Expert in AI hardware
  China-related AI safety and governance
  Grantmaker
  Helping build the effective altruism community
  Nuclear weapons safety and security
  Operations in high-impact organisations
  Research into global priorities
  Other promising paths
  Be a founder
  Software engineering
  Journalism
  See more →
  How to build great career capital
  See our top recommendations →
  See all career reviews →
- Advanced series Our most important research findings.
  Read the full series →
  Introduction
  Your most important decision
  Foundations
  A definition of impact
  Longtermism
  Harmful jobs
  Global priorities
  Problem selection
  Existential risks
  Top problems list
  Contribution
  How to think about your contribution
  Effective solutions
  List of high-impact careers
  Personal fit
  Gut instinct
  Differences in productivity
  Comparative advantage
  Strategy
  Ambition
  Coordination
  Exploration
  Impact and satisfaction
  Accidental harm
  Read the full series →
- Browse all our content Pick a topic to explore or check out our most popular pieces.
  Career planning and decision making
  How to make your career plan
  All our other planning resources
  Selected topics
  Moral philosophy
  Career capital
  Job satisfaction
  Anonymous advice
  Unconventional advice
  Advocacy
  Existential risk
  Top-recommended careers
  See all topics →
  Top articles from outside our guides
  Best charities to donate to
  Misconceptions about effective altruism
  High-impact research questions
  What are your chances of getting elected to Congress, if you try?
  How many lives does a doctor save?
  What's the impact of voting?
  Advice for undergraduates
  All articles →
See all →
Top areas to work on
Preventing an AI-related catastrophe
Catastrophic pandemics
Nuclear weapons
Great power war
Factory farming
Global priorities research
Building effective altruism
Improving decision making
Emerging challenges
The moral status of digital minds
AI-enabled power grabs
S-risks
Space governance
Risks of stable totalitarianism
Gradual disempowerment
Civilisation resilience
Wild animal suffering
Other pressing problems
Global health
Climate change
See all problem profiles →
See all →
Top skills to build early in your career
Policy and politics
Organisation-building
Research
Communicating ideas
Software and tech
Engineering
Experience with an emerging power
Expertise relevant to a top problem
See all our skills pages →
See all →
Our list of top high-impact career paths
AI governance and policy
AI safety technical research
Biorisk research, strategy, and policy
Information security in high-impact areas
Expert in AI hardware
China-related AI safety and governance
Grantmaker
Helping build the effective altruism community
Nuclear weapons safety and security
Operations in high-impact organisations
Research into global priorities
Other promising paths
Be a founder
Software engineering
Journalism
See more →
How to build great career capital
See our top recommendations →
See all career reviews →
Read the full series →
Introduction
Your most important decision
Foundations
A definition of impact
Longtermism
Harmful jobs
Global priorities
Problem selection
Existential risks
Top problems list
Contribution
How to think about your contribution
Effective solutions
List of high-impact careers
Personal fit
Gut instinct
Differences in productivity
Comparative advantage
Strategy
Ambition
Coordination
Exploration
Impact and satisfaction
Accidental harm
Read the full series →
Career planning and decision making
How to make your career plan
All our other planning resources
Selected topics
Moral philosophy
Career capital
Job satisfaction
Anonymous advice
Unconventional advice
Advocacy
Existential risk
Top-recommended careers
See all topics →
Top articles from outside our guides
Best charities to donate to
Misconceptions about effective altruism
High-impact research questions
What are your chances of getting elected to Congress, if you try?
How many lives does a doctor save?
What's the impact of voting?
Advice for undergraduates
All articles →
Job board
Podcasts
- The 80,000 Hours Podcast
- 80k After Hours
- The 80,000 Hours Career Guide
- Effective Altruism: An Introduction
- Effective Altruism: Ten Global Problems
- On Artificial Intelligence
Get 1-1 advice
Get 1-1 advice
Newsletter

New releases
All articles
Give feedback
About

Home Authors William MacAskill

Search for:

New releases
All articles
Give feedback
About

Author archive: William MacAskill

Filter by content type:
All18
Blog posts16
Career reviews1
Key articles1

2023

March

Is it ever OK to take a harmful job in order to do more good? An in-depth analysis (Updated)
Article

2022

May

Effective altruism and the current funding situation
Blog post

2019

August

Philosophy academia
Career review

2017

June

Is it ever OK to take a harmful job in order to do more good? An in-depth analysis (First published)
Article

2015

November

One of the most exciting new effective altruist organisations: An interview with David Goldberg of the Founders Pledge
Blog post

September

What do journalists say about journalism as a high-impact career?
Blog post
What do leaders of effective nonprofits say about working in nonprofits?
Blog post

July

Defining ‘Earning to Give’
Blog post
Why you usually shouldn’t work at nonprofits straight after graduation
Blog post
80,000 Hours thinks that only a small proportion of people should earn to give long term
Blog post

June

I want to make a difference. Should I become a philosopher?
Blog post

2014

July

How to influence policy? An interview with Owen Barder of the Center for Global Development
Blog post

2013

June

80,000 Hours Mentioned in TED
Blog post

May

The best career advice you never heard in a graduation speech
Blog post

2012

October

The most important unsolved problems in ethics
Blog post

September

How to be a high impact philosopher, part II
Blog post

June

Following in Schindler’s footsteps
Blog post

May

How to be a high impact philosopher
Blog post

January

Practical ethics given moral uncertainty
Blog post

Filter by content type:
All18
Blog posts16
Career reviews1
Key articles1

Join our newsletter

Get weekly updates on our research, plus jobs and other opportunities to get involved.

Get 1-1 advice

Want to tackle a pressing global problem with your career?

Speak to an advisor

Our research

Start here
Career guide
List of world problems
List of top skills
List of careers
Advanced series
Future generations
Artificial intelligence
Anonymous advice
College advice
New releases
All our research
Translations of our content

Follow us

Podcast
80k After Hours
Newsletter
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn group
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube

Take action

Find a job
Get 1-1 advice
Make a career plan

About us

Why 80,000 Hours?
Meet the team
Our impact and credibility
Our mistakes
Our donors
Contact us
Support us

80,000 Hours Limited is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (with registered company number 15746854).

Please contact us to suggest ideas, improvements, or corrections.

We do our best to provide useful information, but how you use the information is up to you. We don’t take responsibility for any loss that results from the use of information on the site. Please consult our full legal disclaimer, website privacy notice, and terms of use. See also our cookie notice and adjust your .

© 2025 – all rights reserved. Please contact us if you wish to redistribute, translate, or adapt this work.