INTP in business?

[MosMaiorum]

I'm interested in a career in business. I'm wondering how an INTP, such as myself, can fit into the business world.

I'm not even remotely close to being a math whiz, but I'm not mathematically illiterate (700 on SAT I Math section.) I'm pretty sure I don't have the natural skills or academic background needed to go into the quantitative side of finance, trading, etc.

Also, I'm kind of deficient when it comes to "professional" social skills. "Office politics" is something that I can't fully understand, and I don't expect to ever fully understand it. I'm someone who values evidence, facts, and results; I don't really care about or understand the logic behind how people feel about the evidence, facts, and results.

To put it concisely, I'm a strategist and problem-solver. However, I'm not a math genius (especially when it comes to spatio-visual reasoning, my weakest area of mathematical reasoning), and I'm far from being a social butterfly.

Is there a place for me in the private sector?

 

[Absurdity]

1. Look at job postings.
2. Find ones that seem interesting.
3. See what background they require.
4. If it seems doable, acquire said background.

Also most finance roles don't require anything beyond 8th grade math.

 

[Inquisitor]

What's your age range?

 

[Tannhauser]

1. Look at job postings.
2. Find ones that seem interesting.
3. See what background they require.
4. If it seems doable, acquire said background.

Also most finance roles don't require anything beyond 8th grade math.

Most finance roles require either a degree in economics, engineering or some other quantitative field..

To OP: most people who get mathematical degrees are not math geniuses either, it's not that hard to get a degree. I am definitely not, but I did it because I indeed wanted to do quantitative finance.

 

[MosMaiorum]

What's your age range?

I'm in my early 20s. I have a soft social science degree.

 

[MosMaiorum]

Most finance roles require either a degree in economics, engineering or some other quantitative field..

To OP: most people who get mathematical degrees are not math geniuses either, it's not that hard to get a degree. I am definitely not, but I did it because I indeed wanted to do quantitative finance.

Well, I already have a non-quantitative degree...

 

[Inquisitor]

what soft social science?

 

[MosMaiorum]

what soft social science?

Political Science.

 

[Rainer]

I think accounting is a good field for INTPs. Accounting is a very diverse profession and there are lots of specialties that would be interesting to INTPs, such as auditing. I find being a Full Charge Bookkeeper (the sole bookkeeper for a small business who handles everything) a decently diverse job, though it has plenty of boring parts.

Being a loan officer, for example, requires too much salesmanship and social schmoozing and is intellectually boring. I think finance in general is a lot more boring than accounting unless you are a quant or something.

Get a Master's in a Accounting, get a year of experience working at an accounting firm, pass the CPA exam, and you can open your own accounting firm immediately and be free! Or you can take on important financial analysis roles in businesses with the CPA designation.

 

[LOLZ9000]

I've done "business" stuff for the last 10 years. I would find accounting type work painfully boring as it would not allow me to exercise my Ne. I am also not good at office politics, in that it doesn't come naturally and I don't care enough to try, though I am not BAD at it, I just don't do it.

It's been an okay ride. In general, strategy/finance type work can be quite intellectually challenging compared to other corporate careers. Even then, it is always going to be a lot of execution vs. creative thinking. But compared to most careers, it is a decent fit.

The nice thing is, as much as work isn't ideal sometimes, this type of career pays well and will allow you to build a nest egg faster. As an indecisive INTP, I've spent a lot of time overanalyzing next steps in my career and not making a decision at all. It's always better to be static/indecisive in a well-paying, "good on paper" type of role than a dead-end one, so I have few career regrets despite never having loved my job.

 

[manishboy]

This is me too --

I'm a strategist and problem-solver.

There's no such thing as a generic strategist and problem solver. You might be clever but business don't want clever it want things to get done. So get a specialty. If you don't like math but do like analysis, try something like IT, maybe business intelligence. You can also do finance without be a "quant" but it's not much better than accounting. Which brings me to accounting: be careful about doing the accounting thing. I wrote software of accounting and financial for years and accounting is mind numbing. Doing the software for it better, but not a whole lot.