Combining the hourly pay data from BizJournal’s survey of employers, PayScale.com’s polling of employees,[1] and US News’ career guide, I have culled ten standout careers from the many recommended for INTJs and INTPs.
- Best Bets Overall – Consultant/Lawyer: Two careers stand out as not only highly recommended for INTJ/Ps but also rather lucrative. Although a few other careers are recommended ahead of them for INTJs and INTPs, Lawyers ($58 or $68/hour) are still near the top for both and make substantially more than other career options.[2] Management Consultant ($35/hour or $61/hour) is not only one of the best paid careers but also even more highly recommended for both INTJs and INTPs than Lawyer. Do the long hours for consultants taper off with experience as PayScale’s graphs imply, or are Managers and Partners also caught up in the 65 to 75 hour work weeks? If it’s the latter, consulting might be downgraded, but US News picks it as one of the Best Careers for 2009 while calling Lawyer an overrated career so I kept them both on equal footing.[7]
- Highest-Paying Career / Career in Health – Doctor: If the absolute most important thing to you is salary or you know you want to be in a health-related field, then being a Doctor ($67 or $70+/hour) might be the way to go. They are less recommended for INTJ/Ps than Consultants, Lawyers, and Engineers but are still on many lists. Despite making more than these other options, Doctors must invest in far more school and training, so the eventual higher income might not make up for the income lost by not working. Although US News counts Physician as an Overrated Career, it also recommends Veterinarians and Optometrists as Best Careers for 2009.
- Best Careers without an Advanced Degree or Killer Hours – Engineers / System Analysts: Although an advanced degree will help, Engineers* ($22/hour or $38/hour) [2] and System Analysts ($22/hour or $37/hour) can get started making decent money right out of college and are both recommended in US News’ Best Careers 2009. The same can be said of Consultants (above), but they must also work incredibly long hours. In addition, those who stick with it might become Engineering Managers or Computer System Managers, the sixth-highest and eighth-highest paid careers in the United States, respectively, according to BizJournal. Economists/Auditors ($21/hour or $28-$37/hour) and Scientists were also options here but are not as highly recommended for INTJ/Ps or included in Best Careers 2009.
- Career with Minimum Hours / Career in Education – Professor: If you want to maximize your free time but still make a solid living, then you should consider being a Professor ($33/hour or $46/hour), which has the lowest number of required hours of any career recommended for INTJ/Ps. US News notes Professor as an Overrated Career, and the average 7 years in a PhD program without making any substantial income reduces actual lifetime earnings relative to other careers, but there is no denying that the eventual schedule is the most flexible. [2, 3] Teacher ($22/hour) is also recommended for INTPs and is on US News’ list of “Overrated Careers.”[4]
- Non-Profit/Public Sector Career: The career “Manager” is rather vague, but it is a top recommendation for INTJs and could be the ticket for those interested in public service. While US News notably warns against Non-profit Manager, it recommends Government Manager. Although it likely requires the investment of an advanced degree, it returns salary ($28/hour) and hours on par with Engineers and System Analysts, recommended above.
- Building/Design Career: The best Architects and Urban Planners could have done in my previous posts on INTJs and INTPs was the bottom tier of recommendations, because Team Technology did not really include them in their survey. Recommended for INTJ/Ps on most other sites, these careers and others like them could be excellent fits for this personality type. Kind of a compromise between Architects and Urban Planners, Landscape Architects make about the same amount ($24/hour), but can get started without an advanced degree. In addition, they have a higher level of job satisfaction and a better market outlook than Urban Planners, while regular Architects are panned as an overrated career. Unfortunately, the downswing in the economy has been particularly detrimental to these professions.
- Creative Careers: Although selecting a creative career is likely based more on the inclinations of talent than anything else, Writer stands out because it does make a little more ($23/hour or $27/hour)[5] than other options like Graphic Designers ($16/hour or $23/hour) or traditional artists (fine artists, musicians, actors, etc.). In addition, one strain of Writer, the Ghostwriter, is recommended as a Best Career 2009 by US News.
- Random Extra Career: For INTPs who want to directly help people through interacting with them, Occupational Therapist ($32/hour) could be an excellent choice. It is recommended for INTPs and is included in US News’ Best Careers 2009, but keep in mind that is not as highly recommended for INTPs as the other options above, and US News’ Report Card shows they probably barely made it onto their list.
CareerCast’s Jobs Rated ranking of 200 jobs takes even more factors into account, including stress, physical demands, and the environment. Not surprisingly, these additional elements make options for “Best Careers without Killer Hours” (System Analysts at #6) and “Career with Minimum Hours” (various research-oriented/professor-like careers) comprise more than half of the top 20.[6] All the other careers listed above comprise the middle 40% of the ranking, with Technical Writer (#60) and Occupational Therapist (#61) at the top of that group and Teacher (#127) toward the bottom. The only career for INTJ/Ps outside the top 70% is an Actor, coming in at #170.
Notes
- PayScale’s salaries, which are the median of those reported, will generally be lower than BizJournal’s, which are skewed higher due to highly compensated employees at the top of the spectrum in their respective careers.
- Lawyers, Professors, and Engineers who work for hospitals make about 20% more than their peers in other sectors.
- PhD’s in Business Administration might be a different story, with starting salaries averaging $86,000 (in 2001), substantial growth potential and non-academic opportunities, and a shortage of business professors.
- If you want to be in education, a good alternative might be Curriculum Designer.
- Some writers can actually a little more. Technical writers average $27/hour, and grant writers, after paying their dues for 10 years, end up averaging $29/hour.
- Biologist (“Scientist” above) #4, Software Engineer (“Engineer” above) #5, Systems Analyst #6, Economist #11, Physicist #13, Computer Programmer #18, and Astronomer (“Scientist” above) #20 are all in the top 10% along with a variety of research-oriented/professor-like careers–Mathemetician #1, Historian #7, Sociologist #8, Philosopher #9.
- Before you run out to apply for business school, Vault’s articles on Consulting are highly worthwhile: Reality Check – Changing Careers to Consulting, What It Takes to Be a Consultant, and Consulting Caveats.
[...] Tier I – Exceptional Fits: The careers in this group show up on all of the INTJ recommendation lists. They differentiate themselves from Tier II careers in a couple ways. Professors and Engineers eventually make a decent salary, and, depending upon the focus, can have a socially-conscious or artistic angle. Although the artistic/design bent is probably difficult to incorporate into being a Lawyer/Judge*** or Consultant / Strategic Planner, both make better money than academia or engineering, so they earn an equal spot in the top tier. It’s also worth noting here that Writers, though placed in Tier II, are recommended for very few personality types, so any way to incorporate this relatively specific occupational area into these Tier I options will only enhance the personal and likely financial gains for an INTJ. That shouldn’t be too hard for Professors or Lawyers… I compare these careers a little bit more in my next post. [...]
[...] Marketing for INTJs: Better Business than Consulting? 10 09 2008 My recent research seemed to indicate that consulting was tough to beat as a career path for INTJs. However, more [...]
I removed my assessment of Senior Executives (CEO/COO/CFO) from this post, as this career path is not really recommended for INTJs and INTPs. CEOs/COOs/CFOs make markedly more than any of the other options considered and “altruism” pays big time: university CFOs/CEOs and school district COOs get paid even more than many of their counterparts in other sectors. Participants in the INTJ Forum note that INTJs would make great CEOs (without responsibilities of a Managing Director), but other threads talk about the INTJs’ reluctance to lead except to step into a leadership vacuum. The MBTI Club’s section on MBTI for Executives clearly indicates that ENTJs are best as CEOs, though INTJs could be a good fit for “scientific or technical organizations.” They find other types best for COO, and a quick Google of the web does not show any vocal opposition to this. They also think ISTJs are the best fit for CFO, but I found a few examples of INTJ CFO support around the web; then again, CFOs are the least compensated of this group, averaging about the same as Consultants in the long-run, so there’s not much reason to be drawn away from Consulting as the top option here. I suspect turning around a business in financial dire straits might be a fascinating endeavor for an INTJ, but simply maintaining or modestly growing a stable organization would in fact be clearly better for and ISTJ.
[...] The Most Recommended Careers for INTPs 10 02 2009 This post groups careers recommended for INTPs across the web into four groups, from the frequently mentioned possibilities to the universally recommended options. For a more in-depth consideration of careers taking into account salary, job outlook, and job satisfaction in addition to personality fit, please see “10 Best Careers for INTJs and INTPs.” [...]
[...] Elsewhere, I’ve discussed personality and career satisfaction, particularly for INTJs and INTPs. [...]
A professor is NOT a career that maximizes free time. Typical hours before tenure are 60-80 hours per week. Post-tenure, in a research position, is typically 50-70 hours per week in order to bring in grants, manage a research group, write, present, etc. Post-tenure, in a teaching position, is also 50-70 hours per week. Only 10-15 hours a week are spent in the classroom, but grading, consultation, meetings, committees and so on consume the remaining time. However, it does offer flexibility and independence which appeal to an INTP/J.
Thanks for culling from your sources to provide a succinct, executive summary of career options for the INTx! It all appears to be consistent with my readings in the field. I am currently a Software Engineer who would probably enjoy my position more if I hone my expertise and be recognized for it. Some years into that career, I discovered philosophy. I was enraptured to an extent that I cut my work hours back to half-time and enrolled in graduate classes at the local university! Two years into it, I discovered that my writing was not up to the task. Moreover, the would-be professors, though experts in their fields, were overworked, underpaid, and marginalized.