INFJs in Computer Science

I studied CS. It always amazed me how I would enjoy the logical formulas and then realize that, once I was done with an assignment, I'd pursue my other hobbies. Amazingly, it was my ENTP friend who would persist in programming even outside of his schoolwork. Eventually he held two jobs as a programmer, and I held jobs with only minor relevance to programming.

I worked in two environments where we used SQL. One was a budgeting department, which was tolerable, because my supervisors treated me well. The other was an IT job, where my work team was more techie--a more relaxing environment for sure.

The logic is somewhat second-nature. But all in all, it was the logic and linguistics of computer science, not the profession and environment, that drew me. I am now studying psychology and language, but whether I will achieve a degree in these or not, I hope to stay close to the emotions of people. Even psychology is more of an exploration than a profession to pursue. But self-help and psychological health are areas that I have consistently been interested in.

I worked in IT and at a Helpdesk, earned a couple certifications as well. It's hard to say why I didn't find the job rewarding, I think it's a combination of reasons.

Pros:

I liked focusing on a problem and finding the solution. Maybe you can say it was partly the Intuition and Judging aspects that found the work satisfying.

I liked dealing with the people I would talk to and designing training courses for them.

The co-workers I became friends with were really good, fun people to be around and our humor and tastes were pretty much all the same.

Cons:

The complete and utter lack of reward after the job. On one hand, I could solve a problem and clean up all the loose ends. On the other, it didn't matter how many problems I solved, there would always be more of the same waiting for me.

Shallow conversations were another gripe of mine. I may have been able to talk with hundreds of people a day, but they were all shallow, meaningless conversations that didn't accomplish anything in personal terms. Combine that with the above - I'd fix a problem, have some meaningless chit-chat and move right along to the next person and next problem.

Come to think of it... it was the shallowness that permeates that field in general that really ate at me. The only thing I could really get involved with was the technical part of the job; my interactions with people, co-workers and even friends were all just really superficial.

PS - Oh and the bosses were all pricks! There was wayyyyy too much Te floating around and not nearly enough Fe. Or as some studies taught me, most people who get promotions don't get one due to their management/people skills, but due to their technical accomplishments... which leaves a lot of socially inept people in people-focused roles.

I'm still considering computer science as my major. I loved computer programming when I was younger, but as a career it would seem very boring and stressful.

I have quite a lot of programming experience, and I would definitely be interested be interested in a computing related job. However, I opted against a CS degree (in favour of philosophy, politics, and economics) as I felt that it wouldn't be that useful to the areas I am mainly interested in (User interface design, making things easier for people). I do enjoy programming when it is challenging, but increasingly I am using merely as a means to an end (partly because of lack of time to experiment)

I work in IT with various things, including programming, at times, it varies just how much.

I completely identify with not being a very good fit with the rest of the CS crowd, and yes if I would only punch in code all day long and do nothing else that would start to feel rather "cold" and distant after a while, I wouldn't be happy with that.

At the same time, I do really like programming in certain quantities if it poses some form of challenge or opportunity for creativity.

For me it's all about finding/having the right job, which may be hard to find for an INFJ. I would be absolutely miserable if I were working as a programmer at some big company where I was just 1 out of 300 other programmers and all I did was sitting in my office/cubicle and typing code all day long, that would be completely soul-destroying for me. But I am fortunate enough that I have actually found a job where my tasks are very varied, and I have a lot of freedom in my job - both regarding how to do my tasks and also what my tasks are, I get to interact with a lot of people, both people I know since before and new acquaintances, and most of the people I work with are anything but CS-people - usually they are actually highly intelligent and creative minds. So I'm in IT and I'm rather happy about it, but I have also been very lucky to find such a special job.

I am INFJ, working as a PHP developer and I love coding.

I'm INFJ and in my last year of a CS degree at college. I have a job at a small software company writing code for an educational software platform.

I can definitely relate to the feeling of being different than the typical CS crowd. I go to school with a lot of people who are stereotypical computer scientists: gamers, brilliant mathematicians, socially awkward unless they're talking about CS, etc. Start talking about the Linux kernel or the latest games on Steam, and they're all ears. Start talking about a creative field other than CS (music, photography, cinematography, writing, etc.) and they lose interest. Oh sure, they love consuming content; watching movies, listening to music, playing games, reading novels. But the majority of them aren't into creating it. They also typically are more interested in the back-end code than the user interface code, whereas I feel the user interface is extremely important. A good UI is useless without a correct back-end, yes, but if your backend is correct and has a terrible interface, who will ever want to use your product?

I enjoy CS because it's logical and I'm reasonably good at it, but as others have mentioned above, I typically consider it a means to an end. CS lets me flex my mental muscles in an interesting way. It provides a solid career, and I've found a job where I can make a positive difference writing code to solve a problem that I believe is important. Our company is small (fewer than 50 employees) and it's a very freeform work environment with a lot of creative, intelligent minds. Original ideas are encouraged, and I feel that even though I'm an intern there, if I made a suggestion of how things could be improved, they would take it seriously and do something about it if they could. I imagine that working for a large corporation would be a completely different experience, one that I would not enjoy as much unless I was on a small team with similar dynamics.

All that being said, I find CS a bit dry at times. All code and no purpose makes me bored. When I'm not busy with CS, you will typically find me playing a musical instrument, taking pictures, or writing an email to a friend...

I graduated as CS, worked for a few years as a programmer but didn't really tried to prolong my career on it. I however, do a part time work as a programmer/designer. I still love the logic behind programming but i'd rather teach than do it.

I am currently a preschool teacher for kids with special needs lol very much away from the programming field but more personal fulfillment is gained.


As to being "distant" (i prefer it than cold) yeah, people often tell me that i am. It's probably due to being alone or preferrig to be alone but I change a full 360 once im with the kids though.

As a former "gamer" and big fan of overclocking, used to work in IT. In the beginning it started with making mods and maps for cod4. Shortly after that got connections in IT business and got my first job as a web designer. First year I had an explosion of creativity and second year it turned into line working. Every day same things but with different text and colors. It began to stress and make me feel like rotten, especially during summer. I quit and got job working with hardware. A lot of field work. It didn't work out because my boss was an asshole and I ended up doing web design while other workers were on field repairing computers. I also ended up selling and setting up game servers, audio/video servers and hosting servers. Hated that job, sql and everything else that comes with it. Seeing putty or similar apps makes me wanna puke..
After that I got job administrating cash registers, local servers and office computers but didn't get salary for 3 months so I quit (Still pressing lawsuits but fighting with total corruption).
Meanwhile I got my first camera for photos I needed for web. Little Olympus superzoom. Started to carry it with me because I was unemployed and had more time and with time, wanted more from camera and bought first dslr, Olympus e520. Used it for about one year and wanted more and then more and more.. and soon it became way too expensive so I started shooting for money. One thing led to another, now I'm in my own business, doing what I like, rejecting what I don't like and it feels very good
Can't even remember anymore how to open command in php //really, I don't
..and it feels awesome

Just to brag a bit, in past I held local OC record, had my old Intel e8400 working above 4GHz 24/7 on air and hitting 5GHz with liquid nitrogen and q9550 working above 4GHz on air 24/7 and hitting 4.6GHz with N.
..lol what a waste of time, life and money

I love the puzzles I face when programming. However, when I do technical stuff to long (few weeks) I feel like my emotions are neglected. Like a part of me is not appreciated. So alot of variety, technical and creative, is what I enjoy most. Sometimes I wake up and feel either mostly rational or emotional. It's like two sides in me struggling to express themselves. Mostly they are well balanced thank goodness.

Hi @Mogura,

I graduated with a degree in computer science a few years ago and have worked in various capacities in the tech industry since, as a teacher, as technical support, as someone who basically just worked with databases all day, and as a lead developer in a small company.

I agree with a lot of people here. If you have a really active social life, then the time to introvert at work can be very nice. The problem solving aspect can also be fun, but it really depends on the pacing. Some days I get plenty of time to chat with others and read and write and draw, and in those cases, it can be quite nice. However, there also tend to be long cycles of pressure and crunch where all we do all day is code. These I tend to find extremely draining. Using only a very small portion of your brain all day is not what I'd consider fun, and as @Lerxts mentioned, once you have solved one issue, there are endless more just like it.

I would not totally agree that conversations are always shallow. For me, it really has varied a lot depending on the location and company culture. However, I have also experienced this frustration more often than not.

I would say overall this has been a "chill" career for me, a way to unwind from the other more important, passionate, and at times stressful things going on in my life. I would not say it's been particularly rewarding. That said, part of the reason I chose this path is that monetary and competitive incentives have had a tendency to destroy my intrinsic joy from activities, so for the time, I'm keeping it light.

Also, if I get to work from home soon, as promised, my ability to time manage well would mean that I can spend my time 90% creating art and music and being around loved ones and doing whatever else I like and about 10% problem solving, which for me would feel pretty wonderful.

Not sure if I am INFJ... I use to be INTJ I believe when I took the test in high school and it said that I would be good in computer science/logical careers. I went college for philosophy major first then switching to CS because I loved problem solving. I find that I am better than average people at reading people and knowing their intentions very easily. I am now working at as software engineer because that's what I thought I wanted to do but I always knew deep down that this was just a means to the end. I wanted to do something that would a positive impact to people and one of my goals is to make enough money so that I can start a business that would help the homeless. It was really hard for me to figure out what I wanted to do after college. I wasn't the best programmer but I just knew I enjoyed solving problems. I tried out IT as my first job but got super bored immediately because it was so repetitive. I still enjoy programming a lot but I do feel I am not like them. I am not as nerdy as I need to be for this job if you know what I mean... Also lately I have been thinking a lot more about big picture. My company is struggling and I just want to help out more in more of how we can change to get out of this hole. Just retook a personality test on 16personalities but not sure how accurate that is. After reading the result of INFJ it does really sound like me... Does personalities change over time?