I only took 5 months off, so it doesn't look as "bad" as yours, but I found spinning it as self-learning worked as a positive for me. So in the interview (I on

I only took 5 months off, so it doesn't look as "bad" as yours, but I found spinning it as self-learning worked as a positive for me. So in the interview (I only did one…) I talked about how I wanted to take a break to try new styles of software dev and learn things that you don't often learn in corporate environments to be a better dev etc. If your potential employer cares about "passion" (shudder) you can spin it pretty well, because you're clearly so passionate about software dev you want to forgo salary so you can concentrate on being a better dev. FWIW while I did do a bunch of things like that (learnt clojure!), I also spent nearly a month watching YouTube 8hrs a day… you just fail to mention that bit in interviews ;-)