Career Gap Acceptable in India?
Hey Blind Fam, Sorry for long post ahead. please read if you have some time. I am a 2021 graduate in india( Quite good University) . I wanted to know if its advisable to take a career gap after working for around a year in the industry ( 1.5+ YOE including internships)? I am struggling with motivation, mental and physical health issues. I have worked hard for so many years. Topper, Straight A, 95%+ student throughout middle school, high school, even college. I don't have any hobbies, interests, life skills etc. I can't look into any body's eyes while talking and always think i am a loser. I am good at faking that i have hoobies, i am curious, Enthusiastic etc( leadership principles BS) to get through HR / HM rounds interviews of companies and can crack interviews by memorizing LC, CS Fundamentals and system design lld hld questions but i don't have real interest in software engineering. it pays good and i am not capable of working on anything else. And no amazon is not responsible for anything, i have been at amazon around 6 months only. so , honeymoon phase still and culture in teams Is alright. i sleep whole day(12-16hrs), procrastinate and try to do just enough in work so that manager doesn't notice any underperformance. Most likely I will PIPed if this continues for long since heavy design and coding work is started to be given to me and i dont have heart and willpower to complete it and take ownership. i have zero motivation to work and mostly do whatever work tasks i am assigned by laying in bed,hating every sec of it. Everyday, i dream to be free from this world. i know the problems i have and also how to fix them, but i dont have the heart or motivation to do anything about it. i am borderline obese, have high anxiety ( often cry alone also), depression and i am always stressed. After all this struggle, i am thinking of taking a career gap of 5-6 months to fix my life and do following things : 1) Get in shape - diet and workout ( 2+ hours time investment per day ) 2) Do something meaningful /pick up a hobby and make some friends (1-1.5hr time investment ) 3) Fix sleep schedule ( no more than 7 hrs) 4) Do small amount of LC and ds-algo by actually understanding things ( 2-3 hr everyday) 5) Learn new framework like react and spring, learn docker etc to make some great modern type of projects (3-4 hr time investment per day ) to rekindle my interest in software development. 6) Learn system design etc. to learn about how things operate at scale and also to excite me about software engineering again. i like reading and learning new things in software world. (2 hr investment) I will be having 20+ LAKH INR in saving almost at end of September ( more if i get pipped with 3 months severance) of my own money and my family has lots of saving. I live in my hometown house with my parents and grandparents ( very big and beautiful - 8 rooms, 3 floors) in a LCOL. and i have no major expenses- only food and electricity. i don't buy new gadgets, clothes or other expensive things. my yearly expenditure is at max 3 LPA INR. no monetary issues in family( parents working, will get pension on retirement, brother is abroad making good money, lots of property and family savings in bank) i have few questions for recuriter in India or people how have taken career gap in india because it's not same as in US/Europe : 1) How difficult Is it to get interviews after a gap? 2) Will Google, microsoft or other big companies give me an interview after career gap considering i will still have 8-9 months Amazon experience in my resume). 3) will i have to work for startups for some time after gap to get opportunists in big tech again? Thanks for reading. I will take criticism of any kind positively. please share your thoughts and advice me on next steps. Also, Amazon has no FMLA type thing in india.. also not biggest fan of culture, so leaving it is not an issue for me. YOE-1 TC-26LPA #engineering #software #career#careerGap #advise #burnout #depression #depression #mentalhealth
I would suggest to take break and solo travel.
I resonated with this post. Don’t worry OP, take it easy. Take some time off, take sick leave for a week and chill out. Don’t stress yourself too much. Health should be your topmost priority.
Career gap doesn't matter at all. Unless you apply for low paying service based sweat shops where old uncles aunties take your interview
Same comment: try going to office for a month then decide.
Are u working remote ?
Take it easy OP , most the people are in tech just for money purposes you arent alone . Dont stress too much , Focus on your health and take some time off , You will be fine
Don’t bother much about what others are thinking. I think you just have imposter syndrome. Remote work comes up with this unique set of challenges where person gets detached from its group (read folks with similar interest) - it usually happens with people who are always front runner in their respective school/college life with no major interset in anything apart from education. I would say taking break for somedays (3-4weeks) will help you but at the end of day you will have create/develop interest in work then only you will be overcome on that constant botheration Other option as mentioned in comments, try to work from office for somedays make some connections it surely will help. Lastly, if you really think - having detachment from work for some month will help you go for it - career gap doesn’t matter with good product companies.
I would say take a few months break, get yourself a break from all the everyday expectations, don’t fuss over practicing leetcode, learning tech framework and system design dusring those few months and just focus on your mental well being and fitness. As you start feeling better mentally and more confident as a person, make a list of companies where you’re most willing to work, and start preparing and then go ahead and interview in those companies. You can give any sort of reason to these companies why you took a break like you were facing some medical conditions and required regular hospitalisation just say something like this which they would 100% sympathise with and you won’t have any problems I believe.
I can complete relate with your post. Exactly same story but with more experience. I asked for L4 even after clearing L5 at G. Pretty bad imposter syndrome. Trying from 6 months to get out of it. So you are not alone. Everyone feels like this even with more experience at higher level.
Take it easy...your manager is not thinking of you every hour of day. You are important but not for every atom in the universe. Take care of your health. If you are healthy and alive you will sail through everything. You have serious imposter syndrome. 90 percent of the people in tech are mostly for Money. It is rarely fun to work for some one else. Before quitting just think what worse could happen if you dont quit but stop taking work too seriously. If thats not killing you that is acceptable. You can take break as well. I promise that wont kill you as well. And you will be able to come back. You have lot of money to survive. Probably few years if you are single.