Pirlo was appointed Juventus manager on Saturday, just hours after Maurizio Sarri was sacked following the club's UEFA Champions League exit on Friday night.
The appointment came as a surprise to many and Gattuso feels Pirlo is lucky to have got the Juventus role as his first coaching job.
"He's lucky to be starting at Juventus, but this profession is one where a great playing career is not enough.
"You have to study, to work hard, and you don't get much sleep.
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"Being a player and being a coach is really not the same thing at all.
"It's a totally different profession and we can't learn it just from books, we need to get in there and work hard. It's a different world."