[ISTP] ISTP Job Bank

[netzealot]

Although ISTPs are usually highly employable we are prone to wander without direction in our careers and when we get stuck in a rut it tends to be pretty deep...

Let's contribute ideas and brainstorm based on our common job place needs and keep a running list of the best options (that's what MBTI is for originally, no?) which can be a mental springboard for ISTPs to choose their next career. Basically, since we ISTPs have good critical thinking skills, I think we can do a little better than just a "dumb" list of jobs like on job profile websites or similar threads made in the past. Let's approach this intelligently with collective criteria and come up with a smaller yet more effective list rather that rely on a list of 100+ jobs, many of which overlap so much into other personality types that it's largely useless.

If you are an ISTP looking for a job, consider these criteria and provide feedback about how they might apply to your particular interests which might imply a potential career for you. If you're an ISTP with a career already, help me revise these criteria by providing input about aspects of your job you like and dislike relevant to the criteria so we can improve them.

In other words, ISTPs... we can figure out stuff works, right? So let's figure out how we work... and literally, how we work. Considering these things, specific occupations are bound to rise over others.


Basically, we're looking for any job that fit these criteria...

Essential:
1) The job description changes on a daily basis
2) There is a persistent skill-set which can be mastered over time

Bonus:
3) Work is done in real time, lots of action with little need for theoretical planning
4) Hands-on, "operation" style tasks, and manual dexterity
5) Autonomy with minimal unnecessary structure



THE LIST:

1,2,3,4,5) Mechanic (many forms of modern mechanics only do diagnostics with computers and replace parts... might be a dealbreaker)
1,2,3,5,5) Welder/Machinist
1,2,3,4,5) Hunting or mountain guide (may be an unrealistic destination for all but the most priveledged individuals)
1,2,3,4) Police Officer or Military Specialist
2,3,4,5) Pilot

 

[KDude]

I don't even want to address this (nothing against you though). I was going to write something yesterday about MBTI having a sort of "career counselor" bent to it. I can't put into words though all of the things that I find annoying about it. The close emphasis with career and personality is very American, very "first world". One's relation to the "organization"/corporation/team. This constitutes the bulk of psychological concerns, apparently. Fuck all of that.

Out of the 7 billion people in the world, I'm sure there's a fair share of prostitutes, Bangladesh homeless, crackheads, sweatshop sewing machine repairmen, and all kinds of forgotten people in the ISTP lineup. We should talk about this more. I'm tired of sunshine being blown up my ass, or having to live up to Keirsey's image of a parachuting pornstar assassin with a master skillset in whatever he does. Like I'm Steve McQueen or some shit. I'm just an average Joe, and I'm happy with it.

Sorry. /rantoff

edit: In other words, I just want to be realistic. I don't like getting caught up in what could be, or any ideal notions of myself.

 

[netzealot]

No offense taken. People in poverty don't usually choose their careers so something like the MBTI is useless to them. If they came to the US they'd probably end up in whatever job they can find (I've immigrated to another country and know it is difficult to get a work visa, you can't be picky). Lol@ parachuting pornstar assassin. You make a good point and one we should probably discuss on the forum somewhere... when does helping someone pick a career go over the line into cult identification and profiling? I know what you mean and it often goes overboard.

Actually, that is sort of why I made this post. It took me a few years of wading through just about everything this side of socionics and found most of it was empty fluff and ideology with no substance because it was more focused on its own system than what actually works or doesn't for the average person. Personally, I have had a tough time narrowing down careers and know I have gotten stuck in a rut. I've also read a handful of posts on this forum where ISTPs seem to have the same issue. Perhaps this is necessary because the ISTP profiles and career lists are so useless... I want input from regular everyday ISTPs... insight about what they enjoy and dislike about the job they actually have and what they're looking for in the next one... then from that perhaps we can find some ideal choices... not saying every one of the 7 billion people on this earth will have access to it but it'll be helpful to other people who like myself came here to figure out what they wanted to do for a job and had the ability to choose. Reality should drive ideology, not the other way around, otherwise you get the useless unsubstantiated MBTI profiles and career guidance articles that I have wasted years trying to find some direction from.

I ended up settling on being a welder and machinist and find the job very enjoyable for a lot of the criteria and I am betting if they don't apply to other ISTPs that we could at least come up with a few things--dealbreakers/nice-to-have style--and probably at least give ISTPs searching for careers or stuck in a rut a place to start without wadding through a bunch of Keirsey nonsense. Nobody's gotta be put in a mold here... instead I am suggesting we make a mold based on actual people's likes and dislikes (the only commonality being self-identification as an ISTP... and that's a whole different ball of wax) and see if that helps newcomers in the career search set a better target.


edit: on afterthought, what you said is exactly what I'm trying to get at here... actual jobs that people who are probably ISTPs would actually end up doing, staying at, and hopefully enjoying for a long time. The problem with the long lists I've seen on profile websites and other threads on here is that 99 out of 100 of them I would never actually end up doing... they were completely unrealistic to me and so I wasted a lot of time trying to figure this out myself. What I wrote in the OP is the results of that process, it wasn't regurgitated from ISTP profiles, it was actually written in spite of them (although I'm sure you may notice a little similarity).

 

[WALMART]

Pilots have autonomy? I wouldn't have figured, at least less so than Military Specialists.


Also, auto-mechanics are hardly parts replacers. People seem to have a misconception about modern vehicles; while they do have sensors that monitor other sensors for detection of even a slight failure, the codes generated hardly tell you what failed, and usually you must go a step beyond to see why it failed.


I think automotive/aeronautics to be a perfect field for istp's.

 

[netzealot]

Pilots have autonomy? I wouldn't have figured, at least less so than Military Specialists.


Also, auto-mechanics are hardly parts replacers. People seem to have a misconception about modern vehicles; while they do have sensors that monitor other sensors for detection of even a slight failure, the codes generated hardly tell you what failed, and usually you must go a step beyond to see why it failed.


I think automotive/aeronautics to be a perfect field for istp's.

It definitely warrants discussion.

What autonomy is to me, it's not being locked in... the flexibility allows you to retain your options. Police officers have rotating schedules... they can be called on a moments notice and have to leave their family at dinner to respond to a call. Military specialists are often on deployment and don't get to control their schedule. Pilots also follow a strict schedule, so you may have a point about that. On the flipside, the fact that they travel inherently gives them exposure to a wider array of choices in their off-hours.



About mechanics, I do not have a depth of experience but I have taken apprenticeship training for it (heavy duty/diesel, not auto, although this is even more prevalent in auto) and I can say the days of repairing a transmission assembly by hand are over. They'll usually just replace the whole assembly. One of the most manual tasks a mechanic will do is to repack bearings, which anyone who's done it can tell you is dirty, unfun, and doesn't require you to fix anything really.

You have a good point about diagnostics and maybe my focus on machining is showing here since without repairing things by hand there is little chance to machine anything new. Especially in electronics diagnostic there is a lot of room still for critical thinking, and a lot of mechanics say they learn something new every day and it's almost always diagnostic-related.

I suppose why I said that was because I suspect the title "ISTPs - The Mechanics" with a capital-M might be a little outdated if it's referring to old-fashioned mechanics and I wouldn't want anyone to go into that thinking it's still done that way.



Aeronautics and automotive are fields ISTPs could excel at... but what kind of occupation are you talking about here? Mechanical engineer (design)... mechanic (maintenance)... pilot/driver (operator)? I am talking about what ISTPs need to enjoy their work, not necessarily what we can do well (which is a lot of things!).

In other words, ISTPs... we can figure out stuff works, right? So let's figure out how we work... and literally, how we work. Considering these things, specific occupations are bound to rise over others.

 

[KDude]

I think automotive/aeronautics to be a perfect field for istp's.

It wouldn't be so bad, I guess. From what I've seen of planes though, I wouldn't enjoy it personally. Too many wires..lol. Very much detail oriented work. A neat freak would do a better job than I. I used to want to pilot planes when I was young, not work on them. I threw my chances away however, so that's a moot point. Rule of thumb: If I had a choice, I'd prefer ragging out vehicles. Not fixing them. When I think of being handy with tools, it's more about being one with them, making them an extension of oneself. The pilot, rather than mechanic. Same with my guitar playing. Or a bike, or whatever. The sense of creativity and control you experience in real time.

 

[netzealot]

It wouldn't be so bad, I guess. From what I've seen of planes though, I wouldn't enjoy it personally. Too many wires..lol. Very much detail oriented work. A neat freak would do a better job than I. I used to want to pilot planes when I was young, not work on them. I threw my chances away however, so that's a moot point. Rule of thumb: If I had a choice, I'd prefer ragging out vehicles. Not fixing them.

You know I can't stand that either. There is a certain point where there is just too much details and I instantly feel disconnected and bored from what I'm doing. It's just too menial and not enough excitement.

I know it sounds dumb, but on some degree I enjoy welding just because I get to push around a 2000 degree puddle of molten metal while sparks fly. And it's not overly complicated, your focus area is very small and that helps me from getting overwhelmed with the menial nature that seems to bog me down in other jobs.

...and yet sometimes, I feel very driven to fix things but that is rarely my end motivation. Hence why I think we should consider taking mechanics off the list since it is a lot of menial work with little excitement (except if you like puzzles and find diagnostics/electrical system repair exciting). Without the need to repair actual parts, there is little craftsmanship involved, which sucks a lot of the excitement out of it and leaves it feeling like a chore. I have heard mechanics say it does get a little old fixing everyone's else's screw ups over and over... which tells you that the work itself is not inherently enjoyable--which is what this list is supposed to be: jobs that ISTPs inherently enjoy regardless of all the other bullcrap a typical job involves.

 

[KDude]

I have heard mechanics say it does get a little old fixing everyone's else's screw ups over and over...

Yeah, I don't work as a mechanic myself, but people I know say the same. I experience the same with computers.

Jobs I'd find inherently enjoyable are parachuting pornstar assassin actually.

There's a funny bit in Lenore Thomson's book about ISTPs being common among video gamers and stunt crews, because they get to at least simulate this stuff.

edit: Here it is..

Such types have also benefited from the advent of computers and interactive video games, which has shifted some of the emphasis in a school curriculum to individual sensory skills. The visual effects crews on films always seem to be composed of these types, who enjoy exercising their skills in the creation of realistic explosions, disasters, outer space scenarios, monsters, and computer generated stunts for movies.

In this day and age, we're somewhat stifled. We're left with make believe.