After several years of studying socionics, i am tentatively suspecting i may be ESE (not sure though). I'd self-typed IEE for a long time, however, over time situations of lack of resonance with other IEEs got me suspecting I mis-typed myself. Interestingly, in the socionics community I frequent, there had been a camp of people who had insisted on an ESE typing for me, long before I even questioned my own self-typing, but this group of people did not offer enough of a convincing argument to influence me to agree.
Recently, the ILE and LII typings were suggested to me by a few members of the community (whose opinions i have come to deeply respect). I found it interesting and quite flattering that they saw me as strong in Ti, because I always have felt weak in what I've understood to be Ti and Te, and have admired and felt gratitude towards people who help me in those areas, sometimes to the point of practically worshipping them. (i mention both Ti and Te because i'm relearning which is which, and not totally confident of the distinction anymore). Despite the immense compliment I look the ILE typing to be, I remained a bit skeptical, as one of my biggest strengths, recognized by me and those around me, has always been how I relate to people. I've always been an astute judge of character, and I can keenly perceive emotional undercurrents and work with that.
A couple of contentious points i'd previously had regarding the ESE typing for myself had been the Ep vs Ej temperament, as well as my perceived weakness and need for Si. I recently met in person with a few socionics community members whose self-typings are pretty confident. I learned a few things from the interaction. There were two individuals of Ep-temperament present; I could see before my eyes the impulsivity of their energy and their physical movements (the way they walk, mannerisms), and i did not resonate with it. What was observed about me was that i was friendly, energetic, and my energy was fairly stable. It was also noted that I seemed more in tune with the outside world than the 3 Ne-ego people present.
That got me thinking, regarding the temperament, that perhaps I am actually Ej in temperament as opposed to Ep as I'd previously thought. Additionally, regarding the Si information element, perhaps I am not so weak at it, and self-criticize that function a lot perhaps because it's my creative function. In retrospect, comparing myself to the alpha NTs in the community, I do a lot less theorizing, in fact i do none at all
, and I depend on others to relay information to me in a concise, simplified way such that I can then put that information into practice. When this is done for me, and when it all makes perfect sense, I feel euphorically elated.
Anyway, now that I've made my case of ESE, I will address the OP here. I am a highly educated professional in the medical field. I'm finishing up my medical training and trying to enter the medical research world. As you mentioned, similar to physics, my career has a strong emphasis on Te information, and indeed through hard work and my own perfectionism and feeling of duty and commitment to the patients I serve, I have perhaps honed the Te function (and along with that, the Ti function as well) more than your typical ESE. It is perhaps for this reason that the excellent socionists who suggested alpha NT for me had sensed strength in my Ti/Te functioning; one of them did actually comment that my use of Ti was not to the level of a couple of alpha NTs on the forum. It could also be for this reason that I have such difficulty in identifying my cognitive style. My educational and career path has be so maximally and wonderfully challenging to my brain that it has truly called upon me to recruit all 4 cognitive styles. Which cognitive style is my default is quite difficult for me to pinpoint.
What I can comment fairly confidently on, however, is the ease with which i process and engage in information related to people, emotions, and relationships, and the immense concentration, focus, and vast amount of time and effort I require to process information related to theory and knowledge. This, to me, clinches the ESE typing over ILE (or LII).
One might be thinking, "why so stuck to alpha quadra?" True, delta quadra could still be possible. But not beta or gamma. One of the clearest leanings among the reinin dichotomies for me has been the decisive vs judicious pair, in which i lean heavily judicious. I also have a very difficult time appreciating the Ni information element.