80,000 Hours (YC S15) Helps Top Graduates Choose Careers That Matter

by Alexis Ohanian8/4/2015

Nowadays, many of the best-performing college graduates don’t simply want to go into the most highly-paid jobs — they want to do things that will make a positive difference in the world. 80,000 Hours is a company in our current class that wants to help top graduates find the kinds of jobs where they can do the most good.

TechCrunch’s Anthony Ha explained how 80,000 Hours works in a story published today:

“People in the tech world like to talk about doing great things. But what does that actually mean for your career? If you’re serious
about making a positive impact on the world, should you go work for a
startup? A nonprofit? Or none of the above?

80,000 Hours is an organization aiming to help with those decisions. It’s a nonprofit in the current class of startups incubated by Y Combinator, but it was founded back in 2011 by Ben Todd (the organization’s executive director) and Will MacAskill (its president).

MacAskill is an associate professor of philosophy at Oxford
University, and he said that when they met, Todd was a student wrestling
with many of these questions. They ended up forming a discussion group
and giving lectures on the topic, then eventually creating 80,000 Hours to spread their ideas. (The name refers to the number of hours in your career.)”

You can read much more in-depth about 80,000 Hours and how it works in TechCrunch here.

Author

  • Alexis Ohanian