This was a really interesting read. I had some thoughts reading this bit: "surrounding oneself with people who are trying to do good in some way or another could help avoid value drift."
Specifically it strikes me that there may be a trade-off between preventing value-drift and spreading EA. Hanging out in groups without EA people, and having friends in those groups, is a great way to spread EA values (much in the same way I see families where one person becomes vegetarian / vegan quickly end up with more vegetarians / vegans). So I think it's important to be careful about insulating EAs too much lest EA ideas spread less quickly. That said, spending time with others trying to good in some way (not necessarily EA) is probably optimal for balancing these two concerns.
Overview:
I'm currently an early career, high income earner (tech company, non-engineering role) with a lot of interest in EA / long-termism and policy in general (my first job was in financial stability policy at a central bank). Currently my involvement in EA has been just through earning to give / evangelism to others within the companies I've worked for.
I'm trying to figure out next steps in my career, and in particular looking for ways to try out career avenues that do good more directly (through volunteering or - if I were to make a bigger leap - something like the RSP at FHI).
Relevant background info: Masters (with Distinction) in Economics from Oxford. General skillset: data analysis, policy, statistics, finance. Canadian citizenship, currently working in the US. Generally a people person / good at working in teams. Pretty frugal (saved ~70% of after-tax income before charitable giving despite HCL city rent) and interested in financial independence.
Other factors: General desire to move closer to family in the next 5 years (Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria area). Likely having kids in the next couple of years.
Possible career options:
As I mentioned above I’m interested both in ideas for what career I could pursue, but also ways to figure out whether / what EA route might make sense (though volunteering, projects, etc).
Paths I think I may be best suited to: EA community building, research about why people give / how to increase what people give, operations in an EA organization.
Ideas welcome!
A few things I'd think about re: MBAs from my own observations (friends who've done them etc):
My take on this is an MBA is a ~200k direct investment. Plus you are potentially missing out on opportunities in your current job to progress (ie will you miss out on a promotion opportunity?). I'd say you'd probably want to expect ~350k extra earnings out of the MBA to justify opportunity cost + time cost of money. From your post it sounds like this MBA will help you in role though - so that might be an overestimate.
Additionally if you haven't read about Financial Independance (FIRE) that might be a good thing for you to look into as it would: 1) help you meet your goal of providing financially for your family sooner 2) potentially increase your ability to give for a fixed amount of income.
Great to see the team expanding and all the work you've been able to do over the last year.