Focus on what your intent was during the employment gap.
The key is the intentionality of the experience. Unless you had no choice but to work on side projects, odds are you had some goal. Whether it was to learn how to build something from start to finish, provide support to someone in need, discover a passion, get experience with something specific, or something other, concentrate on that element.
Employment gaps are typically a concern if:
1. It suggests the candidate wanted to work but couldn't get a job.
2. It suggests the candidate will not stick around for long.
Employment gaps that served a purpose in someone's life are just as valuable as an employment history. Make it part of the narrative by explaining its role in your life, and how it characterizes you as a person ("I took a year off to care for sick parents") or how it served as growth ("I wanted to get more experience with X").
From experience, early in my career I took time off because I wanted to get better at understanding, structuring, and maintaining code test suites. Later on I had a gap when I tried to start a business. These aren't just times where I wasn't working, they are times deliberately devoted to something in my life, and they actually help the job hunt rather than hinder it.
The key is the intentionality of the experience. Unless you had no choice but to work on side projects, odds are you had some goal. Whether it was to learn how to build something from start to finish, provide support to someone in need, discover a passion, get experience with something specific, or something other, concentrate on that element.
Employment gaps are typically a concern if:
1. It suggests the candidate wanted to work but couldn't get a job. 2. It suggests the candidate will not stick around for long.
Employment gaps that served a purpose in someone's life are just as valuable as an employment history. Make it part of the narrative by explaining its role in your life, and how it characterizes you as a person ("I took a year off to care for sick parents") or how it served as growth ("I wanted to get more experience with X").
From experience, early in my career I took time off because I wanted to get better at understanding, structuring, and maintaining code test suites. Later on I had a gap when I tried to start a business. These aren't just times where I wasn't working, they are times deliberately devoted to something in my life, and they actually help the job hunt rather than hinder it.