7 ms·

I would agree for small gaps. But I think it's at least somewhat understandable why a significant gap would be a concern. With the pace technology moves at, if

I would agree for small gaps. But I think it's at least somewhat understandable why a significant gap would be a concern. With the pace technology moves at, if you have not been working for an extended period of time, it's reasonable that you might have fallen behind. Certainly this shouldn't be reason in itself to reject a candidate and it at least somewhat depends on what you were doing during that time, but I find it hard to expect employers not to consider it at all.

ivan_gammel 4y ago
Significant gap in this case will be several years, no less, but regular technical interview can answer all the questions about qualification.
bigDinosaur 4y ago
It really should be put in the context of someone's life. Did they spend a year or two travelling? Did they spend it working on personally productive projects? Or did they do nothing but play video games or do drugs? These are all very different extended gaps. The first two should be fine - if someone's skills have atrophied than that's another issue (but nothing a good interview or probation period won't pick up on if it's actually even a problem). The second one might be fine or a problem - and I can see why employers would be wary.
- annyeonghada 4y ago
  And even if someone spent their time video gaming and doing drugs why can't they turn their life around if they want and demonstrate to have the skill. Burnout, depression, horrible circumstances and families all exists and sometimes you have to hit a stable rock bottom to start climbing.
  - bigDinosaur 4y ago
    Yes. I can see why people might be wary although I don't necessarily agree with those who would be (excessively) wary.
- michaelmior 4y ago
  > It really should be put in the context of someone's life. Absolutely agree.
- lentil_soup 4y ago
  why would I care as an employer that you spent a year playing video games and doing drugs? When I interview people I couldn't care less about any gaps in their resume, we're going to sit down, talk about tech, what you've done and what we need, etc. If there's a match in skills, needs, personality and expectations then that's it, anything else are invisible cargo-cult walls
  - bigDinosaur 4y ago
    You might care about their judgement and their state of mind and whether they'd be prepared for the job. I think understanding what someone did in a long gap is important - some are just very easy to understand (person in 20's decides to quit job for a year to go backpacking) while others might be harder. If I was interviewing I wouldn't ever automatically discard a resume because of a long gap, though, so I suppose I'm just thinking of what others might be cautious about, and other people may simply adopt a heuristic to automatically discard to minimise variance.
- madeofpalk 4y ago
  I've taken sixth months off and mostly played video games and no one ever cared or asked??!
  - jstaines 4y ago
    Yep same here. When I ran out of money I thought I'd better start writing some code lol
  - bigDinosaur 4y ago
    I'm actually very glad this is the case.
nigma1337 4y ago
Guess it depends on how you define a significant gap, 1 year? 5 years? Also working doesn't necessarily equal keeping up with technology. If i'm maintaining some legacy system, I wont have a gap but i might've not learnt anything new for years.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
vultour 4y ago
I worked a corporate job for several years where I pretty much learned nothing. As far as my skills go, the end result was almost no different to not working at all.
- fch42 4y ago
  I'd second that. "Classical companies" are rarely-ever at the forefront of technology, even if they are technology companies themselves. It's a broad statement, so keep it in context. Examples: Think, Apple has had the iPhone out since 2008 now. Working there on the iPhone 16 HW / SW specs or the M3 processor design may well be cutting-edge stuff, but working there as SRE for the App Store infrastructure is likely "an SRE job with some legacy in it". And working on their developer infrastructure, devtools / CI etc, very very likely is full of "proprietary dead ends" (i.e. tech noone outside the AAPL orchard will use or have use for). A Wall Street bank, once above a certain size, is going to adopt tech more slowly - much of their proprietary software stack is likely still in C++ / Java where a five-year-old small trading house may have written all that in Rust. I've had jobs at such "S&P 500" corporates in the past; I wouldn't say "I learned nothing" - I learned how to navigate companies. Call it "coping strategies" if you like. It still helps to get stuff done knowing how-to-do-it on a procedural level - or via human-interaction. Tech-wise ... regretted some of these. My experience, though, is that one can "come back". "Just" keep the ambition under control that you need to know everything, and need to be able to do everything. Today's "tech stacks" have so many parts in it that are out of your control and that you cannot inspect - the sheer will to "rule them all" will burn you. It's easier said then done, but: know your limits. Everyone has them. You'll recognize the "boasters" soon enough, those that claim they can rule it all.
- icedchai 4y ago
  Same. I think my skills may have regressed because they were working with legacy tech. I did get to go to a ton of zoom meetings, though.
Findecanor 4y ago
It's that attitude of recruiters' that keeps me unemployable. The fact is that the IT world does not progress in a linear direction. It's like a puddle that grows into multiple directions. But it is still covering most of the same spots as before. Banks still use COBOL. High-performance code is still in C or C++ with assembler (but that "C" may run on a GPU), etc.
- mcv 4y ago
  Just give the gap a name and it stops being a gap. Maybe you started your own company to unproductively mess around with stuff. Or call it a sabbatical. Those are popular.
Namari 4y ago
No the real issue is not the gaps themselves but why so many different jobs that don't last long. Tech evolves fast but in a week or 2 you're up to date if you've been away few months. I have many gaps in my resume but I have many different jobs, which is a lot more problematic. A question that pops up often is why did I left after X months and I need to explain all my choices. It is fine because I either didn't like the projects/companies, I wanted to switch technologies ... they do ask why 6 month off and that seems fine when I tell them I've been travelling.

ivan_gammel 4y ago

Significant gap in this case will be several years, no less, but regular technical interview can answer all the questions about qualification.

bigDinosaur 4y ago

It really should be put in the context of someone's life. Did they spend a year or two travelling? Did they spend it working on personally productive projects? Or did they do nothing but play video games or do drugs? These are all very different extended gaps. The first two should be fine - if someone's skills have atrophied than that's another issue (but nothing a good interview or probation period won't pick up on if it's actually even a problem). The second one might be fine or a problem - and I can see why employers would be wary.

annyeonghada 4y ago
And even if someone spent their time video gaming and doing drugs why can't they turn their life around if they want and demonstrate to have the skill. Burnout, depression, horrible circumstances and families all exists and sometimes you have to hit a stable rock bottom to start climbing.
- bigDinosaur 4y ago
  Yes. I can see why people might be wary although I don't necessarily agree with those who would be (excessively) wary.
michaelmior 4y ago
> It really should be put in the context of someone's life. Absolutely agree.
lentil_soup 4y ago
why would I care as an employer that you spent a year playing video games and doing drugs? When I interview people I couldn't care less about any gaps in their resume, we're going to sit down, talk about tech, what you've done and what we need, etc. If there's a match in skills, needs, personality and expectations then that's it, anything else are invisible cargo-cult walls
- bigDinosaur 4y ago
  You might care about their judgement and their state of mind and whether they'd be prepared for the job. I think understanding what someone did in a long gap is important - some are just very easy to understand (person in 20's decides to quit job for a year to go backpacking) while others might be harder. If I was interviewing I wouldn't ever automatically discard a resume because of a long gap, though, so I suppose I'm just thinking of what others might be cautious about, and other people may simply adopt a heuristic to automatically discard to minimise variance.
madeofpalk 4y ago
I've taken sixth months off and mostly played video games and no one ever cared or asked??!
- jstaines 4y ago
  Yep same here. When I ran out of money I thought I'd better start writing some code lol
- bigDinosaur 4y ago
  I'm actually very glad this is the case.

nigma1337 4y ago

Guess it depends on how you define a significant gap, 1 year? 5 years? Also working doesn't necessarily equal keeping up with technology. If i'm maintaining some legacy system, I wont have a gap but i might've not learnt anything new for years.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

vultour 4y ago

I worked a corporate job for several years where I pretty much learned nothing. As far as my skills go, the end result was almost no different to not working at all.

fch42 4y ago
I'd second that. "Classical companies" are rarely-ever at the forefront of technology, even if they are technology companies themselves. It's a broad statement, so keep it in context. Examples: Think, Apple has had the iPhone out since 2008 now. Working there on the iPhone 16 HW / SW specs or the M3 processor design may well be cutting-edge stuff, but working there as SRE for the App Store infrastructure is likely "an SRE job with some legacy in it". And working on their developer infrastructure, devtools / CI etc, very very likely is full of "proprietary dead ends" (i.e. tech noone outside the AAPL orchard will use or have use for). A Wall Street bank, once above a certain size, is going to adopt tech more slowly - much of their proprietary software stack is likely still in C++ / Java where a five-year-old small trading house may have written all that in Rust. I've had jobs at such "S&P 500" corporates in the past; I wouldn't say "I learned nothing" - I learned how to navigate companies. Call it "coping strategies" if you like. It still helps to get stuff done knowing how-to-do-it on a procedural level - or via human-interaction. Tech-wise ... regretted some of these. My experience, though, is that one can "come back". "Just" keep the ambition under control that you need to know everything, and need to be able to do everything. Today's "tech stacks" have so many parts in it that are out of your control and that you cannot inspect - the sheer will to "rule them all" will burn you. It's easier said then done, but: know your limits. Everyone has them. You'll recognize the "boasters" soon enough, those that claim they can rule it all.
icedchai 4y ago
Same. I think my skills may have regressed because they were working with legacy tech. I did get to go to a ton of zoom meetings, though.

Findecanor 4y ago

It's that attitude of recruiters' that keeps me unemployable. The fact is that the IT world does not progress in a linear direction. It's like a puddle that grows into multiple directions. But it is still covering most of the same spots as before. Banks still use COBOL. High-performance code is still in C or C++ with assembler (but that "C" may run on a GPU), etc.

mcv 4y ago
Just give the gap a name and it stops being a gap. Maybe you started your own company to unproductively mess around with stuff. Or call it a sabbatical. Those are popular.

Namari 4y ago

No the real issue is not the gaps themselves but why so many different jobs that don't last long. Tech evolves fast but in a week or 2 you're up to date if you've been away few months. I have many gaps in my resume but I have many different jobs, which is a lot more problematic. A question that pops up often is why did I left after X months and I need to explain all my choices. It is fine because I either didn't like the projects/companies, I wanted to switch technologies ... they do ask why 6 month off and that seems fine when I tell them I've been travelling.