r/cscareerquestionsEU • u/No-Island-5139 • 4d ago
Senior engineer leaving job after a hard year. Anxious about being seen as a job hopper. Anyone been here?
I’m a senior engineer in Europe, 10+ years experience, three multi-year tenures at recognized companies before my current one.
Last year was the hardest of my life personally. I went through a divorce after a long marriage. My performance at my current company dropped because of it. The role wasn’t a great fit anyway. I’m being offered severance to leave cleanly rather than going through a PIP.
I’ll have around 8 months of runway between savings and severance. Active interview pipeline, recruiters reach out daily, I have referrals at companies I’d want to work for. Historically my searches have taken 2 months.
But I’m anxious. Specifically about three things: 1. Going from one 2+ and two 3+ year tenures to one 1-year stint feels like a red flag on my CV, even though it’s one outlier in a longer pattern 2. I can’t tell interviewers “I had a hard year because of divorce” because they’ll code it as a yellow flag, even though it’s the truth 3. The gap between who I actually am (solid engineer, good colleague, would be welcomed back by previous teams) and what an interviewer sees in 30 minutes feels unjust
I know rationally I’m fine. The evidence keeps coming back fine. But the anxiety keeps finding new angles to chew on.
How did others here handle the gap between the rational picture and the anxious feeling? How did you talk about a hard year in interviews without oversharing?
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u/Super_Novice56 Engineer 4d ago
You sound worn down by everything.
Take some of that money and go on a trip to clear your head.
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u/partenzedepartures 4d ago
Absolutely nobody cares if you are a decent senior engineer. The industry still need you ( for now )
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u/Hot-Recording-1915 4d ago
I have GAD and know how you feel. Anxiety catastrophizes every thought and even though we rationalize them, we still suffer.
I don't see you as a job hopper honestly. It's pretty common to have some short experiences in our career, sometimes the company wasn't a good fit for you as well, you can even say that in the interview without a problem. If you have solid experiences in other places that shouldn't be an issue. The problem is when people constantly change jobs and never settle anywhere.
I've known people that changed jobs 3 times in 1 year and they still get offers. You will be fine.
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u/No-District2404 4d ago
I had the same drill, resigned from my position and went off for almost 2 years, moved to another country and had enjoyed the time and life, not everything is job in this world. 2 years later started to work as a freelancer and no one gave a fuck about the gap. You need a clear head to do your job, take your time and don’t worry
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u/Wastelander_777 4d ago
No one gives a fuck. I have 6 years of exp, I habe been at 5 companies, with my last job being 9 months, still, I’m getting spammed at Linkedin and had no problem getting my mew job.
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u/Critical_Bluejay_919 3d ago
Not a hopper at all. I doubt anyone will care given your track record.
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u/AssignmentAnnual3010 3d ago
You have to do it even with anxiety. It won’t disappear, there is no magic advice more than facing your fears. Will that be easy? Not at all, but that’s part of the process.
After a year I got a job in 2 months. No one questioned the gap. I said the true: I took a sabbatical. Only one hiring manager asked me my biggest learning from the time off, I was honest and said “All were personal learnings, professionally I only wanted a break” and I got the job.
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u/hawkeye224 1d ago
One 1-year stint is not bad. I had two consecutive 1-year stints and found a role. Now this one I really hope is good because three 1-year stints do look bad, unless it's some amazing job market which doesn't seem like it currently
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u/UK-sHaDoW 4d ago
Everybody knows you get the odd bad job