Serendipity in careers

Plans do not always work but planning is helpful

We are often asked about our 5-year career plans in interviews and grad school/ college applications, but the reality is that many careers result from the serendipitous interplay of deliberate action and experimentation.

Dr. Eleanor Drage had her eyes set on becoming a lawyer before dropping out even before the classes started. She admits to feeling lost early on in her career. She started her career working in some incubators, worked at a leading fintech company, and started her e-commerce venture.

Today, she is a researcher at the University of Cambridge where she spends most of her time conducting research on AI ethics with the broader goal of making the internet kind and inclusive. Feminism and racial inclusion are core components of her research.

Here are the main takeaways to guide your reflection:

1. On Career Fluidity: "My career so far has been a series of happy accidents... I left law school before I even started... and when I got back I remember thinking I have no idea what I wanted to do at all"

2. Value of Diverse Experiences: "I found myself doing a PhD in science fiction and philosophy because I thought it would be fun and interesting... just pursued my interests as and when they came along" - She highlights the importance of following one's interests, even when they do not follow a conventional trajectory.

3. Entrepreneurial Spirit in Academia: "Entrepreneurship has a lot in common with Academia... there's no one telling you exactly how you should do this" - Eleanor draws parallels between the autonomy and self-direction required in both entrepreneurship and academic research.

4. Interdisciplinary Approach: "We're doing a lot at Cambridge in our center with AI and art working with artists to help improve AI literacy using art" - She emphasizes the significance of interdisciplinary collaborations to make complex subjects like AI more accessible and engaging.

5. On Writing for a Broader Audience: "I'm reading through the edits that are suggested by my agents... something that my mom can read" - Eleanor discusses her efforts to make her work accessible to non-specialists, underlining the importance of broadening the discourse around AI.

6. Tech and Ethics Education: "I think it will soon become the other way around... computer scientists themselves will be pushing companies to give them some ethics training" - She predicts a shift towards tech professionals seeking ethical education to better navigate the societal implications of their work.

7. Feminism and Tech: "We Define feminism as feminism's plural... we obviously are trans-inclusive" - Eleanor articulates an inclusive approach to feminism within the context of technology, emphasizing the importance of accommodating diverse perspectives.

8. Critical Race Theory and AI: "Race is often the product of racism... race is something that is socially produced through AI systems as well" - She discusses the complexities of race in the context of AI, challenging simplistic categorizations.

9. Debiasing AI: "Is inclusion the way forward or should we just be saying no, should we be opting out?" - Eleanor questions the effectiveness of simply expanding data sets as a solution to AI bias, suggesting a more critical examination of the underlying issues.

10. AI's Role in Society: "AI should be a collection of stories from below, from the people who do the data annotation work... it's the people that are making it" - She advocates for a more inclusive narrative around AI that recognizes the contributions and impacts on a wide range of individuals involved in its development and use.

What if we learned to embrace the serendipity mindset?