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Personality type & software development
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Personality type, software development and computing education

"Perl was created for someone like you,by someone like you, with the collaboration of many other someones like you."

— Larry Wall, in the Introduction to Learning Perl

Not by or for anyone even remotely like me...

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"We realize the skills, intellect and personality we seek are rare, and our compensation plan reflects that. In return, we expect TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE COMMITMENT to project success — overcoming all obstacles to create applications on time and within budget."

— Software developer advertisement, 1995

"Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphan preferred. Wages $25 per week."

— Pony Express advertisement, 1860

  • Stereotype of programmer: nerdy, socially awkward, working all night, fuelled by pizza and soft drinks...

  • Students consistently rate computing jobs at the bottom of the list of career choices

  • Worldwide shortage of programmers

  • Serious gender imbalance: women even less attracted to programming than men

Questions

  • Why are so few people attracted to programming?

  • What sort of people are attracted to programming?

  • Do the stereotypes put people off?

  • Is there something about the way programming is taught that puts people off?

  • Software development doesn't just need hard-core coding skills — is programming turning away people who would otherwise have good careers as analysts, designers, user-interface designers...?

History of personality type

  • Plato (c. 350 BC)
  • Aristotle (c. 330 BC)
  • Galen (c. 200 AD) "humours"

The four humours

The four humours

— Source: Wikipedia

Humours and temperaments

Humour Element Organ Qualities Temperament Characteristics
Blood Air Liver Warm & moist Sanguine Courageous, Hopeful, Amorous
Yellow bile Fire Spleen Warm & dry Choleric Angry, Bad tempered
Black bile Earth Gall bladder Cold & dry Melancholic Despondent, Sleepless, Irritable
Phlegm Water Brain/Lungs Cold & moist Phlegmatic Calm, Unemotional

More recent history

  • Jung (1920) "Psychological type"

    • Based on observation, inspired by earlier ideas
    • Only by understanding our differences can we get beyond intolerance and achieve respect and cooperation]

  • Katherine Briggs & Isabel Briggs Myers (1962) "The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator"

    • Close to the spirit of Jung
    • More systematic
    • More evidence-based

The four axes

Introvert (I) vs Extrovert (E)

Sensate (S) vs Intuitive (N)

Thinker (T) vs Feeler (F)

Judger (J) vs Perceiver (P)

Note:

  • Each is a continuum: preferences can be weak or strong
  • None is good or bad

Extroversion vs Introversion

Extroverts (E) Introverts (I)
Expressive Reserved
Energised by prolonged contact Drained...
Drained by time alone Engergised...
Speak before (or as) they think Think before they speak
External motivation Internal motivation
Process ideas by talking Can't process while anyone is talking
Need contact Need time alone

If their needs for contact / solitude are not met:

  • E's can become depressed
  • I's become anxious, irritable and confused

Our culture was largely created by E's for E's: Extroversion is seen as good/desirable, introversion as bad/shameful/something to be fixed

Sensing vs Intuition

Sensates (S) Intuitives (N)
Observant / What is Imaginative / What could be
Body Mind
Quantitative Qualitative
Experiment Theory
Facts in the real world Theories, patterns, ideas
Attention to detail Bored by detail
Not interested in theory Facts are only interesting in context of theory
"Trees" "Forest"

  • There are many more S's than N's in the world

  • N's at their best: Einstein

  • N's taken to an extreme: John Nash (A beautiful mind)

Thinking vs Feeling

Thinkers (T) Feelers (F)
Tough-minded Friendly
Objective Sympathetic
Practical Personal
"Get the job done" That can feel brutal
Being right Values and feelings

  • F's will compromise to avoid hurting someone's feelings

  • Extreme T's will lose friends over arguments about trivia

  • This is about how people instinctively make decisions

  • This is the only polarity with a strong gender bias

Judging vs Perceiving

Judgers (J) Perceivers (P)
Scheduling / planning Looking around for alternatives
Work steadily Work in bursts of creativity
Love plans and stick to them Can't stand plans
Feel lost without plans Feel trapped by plans
Hate to change plans Prefer to be flexible
Like to make decisions early Put off decisions as long as possible

  • According to J's, they are organised while P's are chaotic

  • According to P's, they are flexible while J's are rigid

The 16 types
ISTJ
"Inspector"		 ISFJ
"Protector"		 INFJ
"Counsellor"		 INTJ
"Mastermind"
ISTP
"Crafter"		 ISFP
"Composer"		 INFP
"Healer"		 INTP
"Architect"
ESTP
"Promoter"		 ESFP
"Performer"		 ENFP
"Champion		 ENTP
"Inventor"
ESTJ
"Supervisor"		 ESFJ
"Provider"		 ENFJ
"Teacher"		 ENTJ
"Field Marshal"

The four temperaments

  • SJ Melancholic / "Guardian": ISTJ, ISFJ, ESTJ, ESFJ

  • SP Sanguine / "Artisan": ISTP, ISFP, ESTP, ESFP

  • NF Choleric / "Idealist": INFJ, INFP, ENFJ, ENFP

  • NT Phlegmatic / "Rationalist": INTJ, INTP, ENTJ, ENTP

Frequencies of the preferences
Extrovert 45-53% Introvert 47-55%
Sensate 66-74% iNtuitive 26-34%
Thinker 40-50% Feeler 50-60%
Judger 54-60% Perceiver 40-46%
  • Note that this data is for the US. Frequencies might be different in other countries.
  • Also these are estimates: there is significant uncertainty

Source: http://www.capt.org/mbti-assessment/estimated-frequencies.htm

Frequencies of the types
ISTJ 11-14% ISFJ 9-14% INFJ 1-3% INTJ 2-4%
ISTP 4-6% ISFP 5-9% INFP 4-5% INTP 3-5%
ESTP 4-5% ESFP 4-9% ENFP 6-8% ENTP 2-5%
ESTJ 8-12% ESFJ 9-13% ENFJ 2-5% ENTJ 2-5%

How does this relate to us?

Frequencies for software developers

Software developers General population
Introverts (I) > 50% about 50%
Thinkers (T) 80-90% < 50%
Intuitives (N) about 50% 25-34%
ISTJ 25-40% 11-14%

Internal Google study

"... top three MBTI types: 23.6% are INTJ, 12.5% are ENTJ, and 10.7% are INTP. The general population is 3% INTJ, 3.5% ENTJ, and 4% INTP."

Sensing vs iNtuiting

  • Tools, including languages, need to be adapted to the user

    • Perl was clearly created by an S for other S's

  • Design / architecture vs implementation

Perceiving vs Judging

  • Traditional software engineering processes were created by J's

  • CMM: Organisations need J's to get to Level 3, but then can't get beyond that

  • Extreme programming & other agile methods: Process for P's?

Feeling vs Thinking

  • Correctness: Need T's (F's may feel bad about finding or reporting other people's bugs)

  • Teamwork: need F's (T's may tend to offend their team-mates)

  • Client interaction: need F's, or well educated / trained T's

Introvert vs Extrovert

  • Physical environment (e.g. cubicles, shared offices) Introverts need solitude

  • Interaction with colleagues (e.g. long meetings are torture for introverts)

  • Computer interface

  • Interaction with clients

Type in computing education

  • Perceiving vs Judging:
    • It may not help to force rigid J methods on all students
  • Feeling vs Thinking:
    • It might help to balance types in groups for team projects
  • Sensing vs iNtuiting:
    • To S's, learning = memorising: "Understanding? What does that even mean?"
    • Most computing students are S's / Most lecturers are N's (?)
    • Can programming language choice influence the way students think about programming?

More thoughts / questions

  • Soft skills vs hard skills: don't want to put off F's in early stages of a course — will need them later

  • Maturity can mean being able to choose how to act (from either side of a polarity), in other words transcending your type

  • When stressed, people can sometimes act as their opposite (e.g. N acts like an S, I acts like an E), but generaly not effectively

  • How does gender stereotyping fit with all this?

Further reading