'Don't be afraid to start small': Indian techie shares how he got a job & restarted his career after a 4-year career gap

Experiencing a career gap can feel like a huge obstacle when re-entering the job market.

Despite valid reasons for taking time off, such as family commitments, many recruiters are quick to dismiss candidates with gaps on their resumes.

However, one individual has turned this challenge on its head.

At 27, after a four-year hiatus, he not only landed a job but has risen to a lead position.

Taking to Reddit, he opens up about his unconventional career path: ¡°After my BTech in 2015, I started working in our family business that was in crisis. The situation got dragged for 4 years and we had to finally exit our business with huge loss,¡± he recounts.

Credit: Unsplash

He continues, ¡°Luckily, I wrote CAT and scored 88 percentile but unfortunately it was May 2019. Almost all B-School admits were over by then.¡±

Despite his initial plan to prepare rigorously for the next year¡¯s CAT and aim for a top B-school, a cousin¡¯s advice led him to enroll in a local tier-3 college with low fees, to avoid burdening his family further.

¡°Finally, I joined one of those colleges with 40% scholarship. I ended up becoming topper in all courses and got a gold medal. I was able to crack a senior data analyst job on my own through networking by the end of MBA. This was 3 years back and today I work as a lead.¡±

Credit: Unplash | Representational image

He also shares his brother¡¯s story, who faced attendance problems and had five backlogs in his 7th semester of engineering owing to mental health issues.

After clearing his exams, he enrolled in a local B-School for an online degree. With additional certifications, he too was able to secure a job.

He concludes with a motivational message: ¡°I started my career at 27 with 4 years career gap and my brother had to clear 5 backlogs in 4th year to start his career at 22 after a delay of 1 year. Everybody will have a different start. If you messed up, that's ok. Accept it and move forward. Don't be afraid to start small. Be humble.¡±

Check out his post here:

Story of me (4 years gap) and my brother (5 backlogs) on how we got jobs and started our careers
byu/oneaffidavit1 indevelopersIndia

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