[mantasm]

After writing this, I realize it's fairly long, so consider yourself warned if you don't like reading. In summary, I'm seeking advice on a job search after a period of playing poker full time.


Some background: I graduated in May 2004 with a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Texas. At graduation I looked for a job for a few months. In September, I still hadn't found anything so I sent in an application to UT's law school. During undergrad I had considered some sort of graduate education, but I wanted to work a few years first and get a better idea of what I wanted to do.

During my period of unemployment I had been moving up in limits online and was soon making enough money to live off. I was accepted to the law school fairly quickly and stopped looking for a job because I was relieved to finally have something definitely in place. So now I'm in my second month of law school, and I've quickly realized that this is not what I want to do. I don't want to be a lawyer, and I don't want to waste three years doing something I'm not interested in and won't use. I don't want to be a full time poker player either.


What I really want to do now is get a job like I was planning to before. I doubt I will be returning to school any time in the near (5 years) future, or law school ever. I found a copy of my resume on my laptop and I'm revising it and getting it up to date. I have some questions about this:

1. Should I include my short stint (not even one complete semester yet) in law school under the education section, or would it be better to just leave it off?

2. Which would generally be preferable when searching for an engineering job: a 1.5 year gap since my last employment or educational activity, or 1.5 years of self-employment as an internet poker player?

3. If I choose to put poker on my resume, how should I describe it? I don't want to put anything deceitful or silly like "internet risk analyst." I was thinking I would list it under the employment section as something like "Self Employed, Internet Poker Business" with a list of bullet points describing what I did, similar to my prior jobs. These would be things to emphasize activities I did that would relate to a real job, like "calculated mathematical expectation of wagers". If you have any suggestions for bullet points, they would be appreciated.

4. If I include a cover letter, should I mention the internet poker and law school and my reasons for not wanting to pursue them any further?


Finally, if anyone has any general advice or comments on my situation or would like to review my resume, please post here or PM me. And if you live in Austin and are aware of any engineering or business related positions open at your company, please let me know. Thank you for your time.