I'm sure it will be a nice change of pace to work with other humans on some tangible projects. Hopefully the career center at your school can get you some exposure to various options that might help with the decision.
I gave up the dream a couple years ago. Day trading just stopped being fun for me . I just got tired of being a break even trader after so many years with the feeling of going nowhere both skills wise and financially. It was also tough to see most of my friends in my social circle develop in their corporate careers and gain a level of financial security, while I was still living as lean as possible in order to maintain my trading account. Part of the reason trading became boring was that I originally got interested in the markets because I enjoyed stock picking and analyzing companies on a fundamental level. Somehow that lead to sitting in front of a monitor alone drawing trend lines on a 5 minute bar chart. So after about 3 years of trading, I decided to go back to a career in the finance industry. Like a few others have said, the key to addressing your "employment gap due to trading" is to frame it as an advantage, and with the help of some luck it shouldn't be too much of an obstacle. From my experience, most hiring managers don't know much about trading and they will often not be able to understand exactly what you did as a "trader" and won't realize how sad it was that you spent 3 years of your life churning your account in your pjs. That being said, if you want to work at a super competitive job at a hedge fund or an IB, then they will see right through your BS.
Props for a very honest reply. Having been both a salaried commercial (energy) trader and also having attempted to trade for a living from home for 2.5 years I can attest to the truthfulness of what you wrote.
I was "full time" for a couple of years from 2003-2005. The experience I gained while trading actually got me a job (while trading I designed an automated trading system that interfaced with IB). Experience from that project got me the job at a software company that develops imaging SDKs. I am still there today. fan27
Perhaps you got interested in it for the wrong reasons. Don't get me wrong, money is also a motivator for me but that can only motivate you so much, the freedom to work from anywhere in the world was much more important. I also simply enjoyed the process of coming up with trading strategies and learning all the tools that came with the territory. If I ever need to go back to being employed, I've at least learned programming and that's still a marketable skill.
There are days I am tempted to to close my business, and just trade. Then I come back to ET, and get a dose of truth. I appreciate all those here who tell the truth as is, and don't just live vicarisuly via their handle with delusional adventures as a trader. I will always trade, but having a stable income helps me psychologically and I certain that's what takes the gambling component out of it. I am not sure if I would make the same decisions if I was at it without any extra income.
I trade what I see, and interpret, whether it's an edge, is up to debate. Psychologically plays a role in execution, and I am afraid to mess it up by going full time. Maybe I recognized the limitations of my abilities and pushing them would not not be beneficial. Trading is not rewarding as owning a business, effort in the market place does not translate to to short term reward.