hiredGrad

I am about to graduate in December and I am going to pursue a career in research. I just began applying for research assistant jobs that interest me when I got some discouraging advice. My current plan is this: 1. Be hired as a research assistant starting as soon as January. 2. Work as a research assistant for at least a year or two (Ideally work for a company that can pay for grad school). Use mornings/evenings before/after work to build on personal projects (businesses I will start, etc.) and goals. 3. Transition from work mode to school mode by doing some independent study of the most relevant types of coursework that I would need to refresh (ex: biochemistry), and prepare for GRE. 4. Apply to graduate school for PhD and attend. 5. Postdoc in Japan. 6. Career in cell biology and/or genetics research. Run my businesses. I like this plan, but I want to get advice to make the best moves possible. I did not get to give the person who gave me advice the full plan because they didn't listen to the whole thing. But their advice to me was that getting a research assistant job doesn't make as much sense as doing a postbacc, since a postbacc program may be designed in a way where continuing education is easier. They said that a postbacc would be better if I plan to go to grad school later. They also said that I might not have time in the mornings and evenings to do my own thing as a research assistant because I will be busting my butt on everyone's projects. They said some other things, but I felt like it wasn't really helping because they did not listen to most of the plan or my reasons for each thing. I will list some of my reasons for wanting to do a research assistant job, but I would really appreciate everyone who sees this correcting me where I'm wrong, answering my subsequent questions, and giving me advice that would help me succeed. These are my reasons for why I am leaning toward research assistant. I want to begin working in my field as soon as possible. If I'm going to do a postbacc program, my understanding is that the application cycle is already about to end. If I start applying for postbaccs now, and they start in the summer next year, I'm behind. I know some have rolling admission, but it's still good to be an early applicant. If I apply anyway, I need to work in the meantime. So it would make more sense to do DoorDash or something until then instead of trying to get hired in a lab. But I really want to do biology instead of going back to DoorDash. If I do a research assistant job, I may not find one right away, but at least an actual job doesn't depend on an application cycle in the same way a program does. I had already started applying right before I got the advice that it's a bad idea. I need to save money. I don't have very much in savings and I have big plans. If I work now, I can save up for future goals/plans. Some major goals include, moving out and getting my own place, money for graduate school, starting my own businesses. If I do a postbacc, that's about $30,000 that I need for admission, right? I might be getting paid during the program, but I don't know if it makes sense to have a big bill like that right after finishing college. I don't want to go straight into more school. I want to work right away to gain experience in research that I'm interested in and to make money. I want a break from school so I can work on me and my goals. Not all postbaccs have an educational component, right? But if I do one, it makes the most sense to find one that incorporates that supplemental coursework that I mentioned in the beginning, right? Based on my thoughts, can wiser people please give me advice on how I might need to tweak this plan? What are the most strategic options? If I go with my plan, am I putting myself at a disadvantage compared to doing a postbacc, or is it just simply a different path? And if my current plan is sound, can you please give advice on the job application process? And pray for me/wish me luck? Thanks for reading!