Test Your Career Fit: How Cheap Experiments Can Guide Big Decisions
- Nina Friedrich 🔸
- Sep 15
- 5 min read
Imagine being dropped into a new city with no map. You see lots of different neighbourhoods and buildings, but you don’t yet know where you want to live. You can think really hard about it - make lists, weigh options, stare into the distance - but until you actually explore, you’ll never know which area is the right one for you.
Career decisions can feel the same. Moving into a new role or sector is a big commitment, and the uncertainty can be overwhelming. The good news? You don’t have to decide in the dark. You can run cheap tests to explore, learn, and reduce uncertainty quickly.
Why test at all?
One reason is that uncertainty is high. Unlike donations, where every dollar is worth the same, regardless of who donates it, careers differ enormously depending on your skills, experiences, and networks. What’s the best fit for someone else may not be the best fit for you.
Another reason is that thinking will only take you so far. Some knowledge only comes through doing. What do you enjoy? Where do you excel? Where does your network allow you to amplify your impact? You may already have some data from past jobs, but if you only stick to familiar areas, you risk missing whole parts of the “city”.
Finally, time matters. The faster you reduce uncertainty, the faster you can move beyond exploration and start having more impact.
Think like a scientist
Too often, career decisions look like this: you think very hard, you pick an option, and then you hope for the best. That’s the “armchair philosopher” approach.
Scientists take a different route. They start with a hypothesis - say, “I would enjoy operations work at a high-impact non-profit” - and then run a small test to see what happens. After reflecting on what they’ve learned, they adjust and design the next test. Over time, these small steps add up to a much clearer picture of where to go next.
What makes a good test?
A good test is:
Decision-relevant. Would knowing the answer actually change what you do? (The “button test” might help: if someone could give you the answer at the push of a button, would you act differently?)
Informative. Does this test actually give you evidence for your hypothesis?
Fast. Think in hours or days, not years.
There’s no need to search for the perfect test. Many small experiments will give you more insight than holding out for a single, flawless one.
What can you test?
There are several levels you might want to test. At the broadest level, you can test the type of career path: should you be earning to give, joining a high-impact organisation, or considering entrepreneurship? Each of these comes with different networks, expectations, and challenges - a bit like different districts in a city.
You can also test role types. Research feels very different from operations or engineering. If careers are like buildings, research might be a library, engineering a workshop, and operations a control room.
Cause areas are another dimension. If you are a specialist, choosing between global health, animal welfare, or AI safety may shape your career significantly. Generalists might not need to decide as early, but still benefit from testing across areas.
And of course, you can test at the level of specific organisations. Culture, values, people, and location all matter in ways that are often hard to predict from the outside.
How can you test?
When it comes to testing your career fit, you can think of two dimensions that shape how you learn:
The first is whether you work by yourself or with others. Some tests are quiet and self-paced, like reading or listening to podcasts, while others involve conversations, collaboration, and feedback from people in your network. Both are valuable: solo work lets you move quickly and reflect deeply, while working with others often brings new perspectives and strengthens your connections.
The second dimension is whether you focus on information gathering or projects. Information gathering is lighter touch - it’s about exploring, asking questions, and observing. Projects, by contrast, simulate the real thing more closely: they’re hands-on, practical, and give you a taste of what the work would actually feel like.
Together, these two axes create four categories of testing:
Independent research (by yourself, information gathering)
Social intel (with others, information gathering)
Solo projects (by yourself, project-based)
Collaborative work (with others, project-based)
This framework helps you design tests that suit your time, energy, and level of uncertainty. Early on, information gathering may be most useful because it’s fast. As you narrow down, projects - especially with others - can give you deeper insights and valuable experience.
Adopting the right mindset
When running tests, it’s important to remember that it’s about learning, not winning. Don’t just do the thing you already know you’ll probably do well; instead, design tests that maximise learning.
And you’ll never reach full certainty - nor do you need to. At some point, you’ll need to commit to a direction even while some questions remain open. That’s normal, and it’s part of building a meaningful career.
While personal fit is a crucial factor in career choice, it isn’t the only one. Other considerations matter just as much. You’ll want to think about your impact potential — how much difference you could make in a given role - and the counterfactuals - what would happen if you didn’t take this path, or if someone else filled it instead. There’s also feasibility: do you have (or can you build) the skills and resources needed to succeed? And don’t forget practical constraints such as location, visa requirements, financial needs, or family circumstances. Balancing these alongside personal fit gives you a more complete picture and helps you choose a path that is both impactful and sustainable.
What’s your next step?
A practical way to get started is to write down five open questions you have about your career. Choose one or two of the most important ones. Then design a cheap test you can do this month to help answer them.
👉 What’s the one cheap test you could run next?
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