<p>I will be 29 when I finally graduate with a BSME. I started college late, and took a 3 year break from school to play poker professionally. I'd like to get back into the real world and work for a living.</p>
<p>I have no engineering experience on my resume, and the 3 year gap to play poker will be hard to explain to an employer. I will be graduating with a GPA < 3.0.</p>
<p>What are my chances of finding a decent job?</p>
<p>The hardest part will be having a GPA of under 3.0. A lot of companies will automatically dismiss you just because of that. As a result, you will have a much harder time finding a job (but it won’t be impossible). Just don’t set your sights too high or expect glamorous work and you’ll find something.</p>
<p>I assume you failed at the professional poker thing? If you do get an interview you might be able to tell how you played poker for three years, what kind of experiences you had, what you learned from them, and how you can apply that knowledge going forward. If you make it seem like a negative thing and avoid the subject then it’s only natural to assume that the interviewer will see it as a negative. However, if you put a positive spin on it there’s a chance your story may resonate with the interviewer and you can stand out from the crowd.</p>
<p>sub 3.0 will mean there’s that weird period after graduation when you don’t have a job…an employer will notice this and make you an offer but it’ll be lower pay…but after a few years experience you could get another better job and from there on the GPA thing is pretty much behind you. the beginning will be rough though. </p>
<p>I agree with PurdueEE put a positive spin on that ‘break’ you took or else it will be natural for the interviewer to look at it as negative if your avoiding saying anything positive about it.</p>
<p>I graduated with a CS degree at the age of 39. My GPA was over 3.0, but not stellar (my husband died towards the end and my grades dropped significantly). I never had trouble finding work.</p>
<p>29 is not too old, particularly in this day and age of people changing careers.</p>
<p>First of all, 29 is not old. Also, employers won’t know your age when they receive your resume. </p>
<p>Second, a sub 3.0 is not necessarily a deal-breaker, depending on the school. A lower tier school will make it difficult to find employment, but at a top tier school, there are still opportunities, especially if you have co-op experience.</p>
<p>I see being a poker player as a very bad thing for many companies. It shows that you have a prospensity to gamble, which will make it nearly impossible to get security clearance if your job requires it. It is also three years of unknown (no employer references). </p>
<p>I don’t think a person interviewing would have a hard time with this, but the HR types that have to approve your background check would find it more difficult.</p>
<p>You should be fine. In all honesty if I were you I would use your years of maturity to your advantage and come up with highlight reel of stories and lessons that will easily separate you from a pack of students whove never ventured past mom and dads checkbook. Of course there will be people turned off, but there will also be quite a few people who are more interested than anything. Id leave your age out of it, nobody will ask you during the interviewing process. Once you get an offer your age will come up, but by that time HR is only interested in a few things and age isnt one of them.</p>
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<p>I disagree, its all about the spin you put on it (and thats entirely up to you). Surely after years of playing poker youve learned valuable lessons about people and life, and during most interviews, this goes a lot further than a A in Calc. </p>
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<p>A background check, unless for the NSA or some govnt contractor, will never miss a beat for something like this. Pass a drug test, verify any employment you list (dont even verify what you say you accomplished there, only that you did in fact work there), credit check, criminal history I dont possibly see how playing poker would hinder him in the slightest.</p>
<p>Purdue,</p>
<p>On many job application, you have to list all of your employment and then account for any gaps. Some employers don’t care about what you did between high school and college and others require that you list it. Then the particular employers hire a background screening company to contact all these old places and verify that you worked there for the time you said you did.</p>
<p>I usually have to write down all my employment, including the 6 week temp jobs that I did between college and my first engineering job.</p>
<p>A gap of 3 years to play poker would get noticed. The downside for people who are gamblers is they are more prone to stealing and selling data to pay for their gambling habits. I’m not saying this is the case for the OP but it is a greater risk.</p>
<p>The same holds true for any level of US goverment security clearance (secret or top secret).</p>
<p>I think you (bigtrees) are reading too much into the gambling thing. I have a friend who is a professional gambler and is a real stand up guy. Poker isn’t about going into debt or gambling, it’s about risk management and reading people. Also, the OP didn’t take a break in employment to persue gambling, he took in his education or before his work history, so I don’t see there being a problem on the application.</p>
<p>If they ask how old you are in an interview then they are discriminating on age. If they ask you to explain why you are starting in the career late just tell them that you wanted to make sure that engineering was what you really wanted to do before persuing it and that you took a few years off for self-discovery reasons.</p>
<p>My husband finished his BS in CE when he was 30. Then he went on to grad school, so he was 32 when he got his first engineering job. Age was never an issue. The low GPA will be harder to explain, though.</p>
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<p>In my industry. When you handle equipment and knowledge that you can sell to China or Iran for millions of dollars, companies get very nervous about your personal activities that can lead to debt. Gambling (whether you call it professional poker or by any other name) is one of those activities.</p>
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<p>I agree that this could be a problem if the OP made his age known (assuming the company does indeed have something against poker), but he doesnt have to. With a clean shave most 29 year olds could closely resemble the 35 year old look-alikes I have in some of my classes. In this case, you list only the last three or so years of stuff on your resume and nobody bats an eye. </p>
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<p>I completely understand how this process works, which is why I said what I did. These screening companies check your criminal history, credit, and verify your work history that you list. Another outside company gives you a drug screen and youre set to go. </p>
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<p>All Im saying is that that is your choice. If you didnt list these Im sure nobody would notice, they would just assume you were unemployed during that time.</p>
<p>Well others are saying nice comment to give you abit of comfort but employee will look for some sort of work experience for entry level engineer job. (without experiecne can be done but it’s expected) Well I don’t know how stellar is the school you are graduating from but without knowing your school’s name, I can’t tell you exactly what your situation would be but having a GPA lower than 3.0 without any work experience to find a job in this hard economy… I say you should look for internship first and step up to find job in entry level position. </p>
<p>Just don’t mention the gap between the education and if it comes up during interview, just make a good excuse for it and don’t mention gambling. It will just hinder your chance of getting the job.</p>