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I'm not terribly familiar with the language and framework around HSP, but I can identify with many of the traits listed here: rattled by pressure, accurate but quite slow, having to steel myself very deliberately to get through PR reviews, etc. I've been doing a lot of work with the Enneagram (highly recommend it, it's about understanding the trap and coping mechanism that is your personality and transcending it to get to your true self) and I definitely come down as a 4. You can succeed in tech. Tech is so, so vast. There are so many areas and facets to it that have nothing to do with FAANG or the Big 5 or whatever. What's worked for me, and what may work for you, is to stay away from "sexy" tech. I'm at a relatively unsexy tech company in an office on the east coast, and I've found a group that's working on cool stuff without the pressure and ego of stereotypical SV ("move fast and break things"). The environment and culture is rigorous but much more relaxed, and my team places a lot more value in correctness and runtime speed over development speed. Not everyplace in tech is pressure cooker. Not every person is ego driven. Even though I'm in a relaxed environment, I still struggle with comparing myself to my colleagues and dealing with feelings of inadequacy, but because I can recognize that tendency in myself I can do things to address it. Many of those things end up being spending my time away from work _truly_ away from work and finding my identity outside of my job. That might be antithetical to running startups, or it may not. My emotional intelligence is ultimately a benefit to my team if I can keep it in check, just as the drive to get things done from one of my colleagues is a benefit if kept in check, and the cautious nature of another if kept in check, and the devil-may-care optimism of another if kept in check, etc. We all need the strengths of each other, and your sensitivity, if kept in check, will be a benefit in the right environment. |