How to explain my 5 burnt-out years off to a new employer?
- by user17332
Five years ago, I lost my ability to concentrate long-term, and therefore ability to code with professional efficiency.
I know why it happened, I understood how it happened, and on top of being able to re-create my calm and thus relaxed focus, I overcame the original (rooted in childhood) reason why my mind tilted on the overall situation back then; My understanding isn't rooted in words that a psychologist told me, I actually grokked them first-hand. I'm pretty much confident to be able to churn out productivity, possibly even more so than pre-burnout.
I also never lost my interest in code nor did I stray from trying to get my abilities back; I kept my knowledge up to date (I could always relatively painlessly learn things coding-related, just not apply them) and thus can say that I'm a better developer than before, even if my average LOC-count over those years is abysmally low.
On the other hand, now I have a biography that includes more time on the dole than in a job.
What would convince you, as an employer, to give my application a chance? I don't believe I should just keep the whole topic out of it.
