[dgunay]

I feel like these aren't always personality traits, but rather often indicate the kinds of work environments one has been exposed to.

I would characterize myself as more of a "Martial Artist" at heart. I find creating quality code gratifying for its own sake. I have an academic CS education. The majority of my early career was spent at a mature organization with lots of process in place and a reputation for engineering excellence. I love tools engineering and other internal work that makes others more productive, rather than the trench warfare of supporting consumer apps with thousands and thousands of users.

Yet, over the past two years at startups I feel I have taken on a lot more "Street Fighter" characteristics in order to cope. I let objectively bad code slide in reviews if it puts out a fire or we won't scale to meet its limitations soon. I fix serious issues and operational headaches under the table, because they would fester for months unprioritized otherwise. I start talking directly to management at the year mark instead of waiting for raises, because most startups just don't bother setting any expectations at all on that front.

It's important to realize that not all Martial Artists will be that way forever. And your organization might be what makes them hang up their black belt and pick up some brass knuckles. Or vice versa - a Street Fighter might tire of building and rebuilding half-baked spaghetti wire solutions and decide to go somewhere they can just focus on one thing and collect a paycheck.

[RajT88]

Nailed it.

There are actually more pitfalls than just the nature vs. nurture argument (for example, combat based metaphors in cultures where women do not typically serve in the military are likely to affect the perception of who measures up...).

In that vein, I am more jazz guitarist than classical pianist.