Know yourself and try to build a better version.

1. Self-­‐Assessment
Xiuxiu
Yuan
1/17/16
After
taking
the
personality
test
(based on Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’
typological approach to personality), I was surprised to find myself is INFJ.
Especially: Feeling (28%) over Thinking, and Judging (25%) over Perceiving, what? I
thought I am a well-trained decision maker, who bases all the decisions on logical
thinking and objective facts. Also when I first looked at the explanation for this type
of personality, I was frustrated to find out it’s not a fancy personality type, at least
there’s no “creative”, “bold”, “adventurous” or even “interesting” kind of words in it.
“May be this is not a ‘designer’ type of personality”, I told to myself.
However, according to some surveys presented in the lectures, the majority of the
designers share this type of personality. May be I am on the right track?
With some of the curiosity and concerns, I revisited the description of INFJ type.
“INFJs are distinguished by both their complexity of character and the unusual
range and depth of their talents. Strongly humanitarian in outlook, INFJs tend to be
idealists, and because of their J preference for closure and completion, they are
generally ‘doers’ as well as dreamers. This rare combination of vision and
practicality often results in INFJs taking a disproportionate amount of responsibility
in the various causes to which so many of them seem to be drawn.” It does answer
some of my questions. I am very much familiar with the description of “idealists”
since with all kinds of personality test I have had so far, this word appears
frequently. I am a dreamer, also a doer. That’s mainly because I tend to finish my
work with high quality but at the same time I always keep in mind the ultimate goal
and schedule. Due to lots of reasons one cannot require other people to do the
same, that’s when the “disproportionate amount of responsibility” comes.
“INFJs are deeply concerned about their relations with individuals as well as the
state of humanity at large.” I do care about people, and how their feelings are. But it
doesn’t mean that I am good at interpersonal relationship. There are still lots to
learn in terms of that. However, I do care about the happiness level of the people in
their work setting, so I did my undergrad thesis on that topic, aiming to improve
government employee’s working situation. I do care about people’s wellness in
general; I completed my master degree of public policy analysis because I believe
better policies means better life of the people. I am concerning about the
technology and all the potential effect it would bring on the general public.
Therefore I tried to evaluate the potential policy issues of autonomous cars,
wearable fitness devices, and drones…
(1) Creative skills needed:
Prototyping
- Learn how to use the tools & equipment at the shop and DFL (water jet,
working with metal)

2. - 3D modeling and rendering, 3D print (ID Computing II)
Interface (Any suggestions?)
Software design (Any suggestions?)
-Basic java/python
UI& UX design (Any suggestions?)
(2) Communication skills needed:
At
first
I
thought
most
of
the
communication
problems
were
due
to
people’s
language
proficiency.
Later
I
realized
that
although
English
proficiency
is
important,
the
way
people
present
their
design
ideas
also
matters
and
sometimes
counts
more
than
one
could
imagine.
My
goal
is
to
make
my
presentation
and
communication
concise,
straightforward
and
persuasive.
More
presentations
and
teamwork
would
definitely
help
me
achieving
this
goal
soon.
(3) Management & Leadership
As
a
student
and
future
employee,
I
can
manage
my
study
and
work
efficiently
by
myself.
Often
the
time
I
work
alone
and
how
to
manage
other
people’s
work
and
working
together
to
reach
a
sharing
goal
is
something
I
need
to
work
on.
Since
last
semester
there’s
almost
no
teamwork,
I
can
only
test
my
ability
to
“Trusts
people
and
delegates
responsibility”
during
this
semester.
This
may
also
an
opportunity
for
me
to
learn
from
the
others,
also
help
others
to
develop.
Personally,
I
select
friends
very
carefully
just
like
the
description
of
INFJ.
I
prefer
making
friends
at
my
own
pace.
However
I
know
how
important
networking
is
to
an
ID
professionals,
therefore
networking
is
something
that
I
would
like
to
focus
on
starting
from
this
year.