Am I a bad software engineer? Need career guidance for career gap of 1.5 years?
Hi everyone!
Affected by a tech layoff. Took some time for myself (6 months). I have been appearing for interviews for software engineer(sde1, sde2) for almost 1 year now. Prepping and giving interviews at the same time. There were moments I gave up so the time-line includes moments of me not giving any interviews too because things weren't really moving anywhere. I am finding myself anxious as I did not think all this would take so much time. DSA, LLD, HLD, resume refining - trying to master it all. In some interviews I also did bad. Some were random. Some found my experience not relevant.
I am getting worried as this career gap is also hampering my chances of getting shortlisted. Are there any ways in which i can justify this career gap...by doing some courses or certifications? And to top my game at system design hld which is where I struggle a lot. Any platforms that help offer support and guidance for jobs search and prep support to help me get over this uncertainty of each day as I am feeling that am I this bad an engineer...