CREATOR (a.k.a. Hipster, Visionary, Designer, Inventor, Innovator) is an individual whose biggest driving force is novelty. Creators can be found in all areas of the job market—from politics, through arts and sciences, to all branches of industry including IT. Creators’ minds circulate around high-level concepts. They feel the happiest when they derive new ideas and produce new, original content that amazes their environment. Creators treat professional life as a life-long pilgrimage: a journey from solving one type of problem or developing one concept to another.

SPECIALIST (a.k.a. Hacker, Developer, Expert, Problem-solver, Engineer) is a professional whose biggest drive is tackling specific, specialistic problems. Specialist’s ambition is becoming an expert or the to-go-to-person in a certain domain. Specialists can independently come up with new solutions, i.e., hack problems. They find utter joy in finding geeky tricks to solve the issues encountered by their colleagues and astonishing people in their environment by making unexpected fixes to everyday problems.

LINCHPIN (a.k.a. Hustler, Communicator, Deal-maker, Community-builder, Connector) is a communicator and a deal-maker whose biggest drive is growing projects and building impact by developing and managing communities, finding collaborators and followers. The term “linchpin” means the central, pivotal piece of a wheel. Linchpins are, indeed, the hearts of their communities. They have strong interpersonal skills, are empathic, and easily take other people’s perspectives. They enjoy expanding projects by increasing the outreach and finding potential new clients or beneficiaries of the organizations that they represent. Linchpins love people! They are usually well-connected and gifted with the ability to find the right people at the right time.

MANAGER (a.k.a. Executive, Leader, Principal) is an individual whose biggest passion is managing a functional team and steering it in a way to reach the chosen goals. Managers feel the happiest when they can orchestrate a group of people to reach their targets efficiently and in a friendly, collaborative atmosphere. They ​are good at finding synergies between people and putting the team members in the right roles. However, managers also take an individual approach to optimally motivate every team member.

MISSIONARY (a.k.a. Mentor, Helper, Guardian, Protector, Supporter) is an individual whose biggest drive is to help other people directly. Most missionaries have a strong personal sense of mission (as the name suggests!) and are eager to compromise on their level of comfort or sacrifice a large portion of their free time to serve others. Missionaries feel the happiest when they see the smile on the face of the person whom they have just helped. They highly value non-material qualities at work, such as integrity, equality, and diversity.

CONTRIBUTOR (a.k.a. Workplace-Architect, Logistician, Coordinator, Planner, Trustee) prefers to create an infrastructure for others so that they can accomplish their projects and build their careers. Contributors usually avoid the spotlight—they prefer to work from behind the scenes. They care about creating a friendly atmosphere at work and are masters of multitasking. Contributors feel the happiest when they observe that their working environment develops in harmony, and when they live a balanced lifestyle. They enjoy hearing that it feels great working with them and that their contribution matters.

INVESTOR (a.k.a. Capitalist, Financial Libertarian, Patron, Philanthropist) aims to achieve full financial freedom and only focus on doing projects out of interest rather than out of need. Investors don’t search for fame and recognition for what they do. They prefer to build their wealth in silence and live a peaceful life so that they can enjoy a high degree of personal freedom and cherry-pick projects that are most exciting to them. They are also eager to support budding projects with their know-how and financial resources.

CONSULTANCY COMPANIES offer professional research and advisory within a certain field of expertise to other companies and public organizations. They operate on a project basis: as an umbrella agency, they summon a team of consultants or delegate a consultant for every contracted project. Consultancy is a broad term; consultants work in multiple areas: providing professional assessment and planning to the government, massive data science- and biotechnological projects, business management, general management, education, conflict resolution, market research, planning the public infrastructure, professional training, etc.

CORPORATIONS are, in public understanding, large companies, hiring more than 250 employees (although in legal terms, a “corporation” is defined differently, i.e., as a legal entity separate and distinct from its owners). Some corporations focus on manufacturing products and services for other businesses and the government. Other corporations work in the Business-to-Customer (B2C) model and deliver services straight to customers’ homes. Corporations function and legal persons, or “born out of statute,” and are governed by the corporate law.

SMALL TO MIDDLE-SIZED ENTERPRISES (SMES) are, by definition, companies with no more than 250 employees on board. These companies usually occupy a niche in their branch of industry, producing goods and services for their customers (Business-to-Customer, or B2C), for other businesses (Business-to-Business, or B2B), or public institutions (Business-to-Government, or B2G). Their main ambition is to become the leading provider of certain services or products in their geographical area or their niche of the market.

STARTUPS are companies in the early stages of development (hence the name)—usually, smaller than 100 employees. Yet, from the very start, the company’s founders aim to scale the operations and grow. Startups are usually born in highly competitive fields such as IT, healthcare, or agriculture. Moreover, they often start their adventure with a sort of debt, namely funds from private investors or bank loans. For these reasons, startups often fail; after 10 years from incorporation, only about 10% of startups survive on the market—and among those, many change owners by getting sold to larger companies. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of adventurous founders willing to try their luck launching a new enterprise in the hope to create the next unicorn company.

ACADEMIA is an ecosystem of universities and research centers whose primary purpose is to conduct scientific research, expand the boundaries of human knowledge, create new scientific content, and educate a new generation of scientists. Today, the boundaries between academia and industry started melting: companies often diversify and strengthen their R&D departments by collaborating with universities and running joint PhD programs

ENTREPRENEURSHIP means solving new problems, coming up with solutions, and building new products and services around them—with the intention to grow. Entrepreneurs usually intend to gradually increase the revenue, hire more employees, and develop their products and services further so that the market share and the value of the company will grow as well. Developing startups is challenging; statistically, most startups fail. However, even though working in business can be a path through pain, blood, and tears, and requires strong intuition and some degree of luck, it can be a great adventure leading to an exciting lifestyle and deep satisfaction from work.