Search for:

Career guide
AGI careers
Podcast
Job board
Resources
See all →
Top areas to work on
Power-seeking AI systems
AI-enabled power grabs
Engineered pandemics
Great power conflict
Factory farming
Wild animal suffering
Global health
Climate change
Emerging challenges
Moral status of digital minds
Gradual disempowerment
'S-risks'
Space governance
Catastrophic AI misuse
More problem profiles →
See all →
AI-focused career paths
AI governance and policy
AI safety technical research
Information security in high-impact areas
Expert in AI hardware
China-related AI safety and governance
Other top paths
Journalism
Biorisk research, strategy, and policy
Be a founder
Earn to give
Help build the effective altruism community
Research into global priorities
Nuclear weapons safety and security
Operations in high-impact organisations
More career reviews →
Key topics
Your career is your most important decision
A definition of impact
On problem selection
Why prioritise existential risks
Effective solutions
Making a big contribution
Differences in productivity
Comparative advantage
Being ambitious
Coordination
Exploration
Harmful jobs
Fundamentals of career planning
See the full series →
Get 1-1 advice
Get 1-1 advice

New releases
All articles
Community
Give feedback
About

Home Authors William MacAskill

Search for:

New releases
All articles
Community
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

Career guide
AGI careers
List of world problems
List of top skills
List of careers
Foundations
Future generations
Artificial intelligence
Anonymous advice
College advice
New releases
All our research
Translations of our content

Follow us

Podcast
80k After Hours
Our videos
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.