Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Gradually returning to normal

I'm finding myself starting to worry about the same things that worried me before I got sick. Does software development interest me enough to keep doing it? What would I rather be doing all day? How can I keep solvent long enough to learn to do what it is I really should be doing? What exactly do I aspire to?

I wish I could keep the concern for the big picture, but not as worry per se. Worrying is pointless and stupid. Doing something to change the situation, that's where I need to spend my mental energy.

I finally finished all the tests for my next career counseling appointment tomorrow: MBTI, Strong, PF16. I actually like tests like that -- they help clarify my thinking about career issues -- but a few of the questions were vexing. Going from memory, this was the gist of one of the MBTI ones:

Would you rather have a boss who is:
  • Consistent but unimaginative?
  • Visionary but arbitrary?
Is it just me or do both of those extremes seem really unpleasant? I forget what I said, but I figured the general point of the question was to infer whether I like working with creative or "predictable" people. And in fact, I general like creative people. But if the cost is having my manager be arbitrary (that wasn't the precise word, but I took it to be a synonym), I take that to mean I might turn in the same work and get totally different feedback from one day to the next. As much as I love creative people, I don't think I could stand that.

Still.... can't a manager be visionary, a "creative," but still treat people in predictable fashion?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

can't a manager be visionary, a "creative," but still treat people in predictable fashion?

well, surely if a manager can be both unimaginative and arbitrary...

That guy said...

Hehe.... no comment.