[duffdevice]

one similarity you called out is "They also share a risk loving profile (though maybe not to quite the same extent)."

I don't really follow this. Maybe it's true that engineers in early-stage startups have greater risk tolerance than average, but this is more related to the startup part, not the engineering part. There's nothing in software engineering that is inherently risk-loving (you could probably argue the opposite).

Overall, I like coding, and poker, but I don't really see this as a super apt comparison IMO, outside of general things like logical thinking, working hard, and liking money.