# Who said INTPs can't plan ahead?



## Jorge (Aug 5, 2009)

Well, I'm writing this to see if people can help me come up with alternatives that I hadn't thought of. This is not a crisis, but it's just... something that I'm pondering about, and I'd greatly appreciate external input. 

I graduated this last May with a Civil Engineering degree. I graduated from a pretty good school together with a pretty good GPA and good recognitions. Right now, I have an internship in a city that I really enjoy living in. I am earning enough money to be able to please my minimalistic lifestyle, as well as saving up money for any emergency. I am in the process of quitting the band I was playing with, as there were various personal reasons why it wasn't working out. I am also not in a romantic relationship at the moment.

What do I see myself doing in the future? I want to be a professor. I've talked to enough professors, and worked under similar fields, to realize that the academic area is something that makes my pants feel smaller whenever I think of it :blushed:. 

So as you can see, there aren't a lot of things that would hold me back from doing what I want to do. I've always been known for being quite busy most of the time (In college, I used to work part-time, study full-time, have a relationship, and be in a band), and now, I feel quit relieved that I don't have such a heavy schedule on my back.

But the future is coming up, and I don't wanna go through the same crisis I went through 2 months ago when I graduated college with lots of debts and no money at all. My internship seems like it will end at the beginning of the Fiscal Year (October 2010), so I have about 2 months with this internship, and from there, I really have no idea what I'm gonna do.

Why not get a full-time job in engineering? Because I don't like the field at all. I get stuck in an office working 8 to 5 looking at plans, comments and drawings, without me doing any of them at all. I am a huge mathematical geek, and for the last 2 months I've been here, today, I just did the first numerical operation in the whole internship. What was it? A division of 3.060M by 330... I am shitting you not. I took 5 math classes, so all I could do at work is a freaking 4th grade division. I could go into more details about this, but I'm just not a huge fan of the atmosphere. And it's not even where I work at, because where I'm working at is one of the best places one can work with this degree.

Which leads to you asking then, "What do you want to do right now then?". Well, I dunno. So far, these are some of my options:


Enroll in the Peace Corps Program
Go to Seattle to get a science degree
Stay in this city to get that same science degree
Go back to Mexico, and apply what I learned in an environment that needs it more
Go to Australia and get a scientific degree
Stay here in this city and try to land a full-time job
Create my own musical project and dedicate myself to it full-time

(The scientific degree would be either Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry... lol almost anything but Biology).

I am very interested in the Peace Corps Program. Briefly, this program takes you to an underdeveloped country for 2 years, accommodating you to an area you have expertise with (in my case, I would be trying to provide water, watch for water quality... basically just a water engineer). They provide you with enough resources to live a good life (not poor, but you won't be making a profit out of it) over at the country where you stay at. Since right now I have nothing holding me back, and I'm a sponge for experiences, I think this is really good timing. Since it's only two years, and it seems like such an interesting to do, I bet it would look good in my credentials regardless of I want to go back to school, or land a job (highly unlikely).

The thing with enrolling in Peace Corps, is that I would probably depart in 9-12 months, and if my internship ends in 2 months well then... I have 7-10 months without shit to do, and no source of income. And who is gonna hire an engineer who can only work for that period of time? Engineering companies are usually very zealous about their employees.

Yeah, weird situation and a very open question. What would you guys reccomend?


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## bionic (Mar 29, 2010)

Go to the Peace Corp, get a job temporarily but don't tell them when you will have to leave. Could you extend your internship with the city?


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## TurranMC (Sep 15, 2009)

Peace Corps sounds awesome. Perhaps you can go to school for a semester while you wait? I wouldn't recommend going to a job and not telling them you plan to leave. It will look bad on you in the future if they're mad about it and future employers call them up for more information about your work history.


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