Career woes of an INxP...

[StSebastian]

So guys... I guess I'd like to read your opinions on this...

For exactly two years now, I've been employed as a graduate student at an university - department of chemistry, and... well, this career choice has proven rather thornier than I anticipated. I've always shown an inclination towards science - indeed, even as a kid, I'd hear predictions of future achievements in the academia. The problem is, after seven years of doing chemistry, I seem to have lost interest in it. It's making work rather painful, even though my Thinking trait should mean I derive pleasure from solving scientific problems. It's not that I'm not cerebral - far from it. Given my way, I'd spend all my time reading, and the range of subjects I enjoy reading about is wide and constantly changing. It's just that as soon as I bind myself in some formal way (such as a job contract) to pursue a specific interest within a specified time frame and towards a goal set by somebody else, all the fun goes out of it, and it becomes torture. That pattern has been clear since I was a student: I'd get thrilled by the prospect of laying my hands on an exhaustive textbook for this or that subject, but come exam time, I'd shudder at the thought of even having to look at the cover of the very same textbook that seemed so interesting only a while ago when the knowledge it contained wasn't urgently needed. I'm afraid that, if this pattern holds, I'm simply not going to have a single enjoyable day at work in my entire life, ever.

My growing discontentment with my current job has led me to entertain other possibilities, and it's starting to look like I might be able to make a relatively painless shift into software development. The aspects of my current job that I expect the jump to improve on the most are: the amount of interaction with other homo theoretically sapiens (the less, the better), more specific job tasks and a more flexible schedule (starting the day WAY later than 9, work from home would be ideal). Of course, there's the question of passion (or lack thereof) but I figure if I can't have a job that makes me happy, maybe I should aim for one that doesn't get in the way of me being happy, at least.

Borne with me until this point? Good, cause this is where you guys come in. The questions I have are as follows: in your experience as similar types/to the best of your knowledge, how would you expect that kind of shift to work for an INxP? Have you ever found yourself in a similar predicament, i.e. that any satisfaction from the things you normally enjoy doing seemingly disappears as soon as you turn it into your livelihood? How did you deal with that? Any contribution is welcome, I'm in rather a pinch here cause it's getting about time to decide whether or not to make the transition into IT... Sorry if this is somewhat chaotic, this is the first forum post I've written in years. Cheers!

 

[CitizenErased]

Hey, INTP here.

It's making work rather painful, even though my Thinking trait should mean I derive pleasure from solving scientific problems (1). It's not that I'm not cerebral - far from it. Given my way, I'd spend all my time reading, and the range of subjects I enjoy reading about is wide and constantly changing. It's just that as soon as I bind myself in some formal way (such as a job contract) to pursue a specific interest within a specified time frame and towards a goal set by somebody else, all the fun goes out of it (2), and it becomes torture. That pattern has been clear since I was a student: I'd get thrilled by the prospect of laying my hands on an exhaustive textbook for this or that subject, but come exam time, I'd shudder at the thought of even having to look at the cover of the very same textbook that seemed so interesting only a while ago when the knowledge it contained wasn't urgently needed (3). I'm afraid that, if this pattern holds, I'm simply not going to have a single enjoyable day at work in my entire life, ever (4).

This has been one the most "dramatic" problems for me since ever. My mother says I'm a "knowledge whore": every time I start learning/discover something, I'm overly-excited and when it comes to "committing" to a project, goodbye. But let's start with a proper answer.

Just so you know, I was studying architecture and art history, and after some personal problems and trouble regarding this topic that you mention, I moved to industrial design, and I couldn't be happier. My problem was that, after the initial crush on the career, everyday felt the same, like, despite being different buildings and ideas, etc, I felt I was immerse in just one area of knowledge, which ment really "compromising" to love it day and night (because that's all the time you dedicate to architecture: all day and all night). When I switched to industrial design, I found that, despite being the same discipline, I had the variety to do whatever my brain wanted to do that day: drawing a car, or a fork, or a vase, or a park bench, or a computer or a robotic hand, or a canvas bag. So if I'm feeling too "into" something, I can always switch to another project that needs a whole different set of rules.

(1) It should mean that you derive pleasure from solvin "logical" problems, not scientific. I couldn't care less about hard sciences (except for the more practical, down-to-earth side of physics). Sometimes one tends to become the MBTI type one is, taking it as a stereotype instead of an archetype (the difference being the stereotype is a copy of the model and the archetype being the same structure that can be filled with individual traits).

(2) Indeed. If I'm going to do something and then someone tells me to do that same thing, the predisposition to do it drops to zero. And for a long time, when something felt a task instead of a project I liked, I wouldn't do it. My trick now is finding a way to make it at least 30% my idea. If I have a university assignment and it's rather strict about the rules of how to do it, I try to find loopholes in which include my "watermark".

You know, more or less like when you play battleship. The rules say that you have to place your ships on the board, but it doesn't say you have to put all the "body" of the ship on the board, so you can leave half of it outside the coordinates. To me that's not cheating because the rules don't say I can't do it. I try to do the same with my job.

(3) About something not being interesting when it's urgently needed, there's no trick (at least I haven't found one yet). Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

(4) That's what I used to think all the time. I've met lot of people who were in love with a career, but chose another one on purpose so they wouldn't start hating it after it became "homework". You either change to something that suits the way your brain works or you change the way you work to make it enjoyable. I don't know about chemistry and IT because both feel alien (really alien, like from another quadrant of the universe) to me. What I'd do would be, while staying on chemistry, try working on IT (even if it's a simulacrum), just to see if you don't feel the same that you feel with chemistry, because chances are that, if you don't change the way you approach work/you don't find a discipline that suits you, you'll be a nomad, changing from one job to another every time it becomes annoying.

Hope I could help!

 

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

I think your solution here is to go with your gut... doesn't take me to tell you that the current state of things is no longer serving you. Sounds like you gave this career path a couple years and it's just not working. You are a sensible person from what I'm reading, and just no longer enjoy this line of work - it doesn't constitute any sort of failure on your part.

A new professional direction in software development would probably be a beneficial addition to your overall quality of life, but you already knew that. So, the question now is, what's stopping you? You have obviously thought this out and have a plan, so go for it.

I think we Fives need jobs that are not going to box us in, but that we can dedicate our full passion to when we are at that job... It's a tricky balance, the work-life balance. I think every human, regardless of type, wants a professional setup where they can sort of set their own hours, take on the projects that they really want to work on, and generally be left to do their thing.

 

[StSebastian]

Thanks so much guys for taking interest in my issues and the time to write these replies! You've provided valuable feedback, and now I'm at the stage of finding out more about my prospective career in IT - specifically, I've got an insider giving me his account of what the job's like and answering my questions. As for actually "trying it on" - I'll do it when I make the decision to switch, there's simply no other thing for it. It feels reassuring I can always switch again ;-)

 

[Smilephantomhive]

Please learn how to break walls of text up into paragraphs.

 

[StSebastian]

Fixed. Looks much more legible, I'll grant you that. You'd do well to learn not to sound condescending, though. Especially if you've had nothing to contribute on the actual subject of the thread, which isn't my editing skills.

 

[burningranger]

I don't think this a type related problem StSebastian. I'm gonna give you a what could be seen as simplistic piece of advice, broad...but what I find makes for more accurate answer to problems such as these......just follow your heart. No matter what you choose, make sure it a) makes you feel less stressed and more relaxed in your body b) makes you feel enpowered rather than disenpowered c) capitilizes on your passions and strengths

We can so easily get tripped up on money and technicalities...but we forget that the fuel that really brings us abundance and fulfillment in life is a steady, balanced, positive emotional state day in a day out. And that is best achieved by doing what you love. And the only way to go about finding these things...is not with so much thought, but gauging how everything makes you feel...and just making the adjustments that will make sure you FEEL better. Like I said might sound obvious...but in my experience, most people don't make life decisions based on this. We prefer if things are complicated a lot of the time

My two cents. Hope you find what feel best to you

 

[Seymour]

I've worked as a software developer for most of my working life (that's over 25 years, now), identify as a 5w4, and even though I'm an INFP, my Feeling preference is the least pronounced of my preferences. So other than being middle-aged, not too different from your preferences and prospective career.

It might pay to introspect a little about what about external requirements drains you of all motivation. Is it being locked into a schedule? Is it feeling like you don't have the freedom to optimize as you go? Doesn't trigger a passive-aggressive "just try and make me" kind of reaction? As a strong Perceiver I find committing to future things to be relatively painful, but I don't find that things being required saps makes things more difficult. As long as I agree that the task is worth doing, I'm mostly fine with it. I do (internally) resist scheduling, some scheduling is pretty much unavoidable. One thing that helped me think about the Perceiving preference, versus other issues with scheduling/motivation was the JPT article "Building Momentum: The Unconventional Strengths of Perceiving
College Students." Also, over time, one does develop work-arounds for tricking oneself into starting something even though one doesn't feel like it.

Most software development involves interaction and communication with other people. It's not always in-person interaction (a number of my coworkers work remotely, for example), but there's still a fair amount of cooperating with others involved. At most places I've worked, one usually has a fair amount of leeway in exactly how one implements something, so there's still room for creativity (which helps my motivation quite a bit).

Most (but not all) of the software companies I've worked for have had pretty flexible work hours. I'm not a morning person, so that part has worked out well for me.

Hope this grab-bag of impressions is somewhat helpful.

 

[Tilt]

A start-up company always has something different and constantly changing. For a J like me, it's exhausting but an INXP might enjoy it.