MBTI Results for Software Developers

Two large studies have found the most common personality type for software developers is ISTJ,[6] a personality type that tends to be serious and quiet, practical, orderly, logical, and successful through concentration and thoroughness. ISTJs comprise from 25 to 40 percent of software developers.[7]

Consistent with the stereotype, programmers are indeed introverts. One-half to two-thirds of the software development population is introverted compared to about one-quarter of the general population.[8] Part of the reason for the majority of software developers being Is might be that more Is pursue higher education, and programmers are more educated than average. About 60 percent of software developers have attained at least a bachelor's degree, compared to about 30 percent of the general population.[9]

The S/N (sensing/intuition) and T/F (thinking/feeling) attributes are particularly interesting because they describe an individual's decision-making style. Eighty to 90 percent of software developers are Ts compared to about 50 percent of the general population.[10] Compared to the average, Ts are more logical, analytical, scientific, dispassionate, cold, impersonal, concerned with matters of truth, and unconcerned with people's feelings.

Programmers are approximately evenly split between Ss and Ns, and the difference between the two will be immediately recognizable to most software developers. Ss are methodical, live in the world of what can be accomplished now, are precise, concrete, and practical, like to specialize, and like to develop a single idea in depth rather than several ideas at once. Ns are inventive, live in the world of possibility and theories, like to generalize, and like to explore many alternative ideas. An example of an S is an expert programmer who is intimately acquainted with every detail of a specific programming language or technology. An example of an N is a designer who considers wide-ranging possibilities and shrugs off low-level technical issues as "implementation details." Ss sometimes aggravate Ns because they go deep into technical details before Ns feel the breadth has been adequately explored. Ns sometimes aggravate Ss because they jump from one design idea to the next before Ss feel they have explored any particular technical area in sufficient depth.



Professional Software Development(c) Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, [... ]reers
Professional Software Development(c) Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, [... ]reers
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 164

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