...aka the "Real World" or "Life After College" or "Living Independently" or whatever else comes to your mind. I think Ryan Healy's article featured on the Brazen Careerist provides a different perspective on life after college that goes along with what has already been said by friends of mine. I'm a drone, someone just going through the motions, doing what is expected by the rest of society. Or am I working for someone else, gaining skills that I wouldn't have just starting a business fresh out of college, and learning about business through my actual work, interactions, and contributions to an actual business.
If you are an entrepreneur who started a business right out college and want to tell me I'm a drone then that's cool. You're learning about business at a more extreme level by assuming all of the risk, but you are also gaining the experience of a business in its infant stage before any type of growth even kicks in. I've chosen to learn about growth and the functions of a small company trying to become a mid-sized company which is an experience that you will not have.
Mainly I hear the comments that I am a "quarter spinning endlessly to the bottom of the plastic donation funnel" from those who are unemployed or have part-time jobs that I had when I was in high school. The problem with that statement is that my first job will not be my last job. I don't intend to stay in the "corporate" world for more than a few years before starting my own businesses. I consider these next few years to be the mother of all internships, the post-graduate capstone project, the non-textbook based business case, or the foundation for the rest of my career.
After college plan to gain professional experience either working for someone else or doing it on your own. Do not go back to working low paying jobs that don't do your diploma any justice, or even worse, living off your parents' paychecks. That truly is one way down the bottomless pit.
Update: 7:54PM 4.23.2007
Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh have a great blog at EmployeeEvolution.com. I would highly recommend checking it out, subscribing to it, or even reading it regularly after peeling yourself away from your friends' wild facebook pictures from the weekend.
