Rhodee

- How much: Industry specific and tenure. I would say the expected start salary undergrad in one of the major cities is 38-42, master's level candidate start in the 50s and with tenure you tap out in mid six-figures. Or you go work for the government, lobby shop (don't) or for an elected official. You can head to the undying lands and teach. Lots of flexibility, but very hard to pin down what exactly it is 'you do.'

- Skills: PhDs are not required-you will find more JDs in the fold than one might expect. These shops are often very small and run by older guard and don't have access to HN-audiences, so they are not technically advanced or pay exorbitant rates for graphic design and web presence (arbitrage alert). But what they are good at is proposing ways to change rules. Politicians, rarely, rarely, write laws-this community does. Politicians pull language from us and write bills. Then there office turns those bills into legal language.

So the skills you would need to support those outcomes at any level IMO: Statistics, hitting the phones and a business development acumen. You can be the smartest person in the room, but if you can't move people to do something (hint: statistics is not 'it') you will be like those people who build the perfect product that no one buys. There needs to be an MVP for policy. Too many perfect bills, too few changes in our lives.

-Why I left: I have a very impatient mind. Well sort of impatient-I did work in the field for seven years. I realized that the field adapts to politiking in ways I was uncomfortable with and without a lot of what we would call 'validation.' Ideas would be dropped wholesale given regime change or funding-which was not connected to reality. I worked at an org that was 'policy effective' they knew how to resist such changes (i.e. funding) and hired smart people. But I realize I was the only talking about rapid iteration, validation and business development-which got me strange looks. I've always loved coding, and wanted to start a social enterprise-so I walked out and am doing just that.

If I were giving tips to me in my twenties I would say:

Steer clear of small shops that don't want to support projects in the field. If they think small does not equal nimble (i.e. they just want to put out reports or convene meetings), its not worth your time. In fact if someone tells you they want to convene a meeting-always follow up with...then what? If its another meeting...head for the hills. Meetings are important but if all they do is create additional meetings-you know you are dealing with the old guard and change will be slow.

Think tanks are all wishing to become, at least in part, communications firms. Too many organization's chasing too few minutes in the day to influence you-message inflation. If your organization begins to show signs of leaping into the bubble, leave.

Work on policy that can be practised. Some might think that means work at a large scale. Wrong. Find a shop willing to test its ideas in the wild-you will not regret this policy entrepreneurship experience.

Rhodee

To their detriment.

Not sure if you noticed-but Draftboard has a free version. With such a small team, it might fit: https://www.draftboardapp.com/signupfree

Reports are the anathema of the profession. Research is critical for reasoned discussion. But once you add political machinations people don't want reason. There are entirely too many winner takes all games played on the backs of the people. Do we really need 'regulated monopolies' providing energy? Or 29 for-profit multinational companies owning the entire electrical grid? Something's afoot!

I prefer advocacy organization or research outfit. Think tank implies inaction. If you live in the western world moving policy is literally like moving mountains the higher the scale or wealthier the opposition. "Action Tank" anyone?

Law schools. But I guess it depends on what you are trying to accomplish?

Its funny I had the EXACT opposite experience. I realized I wanted to make the products and left to look for opportunities to do so. But I think the point is that people use think tanks for self-affirmation. Whether its research, talking points, connections - my boss once said - it's better to be used than useless.

Sure. Take for example clean energy (NOTE: I policy wonk'd in this area). There are some folks who want to 'disrupt' the field with technology. Some support this (most consumers should) and some don't (the more vertically integrated legacy suppliers). My job was to determine talking points to get attention from the powers that be in key parts of government (DoD, WH, States) and communicate a value proposition in support of the disruptive technology elements. Without calling them disruptive-we needed to learn what they valued. So my job was to use geospatial, market data, academic and legal to support policy recommendations. Then get people to hop on board. Clear(er)?

Harsh. But not wholly inaccurate. I think it really depends on who you work for. There are some think tanks that do policy and some that do politics. Policy is about the analytical development of rules and procedures. Politics is exactly what Jellicle described.

I worked in that space for seven years. To put it plainly, we were paid to create ideas by entities and individuals who wanted a certain frame or perspective to emerge or persist in the wild.

Hi Niket! I appreciate the offer I will certainly take you up on that when we start rolling with concept. Great app BTW

Thanks, I will check that out. I definitely have the script and the animation I will look to partner with someone. I can't say this enough, but thank you to everyone its nice to be part of a community of folks struggling with the same ambitions and challenges.

Blown away, the video is really crisp-I show it to people often. Thanks for the advice Reed!

I use all if not most of the sites folks mentioned. But I took your question of learning to mean interacting with others (forgive me if I am wrong). I came across P2PU 'School of Webcraft' that might be worth a look-classes pick up again in April.

Here is the link to the school: http://www.drumbeat.org/p2pu-webcraft

and to courses: http://p2pu.org/webcraft -- good luck!