New grads - poker or job, and why?

[goofball]

El Diablo,

How did you get into that business? One doesn't exactly apply to a "starting companies" firm.

Do you have ideas for companies and then find others to help/finance?
Do you ask other people for their ideas?
Do they come to you?
Is there a central place/network for discussing new companies to start?

[El Diablo]

goofball,

I just did it, because I worked for a company and had a boss for about a year and a half after school and knew that wasn't for me.

So, I took my meager savings, did some consulting work on the side to pay the bills, and started working on ideas with a couple of friends. On the third or so try, we found something that a few people were actually interested in buying, so we focused on that and built the company, learning as we went.

I was involved with that company for aobut five years. During that process, you naturally meet a lot of entrepreneurs and other people in the ecosystem (investors, accountants, lawyers, recruiters, etc) who all make it a lot easier for you to do more things in the future.

Being in the tech world, there is a big community of people w/ similar interest in the Bay Area. Now, however, definitely for tech and largely for many other things, there are infinite resources and places to discuss stuff online.

My experience was in software, but the general points above apply to many fields.

[smurfitup]

I totally agree with Vanessa. I love poker, but I think a fulfilling job needs more benefits than good money. I want a profession that is personally enriching and that provides me with the opportunity to offer something to society. With poker, I only find myself developing unhealthy psychological and physical habits, and, really, I think it cuts me off from society to an extent. A lot of what I said is specific to my own tendencies, but I really think a lot of poker players could be using thier intelligence to make much more meaningful contributions to society.

[ QUOTE ]
I graduated college in 2005, and I've spent the past year splitting my time between research and playing poker professionally. I'm living in las vegas now playing poker for the entire summer, but in september, I'll be getting a full-time job, and poker will become nothing but a hobby and source of a little extra cash.

Basically, while I enjoy poker, I find that it is rarely intellectually challenging, and I'm frequently quite bored with it. The same situations come up time and time again, and even when you are forced to think of something new, it is still just a game, and the thought processes are so limited within the scope of the game. Creativity, relevance, and impact on the world are all lost when poker is your entire world.

Furthermore (and this is not a necessary evil, but it is a realistic one for many of us), poker has made me lazy. I don't take care of myself, I don't accomplish as much in any given day, etc. Basically, I don't like who I've become as a professional poker player.

I think a job should challenge you, inspire you, and create some utility in the world, in addition to being a vehicle to make money. Poker does none of those additional things for me, so that's why I'm leaving it for a real job. For now, it's management consulting, but soon after, law school, and then I have no idea where.

[/ QUOTE ]

[kidcolin]

smurf,

I second your comments. I guess it's all a matter of balance. For me personally, I'm considering giving up poker altogether. Since moving for a new job when I graduated, I've worked 50+ a week, and then poker on top of that. I've found in the past year I've become less interesting, less outgoing, and just generally not as cool a person as I'm capable of. That's in large part due to me thinking "must log hands".

I haven't decided fully yet, but I'm really leaning towards cashing out, focusing more at life/work, and then maybe once my life is properly balanced I'll get back into it ion a more limited basis.

[fslexcduck]

I think the main point I am trying to make that the dissenters are missing is the meaning of the word "meaningful." I don't mean it has to be some non-profit job helping starving children or curing cancer, but it has to be something that has meaning to you. That is, precisely something you WILL enjoy doing every day, and that does contribute SOMETHING to a productive society. But the personal enjoyment and self-betterment are the key ingredients, and in my experience, it is very difficult for poker to provide a reasonable, interesting, intelligent human being with that for a very long time.

[Isura]

Diablo,

I will be finishing my masters next april. I don't make a huge amount from poker, but 150-200/hr for 25hrs/week pays a lot better than most jobs I can find with a graduate degree in math. I also don't think that I would like working in a high-stress and ultra-competitive corporate environment. I'm interested in starting business and investing, so I guess that I'll be using poker as a jumpstart to bigger and better things. Hope that helps.

[Isura]

[ QUOTE ]
goofball,

I just did it, because I worked for a company and had a boss for about a year and a half after school and knew that wasn't for me.

So, I took my meager savings, did some consulting work on the side to pay the bills, and started working on ideas with a couple of friends. On the third or so try, we found something that a few people were actually interested in buying, so we focused on that and built the company, learning as we went.

I was involved with that company for aobut five years. During that process, you naturally meet a lot of entrepreneurs and other people in the ecosystem (investors, accountants, lawyers, recruiters, etc) who all make it a lot easier for you to do more things in the future.

Being in the tech world, there is a big community of people w/ similar interest in the Bay Area. Now, however, definitely for tech and largely for many other things, there are infinite resources and places to discuss stuff online.

My experience was in software, but the general points above apply to many fields.

[/ QUOTE ]

Diablo,

Thanks for sharing a bit of your story, this is very intriguing to me. Perhaps you could expand more about your experiences and get into more detail (a new thread in the dorm would be fantastic). I have a computer engineering background, but I didn't like working as a typical engineer. I'd like to use my technical background in persuing my own business ventures, so more details regarding your specific field would be great.

[NoahSD]

I'm going to be a junior next year, and I'm already dreading making this decision.

Right now, I actually enjoy poker and find it intellectually stimulating, but that's probably because I'm still relatively new to the game. I realize that it's a very simple game, so spending huge amounts of time playing it seems pretty silly.

Plus, I've got moral issues with poker, since I'm essentially just going to be a leech on the economy, living off of people with gambling problems who work for their money.

I also have antisocial tendencies, and getting a job seems like a good way to force myself to interact with people and make friends and stuff.

FF pointed out the real plus side of poker, which is the freedom. It's hard to quantify how nice it is to set my own schedule, and having money just makes life SO much easier.

[Matt Flynn]

[ QUOTE ]


I think a job should challenge you, inspire you, and create some utility in the world, in addition to being a vehicle to make money. Poker does none of those additional things for me, so that's why I'm leaving it for a real job. For now, it's management consulting, but soon after, law school, and then I have no idea where.

[/ QUOTE ]

Vanessa,

This is a romantic notion of work. I hope you find it.

Matt

[Matt Flynn]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm playing poker because I had a summer internship once, and the routine of waking up early every day just to be exhausted by night and only having a few hours to relax before having to go to sleep to repeat the same cycle the next day was awful. I feel that most people with jobs don't have the time to actually live real lives: their entire existence is just focused on getting through to the next day and everything becomes so routine/standard that their lives end up being pretty meaningless..

[/ QUOTE ]

It sure can end up that way, especially once the responsibilities pile up.