Engineer’s ‘career gap a curse in India’ post slammed by netizens: ‘Stop fearmongering’
A software engineer from a Tier-1 college took to Reddit to share his experience while hunting for a job after taking a 1.5-year gap.
He said he was working for a public benefit corporation (PBC) and had to resign because his father was diagnosed with kidney failure and had to undergo an urgent kidney transplant.
“I had to resign and run to my hometown to manage all this with my dad’s business,” the engineer said.
He added that after 1.5 years, when his situation stabilised, he began applying for a job and even used referrals but was rejected by most of the companies. “Whenever any HT called for screening, they used to talk like having a gap is some kind of a cardinal sin. Most of them rejected straight away and the rest ghosted after data gathering,” he stated.
He mentioned that a couple of firms offered a job but for a salary that was almost half of his last drawn salary. “Basically they were exploiting me,” he said.
‘Yes you are a slave’: Netizens react
A Reddit user reacted saying, “Yes, you are a slave. How dare you take time off for more than one year? I don’t care if you have a personal emergency.” Speaking sarcastically, the user added, “I know you are not a dependable slave, that your livelihood does not depend on the meagre salary we provide you, which means you can break away from the bonds again in the future.”
Offering possible solutions, another Reddit user asked if the engineer could show that he was employed at his father’s business. The engineer replied saying not much paperwork was involved in the business as it is not a “private limited company”.
A third Reddit user responded differently, asking the engineer to not spread fear. “I have a gap too and yes they do offer you interviews. Maybe it is your extremely inflated ex package which is causing issues. Stop fear-mongering for f***s sake…Maybe you just s**k at interviewing,” the user said.
Another user said, “My story is different as I got offers from many big multinational corporations even after the gap. I think it is just the time which is not good in 2025.”
Agreeing with them, another Reddit user commented, “I have (nearly six years of experience) had multiple career gaps and I have never had an issue. As long as you have something to show during those gaps, startups don’t care.”
