John's Neat Stuff

I recently read 80,000 Hours and had a bit of a career crisis. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy my job and the puzzles I get to solve, but after 80,000 hours (more like 60,000 hours at this point) will I feel that I’ve contributed to something bigger than myself?

And so, in 2025 I’m setting out to ‘get it together’ and start actively managing my career. In the long-term, my hope is to be part of a team that influences AI policy. To get there, my focus this year will be on learning as much as I can in the field and building up my career capital by taking on more leadership and management roles. Worst case scenario: I’ll have learned a bunch and tried some new things, even if I don’t get to work in policy – that doesn’t seem too bad!

Some (slightly) more concrete steps:
– Research & apply AI/ML concepts at work
– Take on leadership roles where I can, especially in my capacity as a volunteer (NWONA, OUUC)
– Use my relationship with the United Way as an opportunity to practice AI/ML techniques
– Find a community of data professionals… even if that means a monthly hike up to Seattle
– Catalogue it all on this site

We’ll see how it goes!