80,000 Hours

Principles

According to 80,000 Hours, some careers aimed at doing good are far more effective than others. They evaluate problems people can focus on solving in terms of their "scale", "neglectedness", and "solvability", while career paths are rated on their potential for immediate social impact, on how well they set someone up to have an impact later on, and on personal fit with the reader.

80,000 Hours emphasises that the positive impact of choosing a certain occupation should be measured by the amount of additional good that is created as a result of that choice, not by the amount of good done directly. This approach takes into account the concept of replaceability, acknowledging that if one does not take a particular job, someone else likely will, which could alter the net impact of the career choice. The organization also questioned some popular career advice, such as "follow your passion". They argued that most people's passions tend to be in areas like sports and arts, which offer limited career opportunities, recommending instead to focus on developing skills in meaningful work, as passion typically develops as a result of mastery and purpose rather than being a prerequisite.

80,000 Hours assesses both direct interventions, such as scientific research and policy advocacy, and indirect approaches like earning to give (earning a high salary in a conventional career and donating a large portion of it).

Focus areas

80,000 Hours' primary focus is on advising talented graduates between the ages of 20 and 40.

It advocates longtermism, the view that improving the long-term future is a moral priority, due to the large number of people who will or could exist in the future. Accordingly, the organisation spends significant resources considering interventions perceived to have persisting effects over time, such as improving AI safety or governance, preventing nuclear warfare or pandemics, or enhancing decision-making.

Funding

The largest funder of 80,000 Hours has been Coefficient Giving, backed by husband-and-wife Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna, with cumulative donations of over $20m up to 2025. Other significant individual donors include Ben Delo, Luke Ding, Sam Bankman-Fried, Alex Gordon-Brown, Denise Melchin and Jaan Tallinn. Organisational funders have included the Frederick Mulder Foundation and the Effective Altruism Meta Fund. It received $50,000 from Y Combinator in 2015.

References

References

1. "Our Mission and History". 80,000 Hours.
2. Thompson, Derek. (2022-09-09). "Your Career Is Just One-Eighth of Your Life".
3. "Impact investing: the big business of small donors". Euromoney.
4. Bowerman, Niel. (20 March 2025). "80,000 Hours is shifting its strategic approach to focus more on AGI".
5. (June 2025). "What are the most pressing world problems?".
6. Todd, Benjamin. (2016). "80,000 Hours: Find a fulfilling career that does good". Centre for Effective Altruism.
7. "The 80,000 Hours Podcast".
8. "80,000 Hours".
9. "Explore our research by topic".
10. "Research". 80,000 Hours.
11. Sebastian Farquhar. "The replaceability effect: working in unethical industries part 1".
12. Ha, Anthony. (2015-08-04). "Want To Make An Impact With Your Work? Try Some Advice From 80,000 Hours".
13. Todd, Benjamin. (September 2014). "To find work you love, don't follow your passion".
14. Matthews, Dylan. (2015-07-29). "You have 80,000 hours in your career. Here's how to do the most good with them.".
15. Todd, Benjamin. (November 2019). "Advice on how to read our advice: Our advice is aimed at a particular audience".
16. Todd, Benjamin. (October 2017). "If you want to do good, here's why future generations should be your focus".
17. MacAskill, William. (2022-08-05). "Opinion {{!}} The Case for Longtermism". [[The New York Times]].
18. "The highest-impact career paths our research has identified so far".
19. "What are the most pressing world problems?".
20. "Our donors". 80,000 Hours.
21. (4 August 2015). "Want To Make An Impact With Your Work? Try Some Advice From 80,000 Hours". [[TechCrunch]].