I had somewhat similar experience with ~>7 years gap from last pro software eng. position. But the job in that gap was still in the same industry (management r

I had somewhat similar experience with ~>7 years gap from last pro software eng. position. But the job in that gap was still in the same industry (management roles and startups). And big part of startup experience I could pack as hands on software engineering which it actually was. And it happened not in the middle of a down market. I still had to spend some time polishing cv and reaching for help, networking, etc. So it took couple months instead of couple weeks as with some of my engineer-engineer friends.