In 1843 he completed his course, and was appointed to actual service in the draughting department of the St.Petersburg engineer corps.
With his salary and the money sent to him by his guardian (his father being dead), he had about five thousand rubles a year, but as he was extremely improvident, bohemian, and luxurious in his tastes, he could never make both ends meet.

He was still more straitened in his finances when, in 1844, he resigned from the service, which was repugnant to him, and utterly at variance with his literary proclivities, and was obliged to resort to making translations.

In May, 1844, he completed his first romance, "Poor People," and sent it to Nekrasoff by his school-friend Grigorovitch.

In his "Diary" Dostoevsky has narrated the manner of its reception by Nekrasoff (who was preparing to publish a collection), and by Byelinsky, to whom the latter gave it.

Grigorovitch and Nekrasoff sat up all night to read it, so fascinated were they, and then hastened straight to communicate their rapture to the author.