{"id":83644,"date":"2023-09-18T12:21:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T12:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/?post_type=skill_set&#038;p=83644"},"modified":"2025-10-13T15:31:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T15:31:28","slug":"specialist-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"skill_set","link":"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/skills\/specialist-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"Specialist knowledge relevant to a top&nbsp;problem"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"toc_white no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Table of Contents<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#what-specialist-knowledge-is-valuable\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">1<\/span> What specialist knowledge is valuable?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#how-should-you-get-started-building-specialist-knowledge\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">2<\/span> How should you get started building specialist knowledge?<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#all-our-career-reviews-relevant-to-building-specialist-knowledge\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">2.1<\/span> All our career reviews relevant to building specialist knowledge<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<h2><span id=\"what-specialist-knowledge-is-valuable\" class=\"toc-anchor\"><\/span>What specialist knowledge is valuable?<\/h2>\n<p>Many highly specific areas of knowledge seem applicable to solving the world&#8217;s most pressing problems, especially risks posed by <a href=\"\/problem-profiles\/preventing-catastrophic-pandemics\/\">biotechnology<\/a> and <a href=\"\/problem-profiles\/artificial-intelligence\/\">artificial intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In particular we&#8217;d highlight:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Subfields of biology relevant to pandemic prevention.<\/strong> Working on many of the possible technical solutions to reduce the risk of pandemics will require expertise in parts of biology. We&#8217;d particularly highlight synthetic biology, mathematical biology, virology, immunology, pharmacology, and vaccinology. This expertise can also be helpful for pursuing a biorisk-focused policy career. (Read more about <a href=\"\/career-reviews\/biorisk-research\/\">careers to prevent catastrophic pandemics<\/a>.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>AI hardware.<\/strong> Specialised hardware is a crucial input to the development of frontier AI systems. As a result, we expect expertise in AI hardware to become increasingly important to the governance of AI systems. (Read more about <a href=\"\/career-reviews\/become-an-expert-in-ai-hardware\/\">becoming an expert in AI hardware<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Economics.<\/strong> Understanding economics can be valuable in a huge range of impactful roles when combined with another skill set. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/economics-phd\/\">economics research<\/a> is crucial for conducting <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/problem-profiles\/global-priorities-research\/\">global priorities research<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/problem-profiles\/improving-institutional-decision-making\/\">improving decision making in large institutions<\/a>. And a knowledge of economics can also support you in building <a href=\"\/skills\/political-bureaucratic\/\">policy and political skills<\/a>, particularly for policy design and governance research.<\/li>\n<li>Other areas we sometimes recommend include <a href=\"\/career-reviews\/historian-of-societal-trends\/\">history<\/a>, <a href=\"\/career-reviews\/china-specialist\/\">knowledge of China<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/should-you-go-to-law-school\/\">law<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, whatever <a href=\"\/skills\">skill set<\/a> you focus on, you&#8217;ll likely need to build some specialist knowledge \u2014 for example, if you focus on <a href=\"\/skills\/political-bureaucratic\/\">policy and political<\/a> skills, you&#8217;ll need to gain specialist knowledge in the area of policy you&#8217;re working in. Similarly, if you build <a href=\"\/skills\/software-tech\/\">software and tech skills<\/a>, you could consider gaining specialist knowledge in <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/machine-learning-phd\/\">machine learning<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/information-security\/\">information security<\/a>. The idea of the above list is just to highlight areas we think seem particularly valuable that you might not otherwise consider learning about.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"how-should-you-get-started-building-specialist-knowledge\" class=\"toc-anchor\"><\/span>How should you get started building specialist knowledge?<\/h2>\n<p>Each area is very different, so it&#8217;s hard to give any specific advice that applies to all of them.<\/p>\n<p>Besides the articles on specific areas linked above, we&#8217;d suggest checking out:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/career-guide\/career-capital\/#grad-school\">Whether to go to grad school<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-guide\/personal-fit\/\">How to find a career that fits you best<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-guide\/how-to-be-successful\/\">How to be more successful in any job<\/a>, especially the sections on <a href=\"\/career-guide\/how-to-be-successful\/#10-learn-how-to-learn\">learning how to learn<\/a> and <a href=\"\/career-guide\/how-to-be-successful\/#14-take-these-steps-to-master-a-field-and-make-creative-contributions\">how to master a field and make creative contributions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span id=\"all-our-career-reviews-relevant-to-building-specialist-knowledge\" class=\"toc-anchor\"><\/span>All our career reviews relevant to building specialist knowledge<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/biorisk-research\/\">Biorisk research, strategy, and policy<\/a> <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/become-an-expert-in-ai-hardware\/\">Expert in AI hardware<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/explore-a-potentially-pressing-global-issue\/\">Investigate a potentially pressing but unexplored global issue<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/alignment-data-expert\/\">Data collection for AI alignment<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/engineering\/\">Engineering<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/economics-phd\/\">Economics PhDs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/should-you-go-to-law-school\/\">Law school in the US<\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tw--mt-6 tw--p-3 tw--pt-2 tw--bg-gray-lighter tw--rounded-md \">\n<h3 class=\"no-toc\">\t\t<a class=\"no-visited-styling tw--text-off-black hover:tw--text-off-black hover:tw--no-underline focus:tw--text-off-black\" href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/skills\/\">\t\t\t<small>Read next:&nbsp;<\/small>\t\t\tExplore other useful skills\t\t<\/a>\t<\/h3>\n<div class=\"tw--grid xs:tw--grid-flow-col tw--gap-3\">\n<div class=\"xs:tw--order-last tw--pt-1\">\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/skills\/\">\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Tajines_in_a_pottery_shop_in_Morocco-720x448.jpg\" alt=\"Decorative post preview\" width=\"720\" height=\"448\">\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div class=\"tw--pb-3\">\n<p>Want to learn more about the most useful skills for solving global problems, according to our research? See our list.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/skills\/\" class=\"btn btn-primary\">Continue &rarr;<\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"well visible-if-not-newsletter-subscriber margin-bottom margin-top padding-top-small padding-bottom-small\">\n<h3 class=\"no-toc\">Plus, join our newsletter and we&#8217;ll mail you a free book<\/h3>\n<p>Join our newsletter and we&#8217;ll send you a free copy of <em>The Precipice<\/em> \u2014 a book by philosopher Toby Ord about how to tackle the greatest threats facing humanity. <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/free-book\/#giveaway-terms\">T&#038;Cs here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<form data-80k-object-id=\"\" data-80k-form-action=\"newsletter__subscribe\" action=\"\/\" method=\"post\" class=\"form-newsletter-signup form-newsletter-signup-step-1 margin-bottom-smaller\">\n<div class=\"mc-field-group input-group compact-input-group \"> <input type=\"email\" value=\"\" name=\"email\" required class=\"form-control email\" placeholder=\"Email address\" id=\"input_email\" pattern=\"[a-zA-Z0-9._+\\-]+@(?!(gmial\\.com|gnail\\.com|gmai\\.com|gmal\\.com|gmali\\.com|gamil\\.com|gmail\\.co|gmail\\.con|gmail\\.om|yahooo\\.com|yaho\\.com|outlok\\.com|outloo\\.com|hotmial\\.com|hotmail\\.con|hmail\\.com|yopmail\\.com|discardmail\\.com)$)[a-zA-Z0-9.\\-]+\\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}\" title=\"Please enter a valid email address (e.g. user@example.com)\" > <span class=\"submit input-group-btn input-group-btn-right\"> <input type=\"submit\" id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe\" value=\"GET THE BOOK\" class=\"btn btn-primary \" \/> <\/span> <\/div>\n<div> <input name=\"_eightyk_action\" value=\"mailchimp_add_subscriber\" type=\"hidden\"> <input name=\"redirect_path_after_step_2\" value=\"\/newsletter\/welcome\/\" type=\"hidden\"> <\/div>\n<div style=\"position: absolute; 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