Hi all, I just joined and figured I'd throw in my two cents on INFPs in science. I'm an INFP physicist. I've always been interested in the sciences, among other things, and ended up studying physics all through grad school. I have almost ten years of work experience now and I'm certainly no different than many INFPs here in being completely lost in terms of job and career. Let me say this first: I've always love the sciences and discovered physics as an undergraduate. It focuses on the big picture and the underlying ideas of how the world works, and I love that. Honestly I could do without the tedious details of calculating this or that. It has always been about understanding the underlying concepts that make nature work and how different phenomena relate to each other. However, being a practicing researcher in one of the hard sciences is not all it's cracked up to be. Unfortunately I was well into grad school before I figured that out. Working with faculty and attending conferences taught me what I needed to know, but way too late. Scientists and engineers are among the most closed minded people I've ever met and many are almost impossible to work around. They are incredibly egotistical, stuck in their ways and ideas, and always ready to tear apart anyone around them if they don't like something about their work. Whether in academics or industry, it can be quite a nasty environment to work in for an INFP unless you can figure out how to build a thick shell around you, something I have not been able to do. If relationships with your co-workers or customers is important to you, then think long and hard about a career in science because you are bound to be working with some arrogant and intolerant characters.
Another thing I didn't realize when I entered grad school is that the whole "publish or perish" thing is completely true and getting tenure at a university completely revolves around pumping out publications in major journals and bringing in grant money. The focus is not so much on quality science or papers, but on the money you bring in and the sheer quantity of papers you publish. You better be able to get along with the peer reviewers at the journal too, because if they don't like your paper for any reason, they'll shut you out and prevent you from publishing it. After five or six years, you will be judged by your peers on whether you are acceptable to the academy by your papers and grant money, and if you don't cut it then out you go. Academics is a cut throat and political business and if that doesn't fit your ideals, you will suffer. I chose not to go into academia once I learned this.
As for research, you must specialize in some tiny corner of your chosen field and pour your energy into working in that tiny area and publishing paper after paper on the same subject matter. Looking at journals you can quickly see the same professors publishing essentially the same papers over and over again with some small detail changed. Usually it is just an extension of their dissertation. It is not the idealistic world of being some free spirited professor that can study whatever they want and whenever they want. Maybe after you go through the tenure ordeal, you can make that happen. If you survive that, then you're in and you have more freedom--subject to teaching demands, university committee assignments, and bureaucratic administration.
Grants: grant funding is determined by government bureaucrats and political interests. if you want funding for something that is not the flavor of the day, good luck getting some money. Science is an intensely political enterprise these days, far from the ideal of a bunch of open minded intellectuals pondering the nature of things.
How did I manage? I worked in the federal government for a while and now I'm working for a company, though most of our revenues are supported by government funding. I work with jerks for co-workers and customers, in general. The egos are incredible, the attitudes are cynical and nasty, and good luck with forming any kind of satisfying personal relationships with them that give your work greater meaning. For me, the people i'm around have always shaped whether I've had a good day or bad day far more than the details of the work I'm doing on any given day. It took me a long time to realize this but it is crystallizing and all I want to do now is get away from these people.
So my point? I would never discourage anyone from the sciences-they're wonderful and I don't regret studying physics--but no one sat me down when I was younger and discussed with me the realities of working in science and engineering and I had to find out all of this for myself. I'm not sure what I would have done differently, but at least I would have not been so surprised at how nasty of a business it can be. Please just beware of this before you take the plunge!
I don't see why an INFP can't be a research scientist!
