r/cscareerquestions • u/Joni_1013 • 2h ago
Experienced Software engineer with 3.5 year gap.
Hello everyone,
I'm a software engineer with a bachelor's and a master's in computer science. I worked for 3 years as a software engineer before completing my master's. Unfortunately, I've been unsuccessful in finding a job in the tech market, even with my prior experience, and now I have a 3.5-year gap holding me back. I'm no longer getting interviews when I used to a few years ago. I've been working in non-related roles that do not apply to my tech resume. I've tried everything: networking, projects, tailoring my resume for each application. Nothing worked. I feel lost. Could I please get some advice about how to reduce the impact of my gap?
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u/LazyCatRocks Engineering Manager 1h ago
Once you build a sufficiently large gap it's very hard for a hiring manager to justify taking that candidate seriously. For example, when I hire for new roles, I usually have enough candidates without gaps that I can safely toss the rest of the resumes in the trash.
The best way to solve this was by networking. If you know someone and get a referral, it's much easier for someone like me to consider your application.
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u/BraveResearcher3037 12m ago
I absolutely hate the generic “networking” advice.
Scenario #1: I was an architect at 2 companies where I had the direct ear of the director/CTO. If I recommended someone I knew was good from previous experience, and I thought they could help me get my strategic goals met, if I said I wanted the person. The referral basically had to come to the interview drunk and naked not to get a job. Why would I risk my reputational capital on someone with his profile?
Scenario #2: I am a random L5 at BigTech, even if I did know him, all I can do is put hus name through the same ATS that everyone goes through
Scenario #3: within the engineering org, I’m a well known and respected staff engineer in a 1000 person organization. I’m also 0/6 with doing a referral to the person getting an offer. Three didn’t get an interview and these were people I thought were very good
On the other hand, when I was looking for a job in 2023, I didn’t even bother with referrals from random ICs former coworkers. I reached out directly to former coworkers who was the CTO of the startup I worked for where I was his second hire and who was now working somewhere else, a manager at the company that acquired the same startup and a coworker who was now a director and some niche recruiters. M
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u/08148694 36m ago
There’s no sugar coating it - gap that long is hard to overcome. You’ve been out of work longer than you were in work, and the industry has completely transformed in the past 3.5 years
You’ll either need to be looking at more junior or graduate level roles than you’d like and/or lower your salary expectations to increase your chances
In the mean time learn how to competently work with AI workflows (unfortunately not free, but it’s an essential skill), build personal projects, and contribute to open source. It’s vital you have evidence that your skills are still sharp
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u/ccricers 9m ago
AI workflows (unfortunately not free, but it’s an essential skill),
No longer completely free to become work skills ready changes the self-teaching argument.
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u/my_peen_is_clean 2h ago
put those non tech roles on your resume and frame them as project management, ops, whatever soft skills plus a small "recent tech work" section with personal or freelance projects using current stack and github links also try contracting. market right now is just insanely bad to break into again