A Study of Relationship between Performance, Temperament and Personality of a Software Programmer

Abstract

This paper focuses on finding the relationship between the performance, temperament and personality of a software programmer. The rationale behind conducting this study is to find out if personality influences the performance of software engineering students. We conducted a survey of 66 students pursuing engineering to find out their personality traits and its relationship with their programming abilities. The personality test used was Goldberg's IPIP (International Personality Item Pool) and Keirsey Temperament Sorter. The results showed that IPIP test personality traits of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and intellect are not significantly correlated with performance of the respondents. However, on temperament dimension it was found that there was a significant correlation between "Guardian" temperament and high performance which indicates that these respondents had sensing and judging type of temperament