o_19kdfsn0q18e31dfraas1esh19vta.pdf

Engineering
A survey of ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) students found that INTJs were
strongly represented (read here—see page 13 for a nice chart on which types like which areas of
engineering). For male engineering students, 9.95% were INTJ; for female engineering students,
7.07% were INTJ. 248 The survey further broke down the broader field of engineering into
specialties to determine how much each type was attracted to each specialty. For instance, out of all
the aerospace engineering students, 20.18% were INTJs.
Aerospace engineering 20.18%
Electrical engineering 12.54
Geological engineering 11.27
Mechanical engineering 10.62
Chemical engineering 9.89
Computer engineering 7.88
Petroleum engineering 7.07
Civil engineering 3.88
Aerospace engineering was the favorite field of INTJs and ENTJs, and it was also strongly liked by
ISTJs. Wish I knew what the big attraction was, but I don't. It may be worth noting that INTJs are
not equally attracted to all aspects of aerospace engineering. A small study of 44 avionics (avionics
is the electrical equipment on airplanes) students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University had only
2 INTJs, though one would have expected 9 (read here). 249 It might seem likely that a marriage
between the two INTJ favorites, aerospace and electrical engineering, would strongly draw INTJs,
but apparently this is not the case. Perhaps a larger sample would find otherwise.
What about electrical engineering? Here there are no clear patterns; it was a midrange field for
most types, neither shunned nor adored. However, INTPs also favored electrical engineering as
their second favorite specialty, so we are probably looking at an INT thing. Another study 250 in
Canada actually found that INTJs were the type that most liked electrical engineering (read here).
Oddly enough, that same study found that Canadian engineering students (1,314 of them) were
more introverted and perceiving than American engineering students. So apparently the
composition of engineers varies by country.
Civil engineering was a huge Guardian favorite, and a huge Rational least favorite. Choiniere and
Keirsey (1992) have explained that civil engineering appeals to Guardians because it allows them to
build structures that have already been thoroughly explored: roads, bridges, canals, etc. Rationals,
on the other hand, tend to be more attracted by the task of designing cutting edge experimental
technologies: nanites, robotics, artificial organs, brain interfaces, etc.
Or what about the fields of agriculture engineering and nuclear engineering, which were not
covered in the ASEE study? Agricultural engineers were found to be 83% introverts, 75% sensors,
and 50% Judgers. 251 (Not having full access to the data in this study, I can't give you the percentage
for Thinking.) For nuclear engineers, 70% were intuitives and 77% were thinkers. A very NT field;
clearly somebody likes playing with reactors. (Read brief summary here—see page 4.)
Many, many studies have been done on what types are most attracted to engineering, and I regret
not having the resources to obtain them all. Generally speaking, engineering seems to attract ISTJs
248 McCaulley in Wankat & Oreovicz, 1992
249 Neal & Neal, 2009
250 Rosati, 1998
251 McCaulley in Yokomoto & Ware, 1999