Am I actually an ENTP?

Hi everyone. I’m a 22 year old male engineering student. I’ve been on your sub for about three weeks, though I’ve known about this stuff for over a year now. So I was initially typed here by peppermint-kiss (to whom, make no mistake, I am very grateful) as being INFJ, which I have hesitatingly have been running with for a little while now.

So I guess the main problem is that I know that I’m using the TiFe function axis but my perception function axis choice feels a lot less certain, which is made harder by the often contradictory definitions of Ni and Si and the fact that I might be having a very hard time even noticing my own dominant function.

I’ve started to notice that the type that I envy and admire the most (by a large margin) are the NTPs and especially the ENTPs. Guys like Jon Stewart, Richard Feynman, John Cleese, Werner Heisenberg, Voltaire, Jeremy Clarkson, Albert Einstein, and Steve Wozniak have all been huge personal role models and heroes for me! I remember watching this interview of Feynman when I was 15 just nodding my head non-stop and thinking to myself “This guy just totally gets it. I agree with practically everything he says.” It remains my favorite interview ever.

I just love their humor, wit, precision of thought, and generally irreverent, incisive, and expansive minds. From when I was small I felt a natural attraction to model the philosophy and structure behind my own thought processes in their clear and anti-biased ways. I share their wide eyed curiosity about the world and their lighthearted approach to serious things as well their hatred of closed systems of thought and repression of intellectual freedom and agility. Which kind of seems to go against Ni.

I’m wondering if the reason that I love the way they think and talk is because I might be one of them! So I need you to help type me!

I’m normally a fairly quiet person who thinks before they speak and tries to put things in as precise terms as possible. But I can be made to get very excited when talking about (for example) abstract linear algebra or the postulates of quantum mechanics and teaching and sharing knowledge with people who are interested is one of the most satisfying kinds of things that I do. In college, people always wanted to study with me because they knew that not only did I really understand the material reeeally well, but that I'd tirelessly, enthusiastically, and patiently teach them all of it.

However, unlike Ne users, I almost always try to stay on topic and I don’t really bring in analogies as much as I try to talk about the subject directly. I’ve felt, at least in interactions with Ne users I know personally, that I’ve always ended up playing the straight man but still very much able to appreciate what they were talking about. Though I admit they can start to test my patience when they go off of some interesting topic. I’ve also tend to care more than the NPs that I’ve known, which is to say that I ultimately always get my homework and assignments done and I generally care about doing high quality work despite the fact that I am as unscheduled and unplanned as they are. As a result of this minimum level of conscientiousness, I manage do extremely well in my engineering program.

My niceness to other people is another point of contradiction! When I’m alone I can think very critically of other people and their behavior or reasoning. For example, I know practically all the arguments I would use against the existence of god. But when I’m in any kind of setting where there are people around, I become very uncritical, accommodating, and unjudgemental of their behaviors and opinions. At most, I will only gently and politely correct them and that’s only if I feel like some harm might come from incorrect behavior. For instance, I have never had a religious debate with a theist or told them that they were wrong even when they were trying to convince me. At most, I’ve only ever politely stated my belief and patiently and openly held a conversation to understand their beliefs. When I’m alone, I tell myself that I’d never pay for anyone’s lunch, but when my friend forgets their wallet I’ll unthinkingly pay for them. It’s very hard to shut down or say no to people. I even get slightly nauseated when I see other people doing (like making stupid threads) things that will get them put down and I'll avert my eyes lol! For example, when Jon Stewart ripped apart Jim Cramer I couldn't help but feel really bad for the Cramer even though I felt Stewart's criticisms were very legitimate; it's not something I would do.

So basically, when I’m alone I am a cold rationalist critical thinker and when I’m with other people I’m just nicest nice warm teddy bear. This doesn’t seem like ENTP behavior. I'll admit that of all the type related subs, I've enjoyed theirs the most.

So guys… am I an ENTP or just someone who really like them? I’m happy to answer any questions!

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So I didn't really write enough and I think you'd find my short post history more useful, so here are a few select posts of mine from this and other mbti subs so you can a better idea of how I think:

Thread where I got typed.

My thread on INTP ethics.

Me talking on ENTP sub about gravitational wave energy extraction.

My post on music I associate with each function, notice that ENTPs like my music.

My post that caused me to make this thread!

Me on some crackpot mbti astrology thread.

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Can confirm. My ISTJ buddy babies me and makes sure that I don't die when we go camping because I can't start a fire, figure out how to pitch a tent, know if the food is fully cooked, dress myself properly for the cold, identify poison ivy, or notice the bear 30 yards away. Keeping a useless N type from accidentally killing themselves is pretty sweet. :)

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This sort of reminds me how I used to hate Sundays as a child because my family would all just nap throughout the day. It's actually a worse feeling when there are people around you could talk with but can't than when there aren't any people at all!

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I'm also finishing up an engineering degree, specifically in Astronautical Engineering! What kind of engineering are you pursuing?

The fact that you've made it halfway and still manage to get good grades and enjoy the subject should be a great sign that you'll probably do just fine once you're out in industry.

As long as you can remain technically objective in your decision making and thick-skinned in the face of (as is often with engineering) tactlessly delivered criticism, I think your coworkers would only care about the quality of your work and might even appreciate someone who brings in that NF color and caring to their workplace. You should definitely be willing to speak up and defend your ideas with good facts and analysis.

I have a feeling that your concerns about being useful might go away if you do some kind of an internship (if you haven't already) where you can see your ability to function in a work environment for yourself.

While I think that Te (like INTJ and ISTJ) preferring types are the most likely to go into and enjoy engineering, there shouldn't be any reason an F type can't do it if they were interested. I think NFs' main problems in engineering would stem from maintaining motivation in specialized positions where the meaning and significance of their work is hard to see and from keeping track of the level of nitpicky detail sometimes required since NFs tend to think a little more holistically.

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I feel like people get tattoos because they have some meaning that's important to them. But it's myopic because the things and goals and ideas that people hold as important, the values they cherish, the relationships they have, and the maxims they live their lives by evolve and change over time (even if over decades) as they mature and are exposed to shifts in perspective and the world around them. There are plenty of things I once thought meant the world that I can now look back upon and realize how trivial, misguided, or situational those beliefs were.

So to me it seems somewhat presumptuous to get a tattoo of anything as it indicates that the person denies the possibility that the significance of the thing the tattoo symbolizes might change in meaning, maybe for the worse, or fade completely. Then, they're left with what is effectively a scar of their presumption.

So while I respect the choice of those who do get them, I'd never get a tattoo for these reasons. I don't claim that this is representative of my type, which I'm still unsure of!

…aaannnd also because I'm very sensitive to pain, needles scare the hell out of me, skin gets wrinkly and sagged. That too lol.