Ask HN: Career advice for ENTP personality types

2 points by ENTP 13y ago ↗ HN

I grew up in the 80s and had my first computer when I was 9. Programming came natural to me and I pursued that through my education to degree level. I then worked as a programmer, using various different languages, for 5 years then got into system administration, designing, building and running a linux based multi-site network. I moved on after 5 years and became an IT consultant. Through these years, one thing became apparent: People would throw problems my way and I was able to solve them one way or another. After doing a Myers-Briggs test, I discovered that I was an ENTP personality type - the profile hits the nail on the head. Extremely creative, excellent at problem solving but cannot take a project from cradle to grave without the assistance of others.

The question is this: Are there any other ENTP types out there? What jobs were you able to go for? It looks like "Problem Solver" and "R&D" would be the best bet, but those jobs are rarely advertised. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

3 comments

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michaelpinto 13y ago ↗

You should keep doing consulting and similar "starter" activities if that's your strong point: Other "problem solver" jobs are marketing and sales (the ultimate starting point), information architects and any sort of tech consulting.

http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ENTP_car.html

Articulate 13y ago ↗

This is an excellent post, if you are going to continue with consulting work, you might do well to find a business partner with a different skill set than yourself. Having a detail oriented person that can push through to the end of projects could benefit both of you. You have skills that others need if you tell them honestly some of your challenges, you might be surprised the ideas they can come up with to help you help them.

ENTP 13y ago ↗

You may well be right. Finding decent business partners is fairly hard, or perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places. I've wondered if a startup style setup would suit me (and any other entp types) as there is a much greater demand to be dynamic and pragmatic. So long as there is a change of problem often enough to keep the brain taxed. Boredom seems to be the curse of the ENTP.