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Subject:Re: Careers For People Who Don't Like People From:Phil03 <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com> To:Ken Stitzel <kstitzel -at- symplified -dot- com> Date:Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:13:29 +0700
On 19 Jul 2012, at 22:43, Ken Stitzel <kstitzel -at- symplified -dot- com> wrote:
> the tests gave me some
> numbers and terminology to better define and discuss parts of myself.
Precisely. That is the value of such tools like these, and many others. Insofar as they do that, I'm all for them :)
However, unless you're speaking *very loosely*, the following directly contradicts that:
> It told me why I wasn't happy with …., why I sucked as …., why I'm happier …,
> why I get so ….by some things, why I …
No, honestly, it didn't. You are telling yourself these things and externalising the authority for that narrative onto the test and the vocabulary and concepts used in the test. You seem to be in danger of seeing that narrative as objectively true, rather than as a tool for reflection:
> [It told me] and what types of tech writing (or other) jobs I should steer for when I
> can.
Instilling this kind of fear in yourself and limiting your future opportunities based on such a test is really not in your best interests. If the people who conducted this test are promoting this outcome it is quite pernicious. Never limit your future by fear of what you may nor may not be able to do based on these kinds of analyses. You're not the same 'person' (whatever that means) the next time you go for a job as you were when you were in college, or when you had experience X at company Y in the past. The whole idea that jobs (just like persons) come in simple 'types' that can be neatly parcelled up as 'the sort I can do' and 'the sort I can't' is a naive fiction that fails to take into account not only the changing nature and experience of the individual but also the complexity and particularity of situational and temporal factors that influence how we perform and feel in any given occupational setting.
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