How Big Of a Red Flag is A Gap Period?

[SpaceTraveller]

Quick background about me: I'm 26 years old, finished a 3 year undergraduate degree in Animation from the UK.

After finishing that course, I decided that I wanted to switch to another career path. Animation is good as a hobby, but not good as a career. The problem was I did not know what I wanted to switch to. So after graduating, I decided to take a break for myself.

This break lasted for about 2 and a half years (I know long time). I was using the time to explore all my interests and simultaneously pursuing a side hobby of mine - music. I had always wanted to pursue that hobby since I was a teenager but couldn't devote my full time to that because of school and university. So since I was taking this break, I thought it would be a good chance to pursue that and make good use of the time.

After lots of advice and research, I decided that I wanted to switch to web development. The job prospects are really good and it sounds enjoyable (it involves creativity and problem solving).

I realize this gap is a long time, but I just want to know how big of a deal it is? The fact that there was no official work experience means that it would be very hard to justify it. I have my portfolio which contains the music I was working on during the gap, but I'm not sure if they will accept that. However I do have a certificate of registration from the copyright office. When I created some of my first songs, I had registered my name, stage name and title of songs and I have all that on a certificate. Will this prove to be useful?

Also how do I rectify this? What if I do gain some work experience in the near future? Will this gap still be seen as a red flag? Will it forever overshadow any work experience I do in the future? How much work experience do I need to counter this gap?

 

[canuck78]

Quick background about me: I'm 26 years old, finished a 3 year undergraduate degree in Animation from the UK.

After finishing that course, I decided that I wanted to switch to another career path. Animation is good as a hobby, but not good as a career. The problem was I did not know what I wanted to switch to. So after graduating, I decided to take a break for myself.

This break lasted for about 2 and a half years (I know long time). I was using the time to explore all my interests and simultaneously pursuing a side hobby of mine - music. I had always wanted to pursue that hobby since I was a teenager but couldn't devote my full time to that because of school and university. So since I was taking this break, I thought it would be a good chance to pursue that and make good use of the time.

After lots of advice and research, I decided that I wanted to switch to web development. The job prospects are really good and it sounds enjoyable (it involves creativity and problem solving).

I realize this gap is a long time, but I just want to know how big of a deal it is? The fact that there was no official work experience means that it would be very hard to justify it. I have my portfolio which contains the music I was working on during the gap, but I'm not sure if they will accept that. However I do have a certificate of registration from the copyright office. When I created some of my first songs, I had registered my name, stage name and title of songs and I have all that on a certificate. Will this prove to be useful?

Also how do I rectify this? What if I do gain some work experience in the near future? Will this gap still be seen as a red flag? Will it forever overshadow any work experience I do in the future? How much work experience do I need to counter this gap?

The gap isn’t the major issue. The fact that web development courses are surely available in most countries and this isn’t a logical progression of your skills based on previous degree and work. All you can do is explain why you want to change careers and why you need to study in Csnada and how will the degree benefit you when you return to your how country.

 

[SpaceTraveller]

The gap isn’t the major issue. The fact that web development courses are surely available in most countries and this isn’t a logical progression of your skills based on previous degree and work. All you can do is explain why you want to change careers and why you need to study in Csnada and how will the degree benefit you when you return to your how country.

What would be the best way to explain this career change if you want to change simply because of your own desire? I've heard most career changes can be justified because someone picks up a new skill during an internship or job and then pursue a course to expand upon that skill. But that change can be justified because its linked in with the internship or job.