I am INTP

[GuanoLoco]

I've been through 5-6 of these, usually either as a way to help an acquired management team assimilate with an incumbent management team, or as some kind of team-building or leadership growth exercise.

I'd categorize it as mostly harmless as far as such things go in the workplace. One of the proprietary Meyers-Briggs variants I actually found to be fairly useful in improving communications and relationships with people who are useful but simply wired differently.

[ragnar_d]

The first (and only time) I took the test was in the late 1980s. Before then, I had never heard of it. I figured out the introvert and extrovert questions, but I answered all the other ones truthfully in an honest quest to discover myself. I turned out to be an ISTJ, and the person giving the class said that I'd be good in law enforcement. At the time, I was in my late 20s, and for better or worse, had already invested eight years of college getting an advanced degree in engineering and had no interest in doing something else.

I took that test for an odd reason. As I said, I was in my late 20s, and was a year or two into my career. My company offered a program management class, and I thought that it would be a good class to help my career and learn some leadership skills. But instead of program management, we spent the entire class going over that silly test. At the beginning of the class, I thought it might eventually lead to learning how to effectively interact and manage the different personality types, but we never go close to that. Turned out to be a waste of time.

Sounds exactly like my experience, down to the type, advice, and subsequent experiences. I've been trying to get into program or product management since I got a taste of it in a couple years ago because it interests the hell out of me but seems like you've gotta be one to become one.

And yeah, I heard from more than one person (wife included) that I would have made a good police officer, but I doubt I could pull that off nowadays (especially in my AO).

[LOKNLOD]

I've been through 5-6 of these, usually either as a way to help an acquired management team assimilate with an incumbent management team, or as some kind of team-building or leadership growth exercise.

I'd categorize it as mostly harmless as far as such things go in the workplace. One of the proprietary Meyers-Briggs variants I actually found to be fairly useful in improving communications and relationships with people who are useful but simply wired differently.

Agreed. The MBTI variants have been by far the best of breed, with the most accurate and usable information. A very in-depth version I took as part of a leadership program at a previous job turned out to be pretty helpful in ferreting out some better ways of doing things with one of my reports. A lot of the other tests (Birkman?) I found to be pretty useless, especially for the intended purpose of team building/understanding. They were more useful for wasting an afternoon in a meeting and transferring funds to some consultant's account.

They are all highly dependent on the individuals taking the test at face value and are best if they go in "blind" as to what the results will look like. Once you know, it's pretty easy to game it to steer results or over-self-analyze on each question. If you've been looking at "which star wars character is your MBTI" charts before taking the test and [I]really/I] want to be Yoda or something, it's going to skew your answers.

[Yung]

Is that...directed at a certain poster *only*?

It was, but I got you.

[GuanoLoco]

Once you know, it's pretty easy to game it to steer results or over-self-analyze on each question.

THIS

[That Guy]

I suppose I am an ISTP. Some sort of people-hating introvert, at any rate. I've seen several types of multiple choice or check-the-box psychological exams and I think they are all pretty much useless, as anyone with two and a half brain cells can pick and choose the answers that lead to desired outcomes. So I'm not really giving much weight to some random on-line personality test. (And to clarify, no I did not do the one that was linked to earlier as that costs money. I'm not about to spend $5 for something like that!)

Of course, days later, I realize my stupid joke might have been funnier as simply "IMTJ". This is why I'm not a comedian.

You do realize comedians don't make up their jokes on the stage, don't you?

#holdontoyourdreams

[NH Shooter]

I use the test for honest and objective self-evaluation, so there is zero reason to game the results for that use. I understand that it can be gamed and depending on the circumstances one is subjected to it, that might sway how questions are answered.

I am INTP, it fits me to a T and I'm OK with that.

[John Hearne]

INTJ here.

FWIW, I found the profile from the DISC to be more useful in understanding myself. I am an off-the-scale "C."

[LSP552]

I'd categorize it as mostly harmless as far as such things go in the workplace. One of the proprietary Meyers-Briggs variants I actually found to be fairly useful in improving communications and relationships with people who are useful but simply wired differently.

^ This. It’s useful for dealing with people who communicate differently. Having a better understanding of how people function is a + when you are trying to have your way with them.

[jtcarm]

Relational Database design.

Data Architects, the bane of my existence!