TL;DR: Should I be honest and explain the failure of my projects, and that the time was used primarily for self-improvement #leetcode? Is it best to form some sort of 1-person company/fill-in with "freelancer"? I've got about a year gap on my resume where I've taken time to do personal projects (which admittedly failed more than I thought; they were mobile apps which started strong but fell off) and primarily grind for SWE; I write on the side for some income (freelance for various projects) and it's somewhat related to my previous job position, mixed in with some tech. What's the best way to go about explaining this gap to a hiring manager if it goes on to be 16 or so months before I'm applying for SWE positions? I'm an active writer currently working on a very large project (a book with someone, who I am writing) as well, if that has any difference.
If you interview for amazon you’d have the perfect failure stories for LP questions
Just be honest, what you did sounds kind of inspirational and entrepreneurial— even if it wasn’t as successful as you had hoped for. I think that will reflect positively on you since not many would do the same.
Gaps are normal, keep it honest, and unfortunately it's all up to the interviewer what they think. You don't want to work for someone who doesn't like the real you.
If you are in USA, gap is acceptable for deciding what you want to do, family issues, freelancing etc. You can put as freelancing and coaching etc.
Alright, thank you.