A little over a week ago, I was asked if I had heard of the Myers-Briggs personality types. It just so happened that I had heard of the different personality types. In fact, I had taken a test to determine my personality type for one of my classes at LeTourneau U. The friend who asked me this question was interested in how the different personality types interacted with one another. Unfortunately for that conversation topic, I didn't remember what my personality type was. Yesterday I remembered this conversation and decided I wanted to take the test again. It's a very simple test of 70 two choice questions. The test I found online was not the original Myers-Briggs test, but an offshoot. I took the online test and found out that I was an ISTP. That is an Introvert (no suprise there), Sensing, Thinking, Perceiver. Today I got the original test and took that. The first time I was hurried and received a result of ISTJ. Basically the same result as the online test except I was Judging rather than Perceiving. This caused me to be a little skeptical of the results of the test, so I went ahead and took the test a third and fourth time. These times I got ISTX (both Judging and Perceiving) and ISTP. After reading the wikipedia entry for ISTPs and I quote:
ISTPs excel at analyzing situations to reach the heart of a problem so that they can swiftly implement a functional repair, making them ideally suited to the field of engineering. Naturally quiet people, they are interested in understanding how systems operate, focusing on efficient operation and structure. They are open to new information and approaches. But contrary to their seemingly detached natures,ISTPs are often capable of humorously insightful observations about the world around them. They can also be closet daredevils who gravitate toward fast-moving or risky hobbies (such as bungee jumping, hang gliding, racing, motorcycling, and parachuting), recreational sports (such as downhill skiing, paintball, ice hockey, and scuba diving), and careers (such as aviation and firefighting).
ISTPs may sometimes seem to act without regard for procedures, directions, protocol, or even their own safety. But while their approach may seem haphazard, it is in fact based on a broad store of knowledge developed over time through action and keen observation. ISTPs enjoy self-sufficiency and take pride in developing their own solutions to problems.
This describes me almost perfectly. I am able to solve problems quickly. I enjoy learning how a system works. I am studying to be an electrical engineer. I ride a motorcycle. I enjoyed paintball the one time I was able to go. Same with scuba diving. And I greatly enjoy volunteering as a firefighter. My final point: my mother could never understand how I was able to solve problems. She thought I was jumping to conclusions and just trying the first thing I thought might be the issue. The problem was that I was correct about the issue more often than not. :-) I do have a little of the ISTJ side, but not enough to consider myself a J. just a well rounded P. When I took the test at LeTourneau, I don't remember my type being this well defined. I just find it curious how almost every point about ISTPs applies to me.
