Operation Minerva: Inspiring Young Minds Towards STEAM

I had the great honor of attending Operation Minerva at the TELUS Spark Science Centre.

Operation Minerva empowers girls and gender-diverse youth to explore potential pathways in STEAM by connecting them with mentors through networking and story sharing.

I loved sharing my “non-linear” journey into software development, why I made the choices I did, and what I’ve learned along the way. I tried to distill my experiences into a few pieces of guiding mentorship wisdom for each group I spoke with:

1. Know yourself.

Take time to notice the ideas and activities that spark joy and curiosity. Embrace what makes you unique (your interests are clues).

2. Learn what the day-to-day actually looks like.

A subject might fascinate you, but the job itself may involve 40 hours a week of tasks you don’t enjoy. Get curious: volunteer, do practicums or internships, talk to people in the field, ask questions, and seek out job-shadowing opportunities.

3. Consider your whole life, not just your career.

Work doesn’t have to be your single defining priority. As a famous male model once said, “maybe there’s more to life than being really, really ridiculously good looking - I mean, just work.”

The students asked thoughtful questions like:

“What if I don’t want to do one thing all the time?”

“How do I find someone to job shadow?”

These questions speak to the anxieties many young people face when trying to “find their path,” and programs like Operation Minerva help connect them with answers and support.

Some of the core messages I shared:

- It’s okay to change your mind, explore many paths, or choose careers that offer variety.

- There are people in nearly any business who would be happy to share what they do. Sometimes it’s as simple as Googling a company you’re curious about and reaching out to introduce yourself.

Ultimately, most of my advice circles back to the first point: you get to choose your journey, and your journey is for you.

My MBTI Story

I often see the question "how did you get into MBTI?" On Reddit. My story is too long for a Reddit post, so I decided to put it here: 

The first time I took a personality test was in my high-school CALM (career and life management) class. The test gave me the result of INTJ. At the time, I did not look into it in much depth, but I did find it interesting to compare with my friends. To this day I remember a few of their results too: ISFP, ENFP, ESTP. I learned a bit about what each letter meant but did not concern myself with our compatibility or anything deeper.

Fast forward ~6 years to the time frame right before and after graduating from University with a bachelor degree in Kinesiology. In 4th year university I started to wonder if I had chosen the right field. I had completed a couple of practicums and decided I wanted to pursue a masters in physiotherapy to become a Physiotherapist. Despite my interest in the subject, I couldn’t help but wonder if I should have chosen a more technical field of study. I also started to receive very subtle feedback from instructors and professionals suggesting they questioned my interest in physiotherapy. The career counselor for kinesiology more directly questioned if I would like that field, saying she wondered if I would enjoy the “lack of creativity”. After graduating I spent a couple years trying to fulfill additional academic prerequisites for the physiotherapy program, and attempting to get more practical experience by getting a job in the field. The pattern of subtle negative feedback continued, this time from potential employers. I also did not pass the interview component for entrance to the Physiotherapy program. Eventually I wondered if I should just go to a career counselor to sort myself out because I could not quite put my finger on what I was doing wrong.

 Then a friend told me about their experience with the career counselor and doing a personality test that helped them decide their whole university path. After what felt like a never ending beat down of my confidence, the thought of doing a test to tell me what career path would likely work best sounded like a huge relief. I booked an appointment. I did a few personality tests with hundreds of questions involved, then attended an appointment where two career counselors discussed the results with me. They asked me more questions and explained the meaning behind the results. One of those tests was the Meyer’s Brigg’s test, and my result was INTJ. After reading more about what it meant, and especially about the potential weaknesses of this type, suddenly all my struggles started to make sense - and I was not flawed. I was simply attempting to open a door to a career path that highly favoured people whose strengths were all my weaknesses. I started to recall exact moments during interviews where I had “messed up” (from the interviewer perspective). The more I thought about it, the more my rejection from the Physiotherapy program made complete sense. Most of my answers were focused on objective criteria, research, and creative ideas when they should have been focused on client feelings, present moment criteria, and tried and true methods. After this experience, personality typing became a small guilty pleasure hobby that I occasionally indulged in, but usually amounted to “high brow” gossiping.

Luckily during this same timeframe, I had discovered a new “spark” inside. I volunteered for a small startup that created an iOS application for rehabilitating stroke survivors, and found the design process very interesting. I also took a course called Computers for Kinesiologists. I really enjoyed the programming portion, so much so that I decided to take an Intro to Programming continuing education course, and I really liked that course too. I could feel the allure of the unknown pulling me towards computer programming and eventually I took the leap and applied for the Information Technology Software Development program at a polytechnic school.

At school, one of the classes focused on career planning, which included taking a personality test. Once again I got INTJ (the only one in my class). This time was a bit different because of my previous experiences and interest in the subject. Now I understood what the results meant and I felt more interested in learning the theories behind it, and analyzing how it showed up in my life. It helped that a couple other people also took interest in it and were willing to indulge me in analytical analysis (once again, high brow gossip). But alas, my focus shifted again towards graduation and getting a job in this new field. To my surprise and happiness, I received job offers almost immediately after graduation. It felt so much easier than my previous experience. I felt confident, like all my strengths were exactly what employers were looking for. My weaknesses seemed barely noticeable; sometimes like they were also strengths. I began my career as a software developer!

On one particular team, we had a little bit of fun taking the 16 personalities quiz. Interestingly enough, our team results were very diverse! I again typed as INTJ. This time, I could compare the type my coworkers received to how I perceived them and how they solved problems. The introvert vs extrovert differences were most obvious and predictable. The S vs N dichotomy was more predictable if I worked closely with someone to solve a problem and our problem solving styles were very different - or if they focused on details or steps in the sequence of plan vs the end goal. The F/T dichotomy was much less obvious to me (not predictable), and the P/J dichotomy was only predictable for people who were highly organized or very conscientious (not all Js, but always J types). 

Fast forward a number of years… my interest in personality theory comes and goes in waves. In the last year I have been riding another wave of interest in the subject. Diving deeper into the theories including the cognitive functions and type stacks. Learning the differences between various interpretations of the same idea, and evolving my understanding and analysis to uncover new ideas and perspectives on various situations in my life. I have many new questions and paths to explore. I also can’t help but wonder how I have changed so much and yet “not at all”. Understanding personality theory has helped me develop more empathy towards how other people think. It has also helped me identify and work on my weaknesses. At the very least, it continues to provide me with a lot of mind entertainment.

N vs S: Self Awareness During Problem Solving

I have now worked as a software developer for over 10 years. During this time I have had several profound moments of self awareness when it comes to cognition. Most of these moments happened when working closely with a coworker who seemingly used the opposite problem solving "strategy" (in terms of cognition). Normally, awareness of how we think tends to be unconscious - we just do it, in whichever way comes most easily to us, and maybe we might reflect on it later. My interest in MBTI has helped me become more conscious of how I think, and occasionally, if I slow down and notice, I can realize when I'm preferring a certain cognitive function over another.

 As an INTJ, I tend to rely on Ni (introverted intuition) often. I excel at reverse engineering, tend to "see" the conclusion first, then piece together information (jumping around, out of sequence) until a path to the goal finally materializes. The vast majority of them time this process is totally out of my conscious awareness. Before I started recognizing it consciously, I had several baffeling interactions with coworkers and project partners. I often wondered why someone was getting hung up on a detail or step that I viewed as irrelevant to the end goal (perhaps this was Ni - Te pushing to come to an objective conclusion). Sometimes I would think something in frustration along the lines of  "don't worry about that. We'll figure it out later - meet me at the next part". This usually occurred when my coworker preferred their Si (introverted sensing) function. Si tends toward step by step processing, concerned with gathering details and applying information from previous experiences. It helps with tasks that require a methodical approach where current and past data is compared to better inform decisions.

From my perspective, Si is like a having a strongly typed programming language running. It enforces type rules and catches errors at compile time in order to prevent errors later. Ni is opposite, allowing implicit  type conversions, which means faster compile time but probably more errors. 

With more experience and more self reflection and awareness, I started to recognize  Ni vs Si conflicts playing out during my interactions. I realized that sometimes that detail the other person was hung up on had the potential to become important later, or reveal a different path altogether if explored. To put on the brakes, I need to activate Ne-Ti and explore the possibilities in the process with more curiosity. Here are a couple stories that illustrate this phenomenon and hopefully show my growth as problem solver and software developer too:

Story 1: Gathering Evidence vs "Psychic" Phenomenon

One time the whole team had to jump in to solve a problem in production. I immediately recognized the location of the problem as being related to a recent change I had seen in a merge request. The change touched code that had the potential to effect that specific functionality of the app. I looked through the recently merged changes and immediately picked out that one. A quick glance at the code confirmed this change could have the result we saw in production (as I visualized it). "This is the one" I said. If we revert this change we can fix this issue. I jumped on a call with another team member and told them my thoughts with confidence. They insisted we go through each recent change one at a time to identify which change caused the issue. It felt like my insight was dismissed or ignored completely. As the pain stakingly slow and tedious process dragged on, I could feel myself becoming increasingly annoyed, and anxious as we got closer to the change I originally identified. Finally we reverted that change and sure enough it fixed the issue. I could feel the "I told you so" raging behind my pursed lips, but I also knew my coworker was right about the process. We required concrete evidence that proved without a doubt that that specific change was the one responsible for the error. Unfortunately "I just know" or an explanation about what the code does would not be enough to convince anyone who didn't know the code intimately or didn't believe in the power of the Ni cognitive function (haha).  This experience helped me realize the value of a methodical approach to problem solving especially when there's a need to justify a decision with concrete proof.

Story 2: Problem Solving Together from the Outside In

I took on a time sensitive task that involved remote configuration. A process totally new to me. I had a very short window to learn how to do it, get it done and into production. I had pieces of the puzzle floating around in my mind (and literally open in a number of tabs in my browser.) I started building the metaphorical puzzle.... At first glance it looked simple - but as I examined further I found several missing pieces. No problem. I asked around a couple questions, got some answers, including step by step documentation, and forged ahead. Then a coworker contacted me interested in learning how to do the task I was working on. I jumped on a call with them and I tried to explain my progress so far, but sheepishly realized I had no idea what I was doing (it's also a very Ni stereotype to be unable to explain your process). I jumped around to various steps...Perhaps my coworker noticed but they didn't let on. They were reading the step by step document and asking questions about each step. I realized I was ahead, but had skipped a couple important steps. We did those things as we went (all while screen sharing).  Eventually we completed the task. In the humble realization of just how many important steps I had missed, I felt a lot of gratitude for my co-worker and their approach to the task. I felt as if we had literally completed a puzzle together - like they had joined me just at the right time to hand me the missing pieces. Upon further reflection I realized most of the steps I had figured out were at the end of the process, like I had naturally been working backwards. Meanwhile my coworker stepped through the process from the beginning forwards, and we happily met in the middle. Later, to my surprise, my coworker thanked me for the knowledge transfer.

Analyzing Different S Type Personalities in My Life

Here Is compare the different people close to me who i suspect have S type personalities. An ISFJ, ISFP, and an ISTJ. If I compare them by their cognitive function stack it looks like this: 

ISFP: Fi > Se > Ni > Te

ISFJ: Si > Fe > Ti > Ne

ISTJ: Si > Te > Fi > Ne 

For the sake of privacy, names have been changed. I'll call ISFP Marie, ISFJ Nora, and ISTJ Kris. 

Nora and Kris have a history of tension, especially when it comes to making plans.  Nora has auxiliary function Fe which is related to valuing and maintaining group harmony (even if it overrides her personal preference). Kris is Te auxiliary which is related to maintaining objective rules/organization/planning. After looking at their function stack I suspect this difference is the main reason they have such a hard time planning things with each other. Similarly their tertiary functions are opposite - Kris's Fi helps maintain personal values/authenticity while Nora's Ti deals with her internal logic. Add to this that they both have Ne as their inferior function which is often the one that comes out during stress. Ne deals with making connections about the external world and can manifest as "suspicion" or doubt about meanings. So when Kris and Nora try to make plans one is trying to uphold an objective set of rules that aligns with their personal beliefs and the other is trying to create/maintain harmony that aligns with their inner logic. Both are suspicious and doubting the meaning of each others communication, potentially drawing conclusions or making connections that aren't really there and "reading between the lines" (I have witnessed it first hand haha).

Comparing Marie & Nora

Fi dominant Marie leads from a feeling of authenticity (does this align with my values?), auxiliary function is Se which relates to seeing the world as is and appreciating via senses (she's very nature oriented, likes fancy things, good at art and diy). Ni is about how you interpret the relationship/meaning of what you perceive according to your own internal perspective (like your own mental map), and Te is external organizing. Si dominant (Nora & Kris) lead from a place of "what's familiar, what works - tried and true, tradition, and remembering details of the present moment". This is probably why Marie seems more open to change or more independent minded than either Nora or Kris, and why she might perceive the others as controlling/rigid. Nora is much more family and business oriented than Marie.  While they're both very reserved, often altruistic, and very perceptive about details in the present moment (like cleanliness, fashion), Nora adheres more strictly to tradition and family values, and seems more rigidly tied to those values. Her choices very often consider "what will others think", while Marie is a "free spirit".

I recently went on two separate vacations to the same destination, one with Nora and one with Marie. The difference between these two people in the same environment inspired this analysis. Previously I was certain that both people were "F" types (but on the fence about the J/P dichotomy), but how that F shows up according to the function stack is very different (and it I think my experience reflects this). Nora (Si > Fe), albeit less familiar with the vacation destination often seemed uneasy or uncertain about trying new restaurants and activities, but she always went along with the group if we expressed that we wanted to do those things. Every morning she asked, "what's the plan?" And I'm reluctantly accepted "we'll see, were on vacation" (we probably caused her more stress than we realized).

Next trip was with Marie, who I had typed as an F, but did not consider the function stack. I actually assumed her and Nora were the same type because they have many similarities, despite a few obvious differences I could never quite put my finger on. I assumed Marie's judgements were Fe based, so I was surprised when she made several decisions that I felt were inconsiderate. A couple mornings during our vacation we discussed our plans for the day, and I made sure to communicate our whereabouts so we could meet up and go for lunch or do activities together. Several times (multiple days) I sent messages to check where Marie was only to discover she had gone ahead with a different plan (already had lunch somewhere else, decided to go somewhere different or do a totally different activity) and had not communicated that to me. We ended up doing many more things separately than together. Technically Fe is not in her stack despite being F (although I still suspect it's a strongly developed shadow function for her). She makes decisions first according to how she feels, whereas Nora would make the decisions first by what's familiar to her supported by how she thinks the group feels.

Interestingly, I realized that Marie (Fi > Se > Ni > Te) and her husband (married for over 45 years) share the same cognitive functions but in different orders. He is INTJ: Ni > Te > Fi > Se.

Nora (Si > Fe > Ti > Ne) and her husband (who I suspect is ESTP: Se  > Ti > Fe > Ni), also married for many years, have inverted functions of the same type.

 I suspect Kris's  (Si > Te > Fi > Ne)  husband is an ESTJ: Te > Si > Ne It's interesting to note that if I'm correct then they also share the same functions but in different order.

Maybe I should become a match maker based on MBTI? Wouldn't that be a grift.

After doing this analysis I feel like I have gained some insight on these three people and their chosen behaviors. I think the most important part of learning MBTI is not whetherit's accurate, but that it helps people gain empathy for ourselves and others through imagining and describing how other people might think and make decisions.

MBTI Binaries

This entry is inspired by this Reddit post: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/mbti/s/ufZUb7wvcc

I've been thinking about this post for awhile now.

I think all my family members (myself, spouse, and kids) are ANTD

Ambiverts, N dominant, T dominant, D (balanced J/P)

We could be: 

INTJ : Ni > Te > Fi > Se

INTP: Ti > Ne > Si > Fe

ENTJ: Te > Ni > Ne > Fi

ENTP: Ne > Ti > Fe> Si

Using this tally pointing system (1 point for dom, 0.75 aux, 0.5 3rd, 0.25 inferior) based on where the cognitive functions like in each stack:

Ne: 3 = 2.25

Ni: 2 = 1.75

Ti: 2 = 1.75

Te: 2 = 1.75

Si: 2 = 0.75

Fi: 2 = 0.75

Fe: 2 = 0.75

Se: 1 = 0.25

Translated to cognitive function stack: 

Ne >= Ni = Te = Ti > Fi = Fe = Si > Se

That actually lines up really nicely with these results for myself:

PocketDyno Grip Strength Device with App

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @pyrokinfitness

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @pyrokinfitness

2025 Vision Board Exercise

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ma Lumière (@ma_lumiere_art)

The F vs T Co-trainers Story

This story explores the influence of differences in judgement type (T vs F) . Here I compare myself (INTJ) to an INFJ friend. This happened while we were both in university and before I had delved into MBTI more seriously. 

I had asked my friend to help with a volunteer leadership role (as co-leader). She agreed, but we were both very busy in university so we "kind of forgot" about it until the night before the first session. I realized we were unprepared so I stayed up late that evening to create a plan. I was worried we would come off unprepared and lose the respect of the group we were trying to lead.

The next day went well. I introduced us both and did a basic orientation. People seemed to enjoy it, but afterwards my friend started giving me the cold shoulder. It came as a total surprise to me. I had no idea what I had done wrong. I confronted her directly to ask if she was mad at me about something. Turns out my friend was angry that I hadn't included her in the planning process. I tried to explain my rationale (after all, if I hadn't had planned something quickly the night before, we would have had to improvise on the spot and who knows how that would have turned out). Going forward we set up a meeting to plan together before each season. It turned out our "styles" were very different (mine was task oriented, hers was feelings oriented - with lots of group check ins). I think we both felt like we were compromising on our vision of these sessions. It was a learning experience to say the least, but ultimately I think our different approaches and reactions to the situation were a result of the T/F difference. I still feel if the situation had been reversed I would have felt relief that the other person had stepped up and we didn't show up totally unprepared. My feelings would not have been top of mind, and obviously when I made the decision to go ahead with my plan I had assumed (wrongfully) she would have the same reaction. Perhaps at the end of the day, it benefited the group to have exposure to two different styles of coaching. 

Admittedly, my task oriented style of training could have used a bit of tweaking to accommodate the feelings of participants (especially once I moved on from university students to special populations and the general public and earned the nickname "the task master"). My  INFJ friend eventually became a therapist, and I believe she chose the absolute perfect profession for her personality (she seems to be thriving!). I ended up going back to school and becoming a software engineer (a bit of a pivot from our kinesiology roots).

The S vs N Pool Story

This post is a slightly adapted version of a post I made on Reddit hoping (erroneously) for some engagement exploring practical examples of cognitive function types: https://www.reddit.com/r/mbti/s/VgvCvppnj7

I find it very intriguing, even fun, to analyze various situations in my life and how the different people involved reacted from a personality theory perspective. I'm also a fan of practical examples of theory.

Recently I experienced a situation that to me exemplified sensor vs intuitive preference. I try to take an objective approach in delivering this story in an attempt to avoid "type bias" that seems to prevade many MBTI spaces on Reddit.

The story: 

4 adults and 2 kids (including me) entered a swimming pool. The first thing we saw was a posted sign on the hot tub that said "closed for cleaning". The hot tub was empty of people, but still filled with water, and there was a small blue and yellow object floating in it. 

No one said anything at that moment. We went on to swim in the cool pool and later sat in a different hot tub. It was only then that a member of the pool staff approached us holding the blue and yellow thing that has been floating in the closed hot tub earlier. The staff member asked if it was ours, then gave it to us. It was a kid's toy - a little blue octopus with yellow tentacles. We said it was not ours but the kids were happy to play with it anyways. The adults immediately started discussing what they thought that thing was when we had first entered the pool. Two of us are N type and 2 are S type. Both N types had thought it was something related to cleaning the hot tub (a pH tester, or a chemical dispenser). Both S types thought it was a pool dart left behind by a kid. I thought it was very interesting how the N type thinkers unconsciously looked for connections between the wholistic picture (assuming the object was somehow related to the cleaning sign), while the S type people studied the detail of the object in the present moment coming to a conclusion about that specific object separately from the things around it. 

You can see how both styles of thinking could be beneficial or not in a given situation. In this situation the N types were less accurate in assessing what that object was, making false assumptions, but had it been a different scenario where context was important (perhaps a safety scenario), it could have been beneficial to make the connection. The S type's assessments were closer to reality in this case.

Welcome to INTegrated JuXtaPosition (iamtbot 2.0)

I have left the previous posts intact as a momento. As you can see they're over a decade old, and as you can imagine, a lot has changed. That being said, if you're an MBTI enthusiast like me, you might suspect that the foundational undercurrents of life that brought me here, remain strong. Hence the new name: INTegrated JuXtaPosition.  At first, it seems contradictory. Juxtaposition emphasizes separation and contrast, while integration emphasizes unity and cohesion. Together, "integrated juxtaposition,” describes a purposeful bringing together of contrasting elements in a way that forms a cohesive or meaningful whole. In this blog, I will explore life from varying the perspectives (often considering the interplay between the logical me and the creative me, or other seemingly opposite selves), and often through an MBTI lens.

Why blogging?

I decided to revisit blogging because it turns out creative expression continues to play an important role in my life. Even when I attempt to limit social media (due to the endless scroll of distractions), I always seem to find my way back to it in some form, because it provides an outlet for my thoughts. Sure, I could buy a journal (and I have. Many actually...), but the convenience of apps (almost always available at my finger tips) and ease of typing makes it much easier to journal digitally. I have even tried adapting note taking apps as journals, but there's something a bit motivating, endearing (and challenging in terms of writing style) about the idea that someone might come across this and read it, if it's published online. As a late adopter of Reddit, I thought it might be a sort of middle ground between journaling and other social media styles (yelling at length into the void vs. short, concise yelling into the void), but I quickly discovered that's not exactly how it plays out. However, I also discovered a couple intriguing communities, especially the MBTI subreddits where people post interesting questions. I found myself wanting to reply, but realized my answers were much more journal like than "answers", straying off topic onto tangents often. I decided to try using Reddit questions as journal prompts and answer them here.