> Don, you seem significantly more people-oriented than other engineers I'm acquainted with...not to stereotype engineers, but it does seem that that profession usually attracts less "relational" types. Maybe that is part of why you didn't like the job?
> Seems like you would be suited to a job that makes use of your technical expertise and yet allows you more face to face interaction?
>
> koala"just a suggestion/guess/wondering"mom

You are absolutely correct in that I am much more people-oriented than most engineers. I used to be unable to imagine someone being less people oriented than myself, or having more trouble with social situations, but I have encountered it many times-- professionals who develop a stutter when speaking in front of a group, people who draw into themselves (or make no sense at all) when talking in a group situation, and other things as well. I am guilty of some of these things some of the time, but on the whole I am much more socially well-adjusted than my colleagues. Sorry to have rambled on so long on that subject, but I am using my roommate's computer to type this and I love the way his keyboard clicks when I type-- I expect I will be rambling quite a bit today. Oh, and I am feverish and lightheaded, which also doesn't help.

Back to the point of this post: one of the reasons I liked my job was actually the fact that it had a bit more human contact than other jobs, and as I gained more experience, I would begin going to meetings, presenting evaluations, and defending my decisions. This human contact aspet did appeal to me. However, there were so many solo parts of the job that it didn't really work out perfectly for me. I have fantasized a few times about going to get a job in a bank, where I could make a decent wage, have some level of responsibility, and have regular interaction with other people. (Yes, the idea of working in a bank is simply a coincidence-- it has nothing to do with the people observation puzzle you recently posted.) I do find myself to be strangely dichotomous, though. I tend to shift back and forth between being extremely social and extremely introvrted. I have taken personality tests which support this dichotomy. I could go into more detail on this odd aspect of my personality, but it wouldn't add much at this point. Suffice to say that I have a hard time finding satisfaction at either extreme-- the best sort of work for me would be a happy medium, with periods of isolated number-crunching (or other tedious solo work) interspersed with bursts of human interaction such as meetings or presentations. Now I just hope that I can find such a job. I often wonder or some sort of managementwork would be good for me, but I fear that I am too soft to be a good manager.

Well, I think I have rambled enough. I'mm not sure what point I was originally trying to make here, but I'm sure I hit it somewhere in there. Please excuse any spelling errors-- I have been making quite a few, and I don't know how many I missed, but I don't think I am in any condition to proofread right now.

Don "I shouldn't post when I'm feverish and lightheaded" Monkey