[AgAu]

What experiences have you had as an ENFP with technology and science? Whether it's from school, work, hobbies or just interactions or relationships with technically inclined people.

Or any other technical folk ENFP or Other who might happen by - How does an ENFP fit with you and your environment?

Please don't limit yourself to these questions. Free association science, technology and personality discussion all welcome here.

I'll go first -

My first memories of loving science come from as early as I can remember in my lifetime. Taking walks on my grandmother's gravel road - rock hunting. She had a name for every kind of rock I'd pick up, the agates were the real gems though. We'd make the same walk at night and she'd point out all the constellations and planets, she knew them all. She came from a generation when women were not as prevalent in the science world as they are today and it's really a shame; she was a brilliant scientist. It's no coincidence that my brother, two cousins and myself all went on to technical/science related careers. She was our common inspiration. I'm tearing up as I write this, I miss her so dearly.

Growing up, I was pure geek. If it was electronic, computer related or could start on fire I was all over it! Science classes were tons of fun, I just couldn't soak up enough knowledge.

I went to college as a chemistry major, this is where things got interesting for me from a personality perspective...

Oh the details! I wonder just how I managed to survive as long as I did through this course load. I rocked the lab work but I really did get twisted up in some of the more detailed tedious calculations. Mixing up a fuming bath of something that would kill me if it weren't in the hood - FUN! Calculating the molarity of a solution after such and such reaction - BLAH! My grades in lab and lecture, of course, mirrored my motivations quite closely.

I did enough to get by for the first few years, but as the courses got more advanced I just couldn't hack it anymore in the lecture portions. It was at this point I did some soul searching. I tried to figure out what the students who were excelling were doing that I wasn't doing or couldn't do. And why was it I could work circles around them in a laboratory but couldn't hold a candle to them in the exams and homework. Some of the ones I would consider the most brilliant would ask me for help in lab. Why me? I'm the flunkie.

I came to four basic conclusions.
1.I'm just not as smart as them.
(Topic for another discussion, I suppose)

2.What knowledge I do have (or the admission of that which I don't) pours from my body.
The majority of the others seemed to keep it to themselves more, especially when it came to areas where they were more uncertain or less knowledgeable.

3.I am helpful, approachable and completely in awe of my more successful cohorts.
Even as they kicked my butt at every exam, I really loved these people and forged great relationships with them. The exception to this would be the rare occasion where I'd rock the boat by outscoring them in an exam. They had a secret code that your grades listed under, but by the 3rd and 4th year, you knew everybody's code. When mine got near the top it got noticed and made for some really grumpy scientist and medical school wannabe's and they'd take it as a personal attack.

4.No one else seemed to do #2 or #3 the way I did.
Now there may have been a few in my first year, but really the group that made it past the weedout classes was not of this personality type. I really was a round peg in a square hole in this program.

I left school and found work as a technician working with electronics. Eventually I worked my way into a research group where I worked with some ridiculously brilliant Ph.D. scientists. It wasn't long before I found myself getting invited to all sorts of meetings where it was flunky me and a room full of Ph.D's discussing some pretty hardcore research. Much of the stuff was over my head, I couldn't figure out why I kept getting invited to these.

Then I went on vacation for a week. The technicians were all complaining about the unclear directions they were getting from the scientists. One of the scientists came to me complaining how some other scientist wasn't going with his idea and was railroading the group into something that wasn't going to work out. Suddenly, it couldn't have been more obvious what my role was at those meetings.

What this group had in brilliant minds they lacked in communication skill. I knew just enough tech talk to get these guys oriented and talking to each other in a productive way. I'd take the content of these meetings and pass it along to the technician staff behind the scenes and translate the science jargon into something they could actually work with and make. And I did all of this without even realizing that this was a skill that gave even brilliant scientists fits.

I used to think that ENFP's just didn't make good technical folk and I was a complete freak for trying to make my way in that environment. Some stuff I've seen on these boards make me think that maybe it's more common than I thought. It's also possible that I've mistyped some of my more brilliant classmates and co-workers. I could totally see a hardcore brilliant ENFP stuffing his 'F' by the wayside to survive in a hardcore 'T' environment like that. ENFPs seem to be good chameleons to the point where it could have snuck by my radar.

I've spewed plenty here, thank you so much for reading this far. Please contribute large or small on your experiences. Heck, even if no one replies I'm happy to have gotten this essay off my chest as it's been weighing on me for a long time to summarize and express these thoughts and experiences.

 

[ikky36]

I realized that I couldn't be that math oriented all the time when I tried to go to school for video game programming. I also realized that, although I failed at it as a programmer and I quit, I knew enough and was proficient enough to translate between the programmers and the artists. I could convert code to artistic vision and vice versa, even if I couldn't do the heavy coding or any art myself.
I love fixing PCs. I'm starting a shop soon; ENFPs are known to be good small business owners, affable, versatile, don't like working for someone but still loves helping, ect. plus problem solving where there are many different possibilities is fascinating.

 

[limelight3]

haha, I TOTALLY understand where you're coming from here. While I've never been super technologically gifted, I have ALWAYS loved the life sciences. If it deals with life and nature, I'm there! In my college classes, I tend to suck on the exams and lecture quizzes. I know the material, I just am not a good test taker. However, in a lab situation, I'm usually at the top of the class. I find that I learn best if I get to talk and explain the material, and my classmates tend to remember the random nonsense to that I use to remember things.

ENFP's are very much so communicators, and that's usually something that's lacking in science classes, at least from my experience. I think we can be extremely technical people if we need to, but it would be a lot of work to constantly stay in that state. ENFP's are so good at becoming whoever they need to be at the moment, that I could easily one burying their F in order to survive better in that state.

 

[viva]

I totally understand! For some reason, I decided to start out as a math major when I went off to college... haha, if only I had known about MBTI then, I could have avoided the year-long burnout that followed. I'm now an art major and MUCH happier.

I've now come to terms with the fact that I'm gifted at many many things but not passionate about or interested enough in them to make a career out of them. They really interest me for a little while and I get excited that I'm smart enough to do it, but then the details and boring subject matter start to grind on my nerves and I lose interest. Math and science very much fall into these categories. I've taken a couple of courses for fun now, like intro chem and computer science, and loved them-- but I know if I tried to delve deeper into the subjects, I would grow tired of them.

 

[Essay]

I went to a pretty tech-centric university, and most of my knowledge about science and tech comes from my socializing with engineers and computer science majors. I've got no real pull towards tech though; I just want my laptop to be up to standard. If I'm reading an article on a new technological development, it's so I can tell my T-dom friends all about it.

I did go into that school as a science major though. I always thought that physics was cool, but for some reason (*cough*parentalpressuretobecomeadoctor*cough*) I ended up in the faculty of biology and hated it. Sooo, that didn't last. Can't say I've been too interested in science since, save maybe the historical side of it.

 

[Linnifae]

Math made me want to stab myself in the brain with a pencil from about 7th grade onward so science and I didn't really get to know each other as closely as we otherwise might have. I did like astronomy but I didn't go very far with it, so once again the math aspects of it and I did not meet.

 

[ikky36]

What experiences have you had as an ENFP with technology and science? Whether it's from school, work, hobbies or just interactions or relationships with technically inclined people.

Or any other technical folk ENFP or Other who might happen by - How does an ENFP fit with you and your environment?

Please don't limit yourself to these questions. Free association science, technology and personality discussion all welcome here.

I'll go first -

My first memories of loving science come from as early as I can remember in my lifetime. Taking walks on my grandmother's gravel road - rock hunting. She had a name for every kind of rock I'd pick up, the agates were the real gems though. We'd make the same walk at night and she'd point out all the constellations and planets, she knew them all. She came from a generation when women were not as prevalent in the science world as they are today and it's really a shame; she was a brilliant scientist. It's no coincidence that my brother, two cousins and myself all went on to technical/science related careers. She was our common inspiration. I'm tearing up as I write this, I miss her so dearly.

Growing up, I was pure geek. If it was electronic, computer related or could start on fire I was all over it! Science classes were tons of fun, I just couldn't soak up enough knowledge.

I went to college as a chemistry major, this is where things got interesting for me from a personality perspective...

Oh the details! I wonder just how I managed to survive as long as I did through this course load. I rocked the lab work but I really did get twisted up in some of the more detailed tedious calculations. Mixing up a fuming bath of something that would kill me if it weren't in the hood - FUN! Calculating the molarity of a solution after such and such reaction - BLAH! My grades in lab and lecture, of course, mirrored my motivations quite closely.

I did enough to get by for the first few years, but as the courses got more advanced I just couldn't hack it anymore in the lecture portions. It was at this point I did some soul searching. I tried to figure out what the students who were excelling were doing that I wasn't doing or couldn't do. And why was it I could work circles around them in a laboratory but couldn't hold a candle to them in the exams and homework. Some of the ones I would consider the most brilliant would ask me for help in lab. Why me? I'm the flunkie.

I came to four basic conclusions.
1.I'm just not as smart as them.
(Topic for another discussion, I suppose)

2.What knowledge I do have (or the admission of that which I don't) pours from my body.
The majority of the others seemed to keep it to themselves more, especially when it came to areas where they were more uncertain or less knowledgeable.

3.I am helpful, approachable and completely in awe of my more successful cohorts.
Even as they kicked my butt at every exam, I really loved these people and forged great relationships with them. The exception to this would be the rare occasion where I'd rock the boat by outscoring them in an exam. They had a secret code that your grades listed under, but by the 3rd and 4th year, you knew everybody's code. When mine got near the top it got noticed and made for some really grumpy scientist and medical school wannabe's and they'd take it as a personal attack.

4.No one else seemed to do #2 or #3 the way I did.
Now there may have been a few in my first year, but really the group that made it past the weedout classes was not of this personality type. I really was a round peg in a square hole in this program.

I left school and found work as a technician working with electronics. Eventually I worked my way into a research group where I worked with some ridiculously brilliant Ph.D. scientists. It wasn't long before I found myself getting invited to all sorts of meetings where it was flunky me and a room full of Ph.D's discussing some pretty hardcore research. Much of the stuff was over my head, I couldn't figure out why I kept getting invited to these.

Then I went on vacation for a week. The technicians were all complaining about the unclear directions they were getting from the scientists. One of the scientists came to me complaining how some other scientist wasn't going with his idea and was railroading the group into something that wasn't going to work out. Suddenly, it couldn't have been more obvious what my role was at those meetings.

What this group had in brilliant minds they lacked in communication skill. I knew just enough tech talk to get these guys oriented and talking to each other in a productive way. I'd take the content of these meetings and pass it along to the technician staff behind the scenes and translate the science jargon into something they could actually work with and make. And I did all of this without even realizing that this was a skill that gave even brilliant scientists fits.

I used to think that ENFP's just didn't make good technical folk and I was a complete freak for trying to make my way in that environment. Some stuff I've seen on these boards make me think that maybe it's more common than I thought. It's also possible that I've mistyped some of my more brilliant classmates and co-workers. I could totally see a hardcore brilliant ENFP stuffing his 'F' by the wayside to survive in a hardcore 'T' environment like that. ENFPs seem to be good chameleons to the point where it could have snuck by my radar.

I've spewed plenty here, thank you so much for reading this far. Please contribute large or small on your experiences. Heck, even if no one replies I'm happy to have gotten this essay off my chest as it's been weighing on me for a long time to summarize and express these thoughts and experiences.

Sounds like you got into chemistry to watch stuff go boom! Cmon you can admit it, we're all family here:laughing:

 

[AgAu]

Sounds like you got into chemistry to watch stuff go boom! Cmon you can admit it, we're all family here:laughing:

There's a little pyromaniac in every chemist I've ever met... Guilty as charged...

 

[ikky36]

There's a little pyromaniac in every chemist I've ever met... Guilty as charged...

You know what may be a good job for ENFPs? Wrecking ball operator. It doesn't take as much planning as the dynamite guy, not as much math as chemistry, and we get to go boom! and help with the building of something new for society.:laughing:

 

[jooooooo]

Hi!

I know it's an old post but I couldn't resist myself, as I am involved in science & technology (as well as in business), and I'm an ENFP.

I would describe myself as a MacGyver, or that's at least that's how I like to see myself - no matter what comes along the way, I can always improvise and adapt. I was good at every subject in school, and I also loved music and performing arts. Even now my GPA in the university of technology I study at is around 4,8/5,0. It's funny how people here mention that they've ended up studying life sciences. I started studying biotechnology 5 years ago, and it was great fun until I came to a point where I would have needed to dig really deep into a one, specific subject instead of doing "this and that". I found the idea of becoming a specialist - instead of being a generalist - really disturbing.

I had my Master's almost finished as I changed subject. There was a cool new Master's degree programme in technology which included neuroscience, data analytics, machine learning, bioinformatics, economics, social sciences, psychology, physics etc - a huge diversity of "this and that" around something really interesting - how our mind works. It got me really hooked up and I'm still on that path, and now I'm in a situation where I have to decide whether or not to pursue doctoral studies (gah!)

I've noticed that extreme diversity - the ability to be everything - is something I strongly desire. I honestly think I can do anything unless I decide I can't do something. Doing the same stuff over and over bores me quickly. I've had a really colorful employment history as well. I've been working during summers as a data scientist and from September to May as a sales director in a recruitment company alongside my studies. The thing was, that I enjoyed the extreme variability and the possibility to improvise in my work. I never knew I would be insanely good at sales and leading people until I started doing it. Now I work as a CEO in a startup I founded with a few friends. I sell our product, I develop machine learning algorithms, I do programming, I plan our strategy and do all kinds of analyses but most of all I love to inspire my co-workers and clients. I love the idea, that I could make somebody find an inspiration. I also work as a coach, as I love to see people achieve their dreams and I want to help them along the way.

TBH, I think ENFPs can be really exceptional leaders, inspirers and communicators. Science and technology also desperately needs people like that. Scientists typically aren't good communicators and that's what slows the development of science & technology down. However, we really need those scientists to dig deep into the subject!

I see no difficulties for an ENFP to be involved in a science & technology environment. My advise would just be to realize that your strengths are in inspiring people and building bridges over areas that do not communicate well with each other. There's plenty to do in this field! Seek for areas in science/technology where you can be the jack-of-all-trades! That's why I would also suggest being an entrepreneur involved in high-tech areas, if you are into technology. It really has the potential to provide an environment that really stimulates an ENFP !!!