In one week I’ll be back in Los Angeles for my five-year Pomona College reunion. While this will only be a three-week vacation, it’s gotten me thinking about the fall when our stint in Japan will be up and Bronwyn and I will be returning to Los Angeles for good (or at least the foreseeable future) and asking myself what I’ll be doing then for a job, even a career. Going back to web design is an option. I enjoyed doing it for the most part, but I don’t know if that’s what I’d want to do forever and if there’s something I’d find more fulfilling.

I took the quiz at careertest.net which determines your personality using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and gives you a list of recommended careers that match your personality. I hadn’t taken it for a while. I used to come up as an INFP or ENFP (with my results sitting about 50/50 for the Introversion and Extroversion scale). Taking the test now I’ve found that because of having experience in a work environment and in life in general I understand myself a better that before. Naturally my answers have changed. Now I am pegged as an ENTP. Reading the temperament’s description from careertest.net and other sources I’d say it’s pretty spot on, more so than the descriptions for either INFPs or ENFPs. For outside verification, I showed Bronwyn and she pretty heartily agreed it was a match.

ENTP’s value their ability to use imagination and innovation to deal with problems. Trusting in their ingenuity to get them out of trouble, they often neglect to prepare sufficiently for any given situation. This characteristic, combined with their tendency to underestimate the time needed to complete a project, may cause the ENTP to become over-extended, and to work frequently beyond expected time limits. Complicating this situation is their predisposition to experiment with new solutions. This makes them eager to move on to the next challenge when things get boring. ENTP’s become stressed when their improvisational abilities are ineffective and they will avoid circumstances where they might fail.

If stress continues, ENTP’s become distracted and their “can do” attitude is threatened. Feelings of incompetence, ineptness, and inadequacy take over. They need to escape situations that are associated with anxiety is more prominent for the ENTP than for any other personality type. Doubtful of whether they will have what it takes to accomplish a task, they displace their fears onto situations they can elude. Panic, fear, and anxiety then block the expression of their creativity. Defensive phobic reactions cause the ENTP to circumvent achievement in other areas and prevent the success they strive on.

The careers they list for this personality type include:
systems designer, venture capitalist, actor, journalist, investment broker, real estate agent, real estate developer, strategic planner, political manager, politician, special projects developer, literary agent, restaurant/bar owner, technical trainer, diversity manager, art director, personnel systems developer, computer analyst, logistics consultant, outplacement consultant, advertising creative director, radio/TV talk show host

I find the mention of venture capitalist, investment broker, and real estate agent or developer rather amusing not because they’re fields in which I’m interested but because they would seem like very unfortunate choices given the economic climate.

Actor, journalist, politician, even radio host were actually the jobs I had in mind back in middle school and high school in response to the classic question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I did tons of theater in high school and a bit in college and loved it. The industry side of acting and the irregularity of work is what turned me off from that path, though I do do a bit of acting-for-profit here in Japan (but that’s a story for another post). Radio host would also be a difficult industry to get in to, plus I don’t think I’d have the chops for it. Politican? There are far more qualified people than me out there, plus I’m probably too much of a lush to win public office anyways. Journalist? Maybe. Not sure why I ever discounted that as an option. I did write for a newspaper back in college but found that it was difficult to come up with quality writing on a regular basis with deadlines looming.

The positions of creative director and art director do appeal to me, as does a position as an information architect (which I guess is kind of like a systems designer?). As a web and graphic designer, I enjoy coming up with creative solutions to design problems, but I also find that I enjoy researching, brainstorming, and building concepts and themes more than executing the design itself. At my old job, we had a new person come on in our department as a Production Artist. He was assigned to work with me. While my position was Designer, I would communicate design concepts to the P.A. and he would come up with the designs themselves, then we’d split the actual production work. It was very effective and I enjoyed working in that role, but that dynamic is more like what would happen between an Art Director and a Designer. At any rate, these results tell me that perhaps I’m already in the right career path, just not on the right rung on the ladder.

The other jobs on the list don’t interest me so much, except for restaurant/bar owner. I lit up at the mention of that. Visions of my ideal pub instantly sprang to mind. A dozen beers on tap, special emphasis on local microbrews. A simple wine list, all Southern Californian. Simple and fresh yet hardy grub. The menu would be short, even seasonal – we wouldn’t make a wide variety of food but what we’d make we’d make well. Exposed brick, lots of dark wood, shelves and shelves of my CDs and vinyl (side benefit being that it gets OUT of my apartment). In fact, now that I think about it, my own restaurant wouldn’t be a half bad idea. I do find that when I go into restaurants I mentally tick off things that I like or I would do differently. And after going to Hiroshima and going crazy for their okonomiyaki, I was convinced that a real-deal okonomiyaki joint open late would be wildly successful in L.A. Still am. It’d be the next big thing in post-bar gnoshing. Don’t you go stealing my idea.

Of course the small-business entrepreneurial spirit extends past a restaurant. I’ll admit that I’ve often fantasized of opening up my own bike shop, as I’m sure many bike enthusiasts have. We’d focus on practical commuting and touring bikes, clothing and accessories. Featured bike brands would be Jamis, Raleigh, Masi, Kona, and Swobo. Maybe that’s too many. Maybe drop Jamis since Hollywood Pro Bicycles Topanga Creek Bicycles has them covered. Of course we’d also be able to get in Soma and Surly for buildups (we’d specialize in Big Dummies). Proper fenders – metal and plastic, racks from Blackburn, Tubus and Nitto, lights galore – dynamo and battery powered, practical clothing that can be worn on the bike or in the office, bags from Carradice, Ortlieb, and Jandd. No carbon fiber to speak of unless you wanted a special order, and I’d spend my slow hours hunting down deals or donations on solid, reliable vintage and used parts that we could turn around and sell. Think Recycled Cycles in Seattle with a bigger BOBish flair, or Velo-Orange in brick-and-mortar form. Oh, and to top it off I’d learn how to build my own frames and sell those as a custom option as well. Yeah, now I’m really fantasizing.

The reality of the difficulties of a small-business owner are discouraging and the risks of failure daunting (there’s that ENTP trait talking). Still, it’s something to consider. First I need to think about finish off paying all the student loan debt I already have before taking on more debt from starting a business.

Finally, one other career path I’ve been toying with that isn’t on that list is Urban Planning. It’d probably involve me heading to UCLA for a Masters, but I think the field is something that’s important and timely, especially considering our new administration’s commitment to such things as environmental protection and sustainability, and investment in technology and infrastructure. It’d be a way to affect things like alternative transportation and livable streets on an institutional level. I suppose the question is would I enjoy the work. I certainly feel passionate about the subject, but perhaps an internship somewhere would help me determine if the job itself would be right for me. I’ve also got a couple of fellow Pomona alums who did the program at UCLA. How convenient that the reunion is coming up.

Coming to Japan after the wedding was highly symbolic in that it was a fresh beginning. But I think that, more accurately, Japan itself isn’t the beginning; it’s been the intermission. It’s allowed me to break away from the routine I had fallen in to in L.A. and given me time to consider the next step. It’s obviously a source of anxiety, but at the same time it’s exciting.

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