Rational (NT) Temperament

Both the Keirsey Temperament Sorter and Keirsey Character Sorter evaluated me as having the Rational (NT) temperament. Please see the Keirsey site for the descriptions of all four of the temperaments: Rational (NT), Idealist (NF), Artisan (SP), and Guardian (SJ) temperaments.

The description of the Rational (NT) temperament given is all one paragraph, but I have interspersed my own commentary here and there.

RATIONAL NTs, being ABSTRACT in communicating and UTILITARIAN in implementing goals, can become highly skilled in STRATEGIC ANALYSIS.

I guess it's no surprise that I found my way to programming. It requires being able to look at and discuss things in a high-level, abstract manner, and then to turn around and break things down into practical, utilitarian pieces.

Thus their most practiced and developed intelligent operations tend to be marshalling and planning (NTJ organizing), or inventing and configuring (NTP engineering). And they would if they could be wizards in one of these forms of rational operation.

Indeed, "organizing, inventing, and engineering" sums up what I do quite well. I don't know if I'd go so far as to consider myself a wizard at any of these, but sure enough, I wouldn't mind being one.

They are proud of themselves in the degree they are competent in action, respect themselves in the degree they are autonomous, and feel confident of themselves in the degree they are strong willed.

I agree with the first two, but I'm not sure about the latter. My confidence doesn't come from being strong-willed as much as it comes from my understanding. That is, I'm most confident when I feel like I fully and deeply understand (or "grok", for those in the know) the issues related to a given situation.

Ever in search of knowledge, this is the "Knowledge Seeking Personality"---trusting in reason and hungering for achievement. They are usually pragmatic about the present, skeptical about the future, solipsistic about the past, and their preferred time and place are the interval and the intersection.

I do trust in reason, and am generally pragmatic about the present. However, I'm probably more optimistic than skeptical about the future. I had no idea that I preferred the interval and the intersection... I thought I preferred the sidewalk.

Educationally they go for the sciences, avocationally for technology, and vocationally for systems work.

This is right on the mark.

Rationals tend to be individualizing as parents, mindmates as spouses, and learning oriented as children.

I can't speak to the accuracy of the first two, since I'm neither a parent nor a spouse, but I did (and do) enjoy learning, both as a means to an end and also for its own sake.

Rationals are very infrequent, comprising as few as 5% and no more than 7% of the population.

I'll have to take Keirsey's word on this, since I don't have any idea what kind of distribution of temperaments to expect. Most of the people I know would probably get categorized as Rational, but then most of the people I know are in technical fields.