How does your personality contribute to your success in IT? By Geoff Trickey, March 2014 In the 1980s, when computers were still a novelty, psychologists were busy researching "computer aptitude", a specific kind of intelligence that would identify those capable of working in this rarefied new high-‐tech realm of employment. Looking back at this now computers play such an important part in everyday life, penetrating every home and impacting on every job, this idea looks fanciful. In fact, the tests developed by the psychometric researchers at that time have proved poor predictors of job performance, largely because there appear to be many different routes to success in the IT world.
Programming is like learning a foreign language Programming may actually be related to foreign language learning or to mathematical aptitudes; so either an art or a science – not a promising basis for identifying a single differentiating feature of IT success. The biggest and most reputable test publisher of the day accepted defeat and shelved its research projects. Over this period, the focus in job selection criteria has turned from special kinds of intelligence to the impact of personality differences, largely because of the significant breakthrough in personality research. Previously a battleground of competing personality theories, personality research has found a fruitful new academic consensus and utility.
What sort of personality makes the best programmer or IT specialist? So, what sort of personality makes the best programmer or IT specialist? That's not a trivial question. We know that personality characteristics make a difference. Personality will either contribute to high performance in a role or interfere with it.