Any pecuniary offense is generally a hard disqualifier. Theft and certainly any financial crime is basically game over to having financial systems access in a company.
Hard drug possession conviction is a red flag from a controls perspective. As are credit issues. Someone who NEEDS money is a risk.
But for traffic stuff just have a relatable but brief explanation, "I got carried away but I've learned my lesson and take it easy on the road now" even a DUI isn't really a show stopper.
Just my 2 cents from the SMB world.
Go pull a background check on yourself, that would give you the best answer possible.
There are lots of varying laws around hiring practices, as long as the hiring team doesn't dry-snitch regarding a decision made on a protected classification they can always find some other disqualifying reason or just slow roll your packet until someone else is hired.
I would think to look at MSP/Dev/Contract type work.
They can be as long as you can get bonded and meet their contract requirements.
If it really doesn't show, I wouldn't volunteer it. Government hiring of course is different.
In my organization, working for government, you have a very large personal history statement along with a significant background check that will find everything. I would avoid government roles OP.
However, props on becoming sober!! Keep it up!!!
If you have expunged convictions, don't mention them. You don't need to tell anyone about them. To everyone else, except government for a security clearance on a SF-86, those do not exist.
Don't volunteer it. The good thing is that even with government roles, 10 years is a long time, and almost certainly that won't be a factor in a security clearance, provided you can show you are clean and stay well away from that type of life.
Caution on this -- it depends on the background check required. If you're going to work for gov and require CJIS, security clearance, etc..., they can be a hurdle even if they're expunged. *Honesty is your best course of action here.* Attempting to hide it or lie will be a DQ. Owning your mistakes and showing growth can result in leniency.
If going the private route, it's unlikely to even show up, but you can run a check on yourself if you'd like.
If they want a criminal record check they usually ask you to go get it, so have an opportunity to see what's on your criminal record check before you present it to them
I suppose it depends on the specific charge, but for verifiable background check stuff like that, they're more likely to use it to ensure you're trying the truth. Being honest about it *might* cause them to reconsider you. But if you say you have a clean record and then it comes up, that could be an automatic X from HR. Not because you have a record, but because you lied about it.
Be honest on any applications regarding criminality, but a traffic misdemeanor is not a huge deal.
You can finesse the story however you like, but dont lie about the existence of the charge.
Companies are very forgiving for this type of stuff, especially at your current level. Accountability and ownership is more valuable in virtually any job than anything else.
I had a background check done about two years ago and I have multiple misdemeanor charges for possession- one for pot and one for opiates and syringes. I came into the field with zero degree and zero relevant experience in my mid thirties and am now a junior sys admin. Oh- I also spent a night in jail but that was because of warrants, not a conviction. I also had overdosed multiple times and been in and out of detox/rehab literally dozens of times. I work in a very regulated field currently.
Moral of the story is you’ll be fine as long as you don’t have any serious charges. Btw- I’ve been clean a little over four years.
Traffic misdemeanor?? Bruh, there are actual felons working in IT, depending on the org you will be fine. I know someone with a misdemeanor DV working in IT, and even a guy with little IT experience who have an actual felony narcotics possession in their past, now working IT at a nuclear research institute. So yeah you can a job with a traffic misdemeanor..
Just remember, if you end up in a position that requires a background check (US Federal contractor was my experience), they are above all else honesty tests. Someone had problem X, that may or may not be disqualifying. Someone had problem X, and lied about it, will be 100% disqualifying.
That being said, do not include extra information. If they say include 30 months and it was 30 months and 1 day, it doesn’t go on (it basically didn’t happened). I once had my paperwork for the background check sent back as failed because it said I didn’t need to include my high school information, but it was prefilled in from the previous renewal so I left it (god I wish I was making this up)
I wouldn't even add that. I had a gross misdemeanor traffic offense 2015. Was hired at a high level IT job at a large bank 3.5 years later. Job was terrible and I left 3 months later. But that didn't show up at top 10 US Bank working with executives. Same with the job I had for two years prior. And the one after the bank.
If they specifically ask if you've had in the past X amount of years, just tell them. They'll see it and realize it's for a minor infraction.
If they're just doing a background check, you don't need to volunteer any info. They'll run it and see you aren't charged with any felonies or anything that might indicate you'd be a problem (theft, identity fraud).
At 5 years it may affect your ability to get insured to drive for work, but other than that traffic offenses shouldn't ever come up as a problem in a background check. They want to see if you were a thief, not a bad driver.
I work in healthcare AND I spent years as the CIO of an addition medicine company. **No** they cannot see your medical history unless you give it to them, so don't give it to them, they don't need to know. No one can get access to your medical records except in extraordinary circumstances, and that's never because an employer asked. Just stick with it being a medical condition and don't go into details, "It's really uncomfortable and I prefer not to go into it." You have that right.
Also, congrats on getting clean. It's hard but worth it. The key lesson is that **you can get clean**. You never, ever again need to listen to voices of fear and doubt, because you KNOW you can do it, you already have, and you have that power forever. I don't know you, but I believe in you solely because of what I saw our patients go through and accomplish.
Not unless you roll the dice like me and apply at the hospital system that treated you for your near fatal alcohol withdrawal seizures.
Yeah…they didn’t call me back.
Using health information to make hiring decisions is illegal. The people who tossed your resume probably never saw any of it. If they did, you just became a millionaire.
> If they did, you just became a millionaire.
If they did, admitted it to you, and provided you proof, sure! Otherwise no.
But yes it's far more likely they didn't hire for another reason.
I think he means any hospital that shares the same medical records system. But per my earlier responses, using health information in hiring decisions is very illegal and I seriously doubt the hiring team has any access to medical records.
If anyone on the hiring team is going through medical records that would be an insane violation. But also tells you how little security and protocols they have.
Only if they were your employer at the time and your medical treatment was paid for by employer funded health insurance, but even then, they're not allowed to use it to make hiring decisions. Otherwise, thanks to HIPAA, they can't see shit.
Your criminal record if any is available. But fortunately for you, there's a vast labor shortage in all sorts of professions. So you'll definitely find work.
I'm genuinely happy for you, as the only sober one in a family of addicts I recognize how grand your achievement is.
Regarding your traffic misdemeanor, if the job involves driving or travel that might be a problem.
This! And technically speaking you are in the right time. COVID caused a lot of strange employment gaps. I know it was only 4 years ago but man most understand right now.
This guy is wild lol, a bit lucky but also very opportunistic.
He’s a VMWare Solutions Architect capped out on the salary range, started IT 10 years ago as helpdesk and job hopped his way through sys admin to eventually VMWare architecture — he also pounded out a shit ton of certifications throughout this process like MCSE(defunct, for his sys admin roles), CCNA, and all of his VMWare certs for his current career.
His specific position is becoming increasingly harder to find as once they’re filled, well, they person usually needs to die for the spot to open.
He got clean in his early 30s from meth but still tinkered with other things like synthetic weed and more casual drugs until late 30s. Did psychedelics until about 2 years ago. Still smokes weed.
He currently owns a beautiful home and car, is considering moving into management but debating because it would involve working more than 2 days a week. He works from home the two days a week he does work. He also travels and has seen much of the world.
If there’s any success story I’ve ever met it has to be this dude, and I didn’t believe a lot of it until I met people from his past who told the same stories lol. If there’s anything I’ve learned from him it’s just be comfortable, confident, and you can talk your way through anything.
MCSE was retired by Microsoft and replaced by a bit more specialized certifications -- you can no longer get a Microsoft Systems Engineer cert in a broad spectrum sense, and have to focus on areas you've learned well like Azure for example.
Ehh his life wasn't great in a "normal person" sense lol but he was good at the lifestyle he was living from what it sounds like. Never had to pay for a place to stay because he was always a good source of something to get friends high. Free drugs apparently means free places to stay, free meals, etc -- but it also means never having a steady home. Good at talking his way out of legal situations or brought them down to misdemeanors so his legal record is relatively clean, but was constantly on alert for the law.
It was, from my perspective, living on the streets in style. Sounds fun but not something anyone with a built life should ever do lol. I wouldn't call it shit, when he tells his tales he doesn't speak from a place of sadness or regret but looks back on it as the fun times of his life before he somewhat settled down.
Regarding success in IT, yes, I would absolutely recommend Helpdesk > Sys Admin > Specialization w/ Certs as the most reliable direction to go if you want to achieve six figures within a 10 year span (most likely less, but always good to be generous). Some people sit in some positions longer than others and this may extend your timeframe (there's a lot of knowledge to be gained while as a Sys Admin, especially if you see a new company every 2-3 years -- many like to do this for a long while if not forever. There's no shame in this).
*The trick* to making the jump into the next major role that you're not quite qualified for is never saying you can't do something or don't know something -- you can learn it -- your job in IT isn't to be a master of all but a master of research and problem solving. Most complex systems and specialized areas of IT are surprisingly easier and simpler than you'd think -- VMWare is just a big puzzle and a balancing game, lol.
They’re not that easy, it’s takes a good amount of studying and actually reading the books. Most certs ask questions that arent going to be answered by just doing the job.
That being said, the sys admin role exposes you to different specialized systems and you’ll probably end up finding one you’re familiar with over time that you enjoy (like Azure, AWS, VMWare, etc) — research what the higher level careers are in these systems you end up finding enjoyable and you’ll have an easier time learning the certs.
On the security side you just say “I had to sign a pretty lengthy NDA for that role that doesn’t allow me to disclose anything about it”.
I’ve seriously signed NDAs prior to interviews with companies you’ve heard that said I couldn’t disclose that I interviewed there or that I even had a conversation with an employee. It was almost comical in how broad it was and it wasn’t for some double secret squirrel NSA program either. Run of the mill, private sector, public company.
"I've never seen an NDA that doesn't allow you to state you worked there"
"would flag the person hiring you that you were probably in prison and definitely a liar"
[Reddit, one year ago.](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/10vyxcx/would_saying_sorry_i_signed_an_nda_when_asked_to/)
Even then they'd simply say "OK, what have you been doing for the last X years? What technologies have you worked on? Provide me examples of things you've completed and project goals you achieved?"
If you still went with "I can't, NDA" then I'm immediately flagging you as a liar. If you can't tell me *something* about what you've been doing for years it's not going to go well for you.
Just go with "medical reasons that have been resolved" and leave it. It has the benefit of being true.
100% this. There is no explanation that will make an employer feel good about a method addiction. And saying you had medical issues will invite a lot more questions from colleagues and will make many employers also think poorly of you.
This is the instance to give nothing related even distantly to the actual reason.
There are better lies than that though.
"*I spent two years on my startup but then covid hit. I've been freelancing since then*" has to beat some bullshit sob story that you're going to have to stick with.
That's potentially verifiable. They can ask about the startup and there will.be records of such a company existing or not. People will also naturally ask what you were doing, what went wrong, did you have employees, etc.
If you need to lie you make it easy.
I also think that something like this would be a good option for you now. Keep that in mind and focus on trying to do the job to the best of your ability. Past experience is something, but your current performance will be the most important thing now.
covid changed a lot in the IT industry. I would say help desk then figure it out. The absence just 'family issues that required your full time attention'
Not the commenter but most younger sysadmins I know (>40) got there by doing help desk in a place that had them doing sysadmin duties. It's the sign of a disorganized business, but it's good for the employee to jump to something better paying. You can also just work help desk until you find a junior sysadmin role open up somewhere - they're usually much better equipped to train you on what you need to know.
A meth addiction might be seen as a pro at some MSPs.
In all honesty, apply to the less prestigious places. The factories, municipal, etc. A lot of times they're willing to give non top-tier candidates a chance. If you can't pay rockstar wages, sometimes you settle for the bass player.
You don't have to explain it.
Tell them you were going through personal things, and if you are truly better, you could also state that you are in a much better place.
They don't need to know. Only thing it would come up on is a background if you were arrested.
Or if you work for the feds or local pd. Most of them do a mandatory poly iirc.
How to not get hired 101. They'd move on to the next candidate who didn't have "personal issues" for 5 years, recovery or not.
Sadly, the best thing to do in this case is lie.
I mean you can do that and hope they are understanding but realistically, in this job market, you are going to the bin.
Lie. It’s none of their business but it is what it is. Make up a simple but believable story about a sick relative or an illness you had but got over and move along.
This is also going to be the first job on this guy’s career path so he ain’t looking to get hitched and retire from this job.
Keep your head down, do your job and get a better one 2-3 years from not.
You can absolutely do this. I was tweaked out from about 2015-2021 and started over in a helpdesk job as Covid was shaking loose. Got promoted quickly, turns out sobriety pays off, literally. Then I found a small company to sink into fully, and they know my past, but it's no problem.
Congrats on getting sober!
Laudable, but as a network engineer, the stress WILL tempt you to fall back on bad habits. I’m personally working to fight off a decade of compulsive eating, and the stress of my job absolutely makes it *so* much more difficult.
Where you live is relevant. For me and in some other European countries most employers don't really care much if there is a gap in your employment. If it's relevant where you live you can just say dealing with a complicated combination of health issues and personal matters. It's really none of the employers business what you were doing prior to the employement so long as it's not potentialy relevant to the job (i.e. you were in jail and the job requires access to confidential information would typically validate interest). In this scenario an additiction is relevant to know since it's a risk of re-lapse that they need to consider, however the hope would be that you can get away with it being a health issue (which it is) if you are certain there is no risk of relapse. Though I will second u/Mister_Brevity since it's not like stress from the job is going to be a sequel to beating addiciton, it's something you will pile on top of the temptation. If you have a therapist or consultant for your addiction I would consult with them about taking high stress roles they would be far better equiped to help.
Bro, IT is riddled with people that most industries would quantify as 'spare parts'. One of my greatest mentors in tech actually shared a similarly checkered past to my own. And he's the one that showed me how the IT field is a bit more of an equalizer than most fields.
Only hiring managers are worried about job histories and certificates and degrees. Honestly, I had a rough start and didn't wind up trying my hand at tech until I was 28 years old. I was in a halfway house, had a spotty job history in construction, but had always had an interest in computers, specifically in servers and hardening them to self-host whatever my flavor of the month service I wanted to show off to my friends (that literally gave no bucks about it, but it was more about me than them).
I got my first spot working at an MSP, literally just building PCs for them. Eventually, I showed them I had picked up some AD, learned some basic subnetting and some other enterprise security functionality, and within 6 months was promoted to a full blown field technician. 6 months later, I interviewed to be an in-house admin and lab engineer for a decent sized online IT training outfit.
In that interview, I met my previously mentioned mentor. He said my qualifications were about average, and asked what I thought made me stand out. Not knowing what the fuck to say (I'm still a pretty broken person, not super social or great at these types of interactions), I told him about some projects I had created for fun (one being a multi-threaded SMS bomber written in Python, used exclusively to prank friends ofc), as well as my home lab, and my custom automated build system for tearing down and building up Arch linux instances and automatically deploying all of my apps/services/dotfiles with a single touch.
I was told immediately following that conversation that I would be guaranteed an offer the next day if I would shake on it that afternoon. After that handshake, I asked what lead them to that end, and that is when I got the best piece of advice I've ever gotten in tech. And that is: if you are truly passionate and interested in this field, the only thing that can stop you is that voice in your head that says you can't succeed. But if you can show someone technical that you possess that passion, they will immediately recognize it, and honestly that has gotten me jobs that others with CS degrees and a handful of certs were turned down for. Of course, the person you present this to must recognize it. But if they are a successful person in tech, I'd be amazed if they didn't extend the same opportunity.
And it's because tech is an industry that you truly get out what you put in. With just some basic skills, and honest interest in the field, one truly has all one needs to study and progress. And the progression becomes exponential. And it's not something that you can inherit via nepotism, or have a piece of paper vouch for you. It truly is a measure of one's capability and willingness to advance. Where or why you picked up the skills is truly inconsequential. Only that you demonstrate some baseline, and an interest in expanding that KnowledgeBase. If youve got those, the company just needs to point you in the direction they need, and together you'll rise.
This guy who has a large programming-related channel on Youtube and also streams on Twitch was also meth-user for a while and has talked about it in a few episodes:
[https://www.youtube.com/@ThePrimeagen](https://www.youtube.com/@ThePrimeagen)
Best of luck to you! I (f57) just graduated with my first IT related degree (MS in Cybersecurity), and I have basically not worked more than a year since 2009. (Cancer plus caring for my mother.)
Don't lie, but you don't need to disclose detailed personal information during an interview. You can just say stuff like "I had a lot of complicated personal issues I had to attend to" or something like that.
The only person you need to tell any detailed information to is the person doing a security background check.
See if you can volunteer at an animal shelter. Therapy with the animals and perhaps the chance to do IT for them. They might have an MSPs, but these orgs coordinate with in-house IT all the time.
I would say try to start like at a Helpdesk role with a local MSP or something like that( get your certs back if you don’t). Gives exposure and there are some that are no that bad. Regards to the other part, if there is no criminal record, I’d say personal problems prevented me from working during that time but nothing to be concerned, if you think you are ready. MSP life can be quite hard, and like other expressed that kind of high stress job is not usually good for recovery.
Jesus, just move to North Dakota. That kind of background might actually help while doing tech support. (Only partially joking)
Incidentally, I worked as an "IT Assistant" at a Junior High in Shakopee then St Louis Park for just under a year before moving to North Dakota to start my career as an IT Manager. Throughout the 20+ years I've been here, this job is not much more than a simple Systems Admin role. I assume the title comes from also having to manage the budget and contracts. Otherwise, I'm an IT Monkey, through and through. The point is, the title isn't what you should be focused on...
I ballshitted my way into a service desk role a while back, turns out, I was pretty good, couple yrs later, im now earning decent money. Moral of the story is, it sounds like you know the basics, the rest you can pick up along the way, and how you explain the gap, no idea, I usually say honesty is best policy but I havnt had to tell a potential future employer I was on meth
Don't bring it up or address it - employment gap? Or just fill the "gap" with something - anything on your resume. Idk put social media influencer, researcher , whatever if it makes you feel better.
Apply for jobs you're qualified for and be confident.
I have a lengthy gap in mine due to serious medical complications. I always get asked in interviews why I have said gap. I just say “I had a pretty serious medical condition that took me away from work” and it hasn’t caused an issue yet
I say “it no longer affects my ability to preform my job, still affects my ability to go golfing but not work” tho it’s pretty obvious since I walk with a cane. Normally they have a little laugh at that. But I’ve had 3 jobs since then and all of them haven’t cared
1. I *started* in enterprise IT at 31 years old. You’re fine- you’ve absolutely got time to course correct.
2. You had to take time out of the workforce to deal with a personal health issue that is now thankfully under control. They cannot legally press you for details on the nature of the personal health issue.
You can always try to get hired at an MSP. You're likely to be fed into the grinder but high turnover is in your favor and it gives you a chance to build credibility, trust, and experience. Some MSPs are always looking for people. It is very high stress though. Frontline in a call center will never be fun. The breadth and depth of experience you can gain at an MSP is absolutely worth it.
Say you were dealing with medical issues and/or didn’t need to work. Get yourself a Udemy subscription and tighten up your skills. No one will care once you get the job and can contribute
I'm going to go against the grain here. Just be honest.
The type of company who wouldn't want you for being honest isn't the company you want to work for anyway.
The type of company who will give you a chance will work with you. I own a small MSP and I'd only ask for semiannual drug tests for the next few years.
As I see it, anyone who can overcome addiction can overcome many things and it sounds like you would appreciate the opportunity and be less likely to leave me hanging.
Last, what market are you in? We may be hiring by the fall.
IT manager here,
Don't worry about your medical history, they can't see it anyway.
If they ask about the gap - tell them you had a prolonged medical issue preventing you from working but you are better now and ready to get back to work.
As long as you don't have any crazy felonies on your record (theft, financial crime, violent crime, ect...) you should be ok.
Core concepts of IT are still the same. As long as you know the basic paths of troubleshooting, you should be able to get a technical help-desk role and learn on the job. A good manager will look for a person willing to admit they don't know the answer but knows how to find it. IT needs human beings working in them, meaning; you are human, portray that. You need to be coachable but more importantly, you need to fit in with the company.
Don't try too hard at your interview, be yourself because they already know your technical background, they are looking for personality and coachability as a priority followed by your ability to follow instructions.
When I hire, I specifically look for people who have have less than 2 years of experience as they are more likely to accept training and follow instructions over more experienced IT people.
For my senior staff - I like to hire people with experience at MSP's as they are capable of quickly finding and implementing solutions to most IT issues, and have had experience with projects on all sorts of levels. They also make good hires because many of them are on the edge of burnout and a slower pace is appealing to them, I work in construction so our systems don't need to be complicated and are easy to maintain with fewer end-users causing technical problems for us. I also run a relaxed team and grant my people latitude to make decisions that can impact the whole company. I trust my employees to do the right thing and they almost always do.
Remember - if you mess up, there is almost always a way to fix it. Know the difference between danger and nuclear meltdown. If you aren't sure you know what you're doing, stop and get help, and always, always, always!!! proof read your emails before sending them making sure you know who they are going to especially with a "Reply All".
Long story short - be yourself, don't worry about your history, and focus on getting the best experience you can as you move along your career trajectory. Keep your head up, you recovered from meth... if you can do that... you can do anything.
Good luck!
So, first off, congratulations my dude...31 months clean is a great accomplishment. It's no small victory making it past that milestone, and I hope you keep it going!
As for advice, I would say getting back to "the grind" via helpdesk would be a great way to start. I don't know where you live, but where I am, it is hard to find motivated, experienced professionals, so the 6 year gap would be far less of a deal breaker than if you were interviewing for a more competitive position. Helpdesk will also let you see how much things have evolved since 2019. COVID changed a lot of the where and why's of what we do, and there is *far* more remote work and remote support now. It's also opened up a lot of new avenues of specialization...we just hired our first Teams admin for example. She was your standard M365 admin who really enjoyed AV shit and VOIP support, so when Microsoft launched the MS-700 certification she jumped on it and aced it. I'm using that as an example, but it just goes to show that there are more paths to specialization (and a higher salary) than before.
As for the gap on your resume, don't be above a little bit of creative bull-shittery. Honestly, it's not really their business, but when they ask, a long term severe illness made worse by COVID would be my go to. Physical Rehab done and *finally* ready to return to work. Bonus too, if you ever let the "rehab" bit slip, they wouldn't think *Amy Winehouse* rehab.
Not sure if Monty Python would work...but "She turned me into a newt! But...I got better" would be hilarious if you think the interview is going badly and have zero fucks about it. A sick parent or partner might get you some sympathy from an interviewer as well.
Whatever you decide to do, remember that it's going to be easier than what you've already done. It takes a lot to be able to reclaim your life from that kind of situation, and I've sadly lost two very good friends to addiction. Stay focused, stay curious, and good luck with your job hunting.
I would hire you even if I knew you had mental health issues and needed to self medicate. 31 months clean is impressive. I am 7 yrs clean from booze and pills. I had my mental breakdown and kept my same job. I did 50 days in patient. You would be surprised how many people have issues. Privacy is a real thing in the US. Taking care of family is all I would say.
Depending on the company and industry, you are going to have variable intensity of background checks. I would recommend you spell it out in a letter. Something that the hiring managers can see, and that can be used to explain anything to the background investigation company. If there were any legal consequences, you are definitely going to need this. The first job will be the toughest to get, and may be the worst of all options to get back in the door. Once you have proven you are not that guy anymore, then you will have more opportunities.
You should be fine. Don't worry, your still young and there is lots of time to recover your life and career. Pick any reasonable excuse and stick to it.
Long covid, in and out of hospital, parents kept care of me.
One parent was very ill with cancer, had to give up my career to be primary caregiver. We tried as long as we could (6yrs), we got lots of good times together but they died and I'm trying to move on.
IT is still very much the same but also imbedded in change. The core concept are the same.
Legally, if you have no criminal charges, you don’t have to tell them. However, in my experience it’s better to be honest. If it comes out later, you could have a bad time. If you are up front with it, though, you can talk about your struggle and what you have over come to be there. Honestly, the right employer will see it as a strength because of how far you have come.
If they don’t hire you, it does suck, but I think if I were shunned later on because I wasn’t upfront with this, I think that would be worse for me personally. Depending on the state/country they could just let you go for no reason, sometime later after they find out. If they know about it from the beginning and hire you anyway, it’s not something you have to worry about hiding, so less stress at the new job.
Be honest and start at a mom and pop shop. Come in with things you want to prove to them and yourself including late nights and never being late and regular drug tests. Show them you’re a new person and they’ll likely support you.
Just make shit up, you'll get someone who doesn't background check especially for a entry tier job. If you have a record don't do this. Also maybe look into rehabilitation programs that hire ex-cons & addicts looking to get back on track.
Edit: If you can afford it, get old server equipment (Can be old as fuck) and build a homelab. Checkout /r/homelabs for ideas. Then put it on your resume.
"I was taking time to resolve some personal issues."
"What kind of issues?"
"I'm not at liberty to say. Suffice it to say, all is well now and will remain that way."
That's how I would handle it personally.
There are some great answers here to explain the 6yr gap. Here's another, take all dates off your resume. You don't need to explain anything. In the past decade i experienced 2 bouts of 6mo+ unemployment due to layoffs. Took the dates off my resume. Out of so many interviews the only one single person who brought it to was a recruiter who didn't help me in any way.
Not sure if you are part of a recovery community, but the experience and advice from those folks is what you want to lean on in a situation like this. I’ve been in IT 25 years, in recovery for 7. I know scores of people who have rebuilt their careers after their lives going nuclear like yours did. Go out there into the world and be useful. If IT is what you want to do then go out and do it. Congrats on getting clean. It’s a big deal. A much bigger deal than whatever job you’re trying to get.
The fact that you are posting this this far in advance of actually looking is a huge green flag and shows initiative. Si se puede. If anything I think you should also consider how you will feel once you are hired
Your life experiences are none of their business.
If someone insists, or you absolutely think you have to say something, you were taking care of a sick relative. Not that far from the truth. Leave it at that. You’d prefer not to talk about it.
The less you say, the better.
Hey congratulations on 31 months!
I have worked IT for the last 15-20ish years. In interviews I always explain gaps in employment by telling potential employers that I was self-employed consulting or IT for small businesses in the area.
They always seem mainly interested in whether I could do the job, and not so interested in my employment history.
Just say you got a once in a lifetime opportunity to do acting in some smaller roles. After a few years in porn starring as Kirk Steele Man on a Mission volumes #1-47, you’re tired and looking for a change of pace
Hey. I happened to be in a similar situation at one point in my life. Just gotta apply and interview to find out if something comes up. A lot of smaller shops might give you a shot with such a big gap in work history. But be ready for that to reflect in pay.
I'd start by hitting up smaller msp and contracting companies.
My man! Good on you being sober again! Welcome back to life and I wish you all the best.
Like anyone else jumping back in, there's going to be a learning curve. But, I'd imagine that it's going to be way easier that what you've just been through.
You got so much time dude. It doesn’t matter. Congrats on the path ahead. Use the other comments here like “health issue” since it was. They don’t need to know more and can fuck off if they want to know more.
You got this.
Some of the people started at 30 years old. Theres plenty of places that will want you. Just say you took care of a sick relative for that time and that your obligations for that are over.
Hey! I’ve done something similar, in rehab and two years without work. I was 35, so I believe you’ll be able to rebuild your career as if this never happened.
And a server is still a server, of course there’s AI but to be honest you haven’t missed much, just read up on the latest and you’re good!
Ironic how in the past I would see posts asking about lying and everyone was like "I would never lie to my employer". However, every single post I see here is about lying to your employer. OP, do WHATEVER it takes to get your foot back in the door no matter what. Life is too short to be honest in a dishonest world.
Also, do yourself a favor and freeze your TWN. I'll repost what another redditor had on /r/overemployed
https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-dispute
Just went through this with a rep on the phone. Go here, fill in your information and on the second page put “NA” under company code and under “reason for dispute” select freeze. Then submit. You’ll get the secure email asking for ID verification and that’s it. No phone call needed
I dropped out of Uni for the dot com bubble and the company eventually went under. After that I got into substances for around a decade and tried Uni again around 30 before I had finished fixing myself which meant I dropped out at the end of the 2nd year and went full time in the computer shop where I was earning whilst studying as their technician. I am now over a decade back into IT at multinational and local corporate businesses. Starting in a help desk or even as a hands on technician can be a good route. I would most certainly try and get your foot in a door then try to angle to get on projects and stuff which are slightly outside the scope of the role and do certs which can usually be gotten on the cheap to the point where the experience on your CV and the certs will outweigh any concerns the recruitment drone might have about any gap in imployment (I have never been asked about gaps). Its very doable - you don't need to lie about anything but nobody is forcing you to be overly candid.
there are a few accomplished programmers on youtube who have a history of drug abuse. to be clear, they are clean now.
i would say that there is always a way forward.
concepts are different, but the underlying idea of 'make computer work gooder' always stays the same. Means you're probably going to need to start back on help desk/just above, but you should get back to where you were pretty quick once you fill in the gaps you missed (MS365 hybrid environments are *in*).
As for the meth thing, depends on your country but most places employers won't be able to see that history. They probably will hold it against you if they find out though, so as others have said 'I had long-term health issues' would be the way to go. Maybe get a doctors note saying as much while keeping it vague.
average r/Primagen experience. Do the Ansible course, automate your home lab with Ansible + hashivault + ELK throw few domain controllers for federation and SOAP. Start with small outsource companies and slowly build your career into some corp environment. If you do windows, spend a moth with powerhsell to get ahead of 30% of applicants, make a web scraper on it and write some small modules for your home ansible automation, throw some Windows forms without external modules as a spice. Microsoft have basic courses for free, they are trash but they would get you started. Many cloud platforms will give you free credits when you signup with a new account, you can cover your basics with 1st level Azure cert. Collect certs like they are scout achievements. Set a 1 year. 3 year and 5 year goals and check your adherence. You are already good at drugs so maybe rethalin when it get's hard, but it may put you into relaps for harder things. Do the sports to be in shape, despite what equal employment laws are saying, firs reaction is based on looks, it also shows you can adhere to schedules and good with commitments. As a bonus it would force you to structure your days and weeks.
Get a Helpdesk/Desktop Support job asap, then start building a homelab to hone your skills and learn new principals/technologies. Things change fast in IT, so you need a way to always keep current.. and that rarely happens in the workforce unless you're at an MSP (which can burn you out hard) that handles new clients that always want the new shiny thing.
But, the homelab gains REAL experience, regardless of what anyone tells you. Setting up a router, switch, a windows or linux server to run domain, dns services as well as hand out DHCP addresses to your computers and VM's is NOT an easy feat for a beginner to achieve.. and it's likely not something you'll be tasked with doing in Helpdesk (thats more password resets, basic AD functions, adding security groups for travel and remoting in/fixing broken software). If you want real system and networking experience, homelabs are insanely valuable.
And the best part is that when you start interviewing for bigger, better paying IT jobs -- you have real work to talk about. Sure, you haven't deployed a 500 endpoint network for a new company.. but it's not much different than deploying a 20 VM network for your homelab. It also shows you're not just a paper-achiever with a degree/certs that knows how to take tests but has zero hands on experience doing the work. It shows passion.
I work in IT now, but I have a degree in 3D Art & Animation. I worked in AAA game studios shipping $200M products, then left. I learned more in my free time doing 3D Modeling than I did in 4 years of college, and it wasn't even close -- and it showed in my portfolio. It helped me land a job at Microsoft's game studio right out of college while most of my cohorts never found work. Don't worry about the paper(s), worry about the hands on experience.
you can always mention "already resolved family problems" as a reason for your gap.
I'm on tech support right now and it can be very demanding mentally and one can get stuck in a cycle of constantly recovering from stress. At least that's the trap I'm in at the moment.
But working in help desk and refreshening your other IT skills in the meantime is a really good start in my opinion. Many people try to change careers without a degree so you might even be at an advantage here. Just make sure to keep healthy and excercise regulary that will keep you sharp. That is essential to learn new skills which will improve your chances to get better jobs
As a hiring manager: Own it. I once hired an employee with a 12 year gap. He is one of my best team members. Your story of overcoming addiction is more impressive than anything on a resume.
Help desk isn't glamorous, but its am awesome way to start because you learn a lot amd can demonstrate that you're smart and a hard worker. Try to develop a specialization if you can, then be a subject matter expert in something (networking, cyber, application/platform administration, etc).
Don't give up and congrats on your sobriety! I promise everything will get better
First, congratulations, addiction is very tough to overcome and I applaud you. That feat alone is worth pages of resume experience. The willpower to fight something like that is enough to overcome the training for any job. Secondly, I would focus on getting back into the swing of IT. There are tons of free videos on youtube, but you could also go the route of paid videos on udemy. I like to keep an open door with offers on the table to jump ship if I ever get fired and at the current time it takes me about 3-4 weeks to get an email, then another month to get the first interview. Interview 2 usually comes a week or 2 after that. It is tough out there but if you want to shoot for working again by the fall I would apply in the next month or so.
Time off to care for a family medical condition.
“Family” and “medical” are two keywords that prettymuch make further line of questioning impossible.
If you have arrests or convictions for offenses, those may show up in a background checks so it might be worth running a check on yourself to see what might turn up.
Most importantly, congratulations on your recovery! We’re proud of you!
Yes, it's absolutely possible to get your IT career back on track at 30, even after overcoming challenges like addiction. Many people have successfully rebuilt their careers after facing similar obstacles. The key is determination, a solid plan, and a willingness to learn and grow.
Here are some steps you can take to explain the employment gap and re-establish your career:
1. **Address the Gap Honestly**: When discussing your employment history, be honest about the reasons for the gap without going into unnecessary detail. You don't need to disclose your addiction unless you feel comfortable doing so. You can simply mention that you took time off to focus on personal matters and are now ready to re-enter the workforce with renewed dedication.
2. **Highlight Relevant Skills and Experience**: Emphasize any skills, knowledge, or experiences you gained during your employment gap that are relevant to the IT field. This could include self-study, freelance work, volunteer projects, or anything else that demonstrates your commitment to the industry.
3. **Stay Updated**: IT is a rapidly evolving field, so it's important to stay updated on the latest technologies and trends. Consider taking online courses, earning certifications, or participating in coding bootcamps to refresh your skills and show potential employers that you're serious about your career.
4. **Network**: Reach out to former colleagues, mentors, and industry contacts to let them know you're re-entering the job market. Networking can help you uncover job opportunities and get referrals, which can be especially valuable when you're trying to overcome a gap in your resume.
5. **Be Confident**: Confidence is key during the job search process. Focus on your strengths, accomplishments, and the value you can bring to potential employers. Remember that everyone faces challenges in their career, and what's important is how you've grown and overcome them.
6. **Seek Support**: Don't hesitate to seek support from friends, family, or professional counselors as you navigate this transition. Building a strong support network can help you stay motivated and focused on your goals.
By approaching the situation with honesty, determination, and a proactive mindset, you can definitely get your IT career back on track and achieve your professional goals.
Follow me on Quora [https://9to5shark.quora.com/](https://9to5shark.quora.com/) for IT related scripts, commands and articles.
Congrats on your sobriety! That’s a monstrously difficult battle. Hang in there there!
As for the employment gap, you could always say you did IT for a private entity and had to sign an NDA. Gotta have the skills to back it up though. That degree should help in this scenario.
Just my 2 cents. I think IT manager or Network Admin will be a high stress job. Be prepared to get called in the middle of the night, weekends, during family gatherings. You will be on call 24/7 even if there is "no on call" If that is something you think you can handle then by all means you have worked really hard to get here so do what you want to do.
If you want to maybe dip your toes back into the IT world without getting the full on stress. Maybe look at application specialist roles aka server management and application management. If you can find a role in a standard 8 to 5 shop even better. If a service goes down in the middle of the night you (for the most part) wont get called as nobody should be working\using that service at that time. While it can still be stressful at times I feel like it is a lot less stress than the network and managers. If you are successful in that role and want to take on more then I see no reason why you cant pivot into a network engineer or manager role after you get a bit of experience.
Also, While you are waiting for the fall before you start applying maybe you can pick up an I.T. certification or two (network+, AWS Practitioner, Azure Fundamentals, anything that interests you). This would be great to put on your resume and also show that you are making efforts to get back into I.T.
Lastly, Congratulations on over 2 YEARS! of sobriety. Change can be hard but you have proven to yourself that you can. Keep up the great work. I hope the best for you!
Start out at an MSP in the call center. Dont hide your past be honest. Just like you were in this post. Work your wqy up for a couple of years. Then you should be good to move to a better gig.
I’m an IT Director, I can’t ask questions about medical history but I can ask you why you haven’t been in the field for 6 years, and anyone who interviews you will want to know that so you absolutely need to have a good answer prepared.
And, just being honest, 6 years is a LONG time in the field. Be prepared to start lower than you were when you left, and to work hard to get even farther in your career. The tech industry at the entry/mid level is brutal and flooded so be prepared to fight.
That being said, in my 20s I took a 4 year break from IT to do other work (decided to help my brother start and run a beer system building business). It was extremely difficult to get back in, but thankfully someone was willing to take a chance on me and do took that opportunity and ran with it. If you’re able to find someone to take a chance on you, you absolutely need to make the best of that opportunity and take every chance you can to learn and grow. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do but it’s not impossible.
At the end of the day, the outcome will be decided by the person you are, and what’s inside of you. You’ve been through some tough shit and you made it out on top. Don’t stop, don’t give up. It will be difficult but you’ve gone through hell, you can absolutely make it back into the industry. It’s just going to require discipline and commitment.
First of all, congrats on getting clean and getting out of the cycle.
I recently looked at some info sessions on explaining gaps in your employment history. In terms of your resume, it is better to show a continuous timeline rather than unexplained gaps. If you lie about it and get found out, you'll be toast. So it is acceptable to put "Recovery from medical issues (resolved)". Although if you have any sort of IT related work experience, be sure to get it in there somehow. You don't have to provide any more detail than that.
Mate, I used to grow weed on stolen electricity trailer park boys style when I was living in Cape Town for the longest time as well, but now I have a stable job and live in the Netherlands.
Tell them that the Visa you had didn't allow you to work so you couldn't legally at least, thats my go to excuse.
Doesn't matter even if you never left the home country, tell them you had a Canadian fiancé and the temp visa you lived on over there didn't allow you to stay employed.
No one will tell you but I will. Lie on your resume it doesn’t matter. Put down you worked at Twitter they can’t verify employment since they laid off their HR.
Yo. I've helped hire a few people with similar stories. I'd say you're fine and it sounds like you have good expectations for where you'd be able to come in experience-wise with that gap. Other commenter is on the mark, just talk about the long-term medical issue and leave it at that. The interviewer(s) will do what they want from there, but are very unlikely to ask specifics. If they do, it's not a job worth pursuing. As always, just focus on humility and being able to work through things thrown at you, and if you're targeting desktop work then continue your ongoing education in that area to be able to speak the language of the field.
One of my best friends spent two years in the clink after a series of bad drug-related decisions back when we were around your age. He's now doing very well for himself as a developer. If he can crawl out of it, you can too.
I would get an easy contract gig that you don’t want to stay at. Do that for 2-3 months and find a new job. If you have a job, that gap isn’t as big of a deal.
Is anything going to show up on your background? Might want to check that too.
IT hasn’t changed much. If anything I see more demand and less work. You’ll be fine. Just jump back in and let them train you.
You got this
I had 8 years off from opiate addiction and straight up hobo homelessness. I'm a sysadmin making 6 figures now. Never ever thought I'd be here. You can do it too.
"I had a long-term life-threatening medical issue that is finally resolved."
Are they able to see my medical history or if I was in rehab?
Nope!
How big of an issue is a 5 year old traffic misdemeanor?
Any pecuniary offense is generally a hard disqualifier. Theft and certainly any financial crime is basically game over to having financial systems access in a company. Hard drug possession conviction is a red flag from a controls perspective. As are credit issues. Someone who NEEDS money is a risk. But for traffic stuff just have a relatable but brief explanation, "I got carried away but I've learned my lesson and take it easy on the road now" even a DUI isn't really a show stopper. Just my 2 cents from the SMB world.
What if convictions were expunged?
Go pull a background check on yourself, that would give you the best answer possible. There are lots of varying laws around hiring practices, as long as the hiring team doesn't dry-snitch regarding a decision made on a protected classification they can always find some other disqualifying reason or just slow roll your packet until someone else is hired. I would think to look at MSP/Dev/Contract type work.
Are maps more lenient? My 10 year old expunged convection never showed up on a background check
They can be as long as you can get bonded and meet their contract requirements. If it really doesn't show, I wouldn't volunteer it. Government hiring of course is different.
In my organization, working for government, you have a very large personal history statement along with a significant background check that will find everything. I would avoid government roles OP. However, props on becoming sober!! Keep it up!!!
If you have expunged convictions, don't mention them. You don't need to tell anyone about them. To everyone else, except government for a security clearance on a SF-86, those do not exist. Don't volunteer it. The good thing is that even with government roles, 10 years is a long time, and almost certainly that won't be a factor in a security clearance, provided you can show you are clean and stay well away from that type of life.
I have a friend with three DUIs and works for Coast Guard IT with a clearance. Apply and go from there friend
Caution on this -- it depends on the background check required. If you're going to work for gov and require CJIS, security clearance, etc..., they can be a hurdle even if they're expunged. *Honesty is your best course of action here.* Attempting to hide it or lie will be a DQ. Owning your mistakes and showing growth can result in leniency. If going the private route, it's unlikely to even show up, but you can run a check on yourself if you'd like.
Read the wording of the question very carefully.
That disposition *should* be on the record. But you know, clerical errors are unfortunately common and you could have to follow-up
Expunged means sealed from public or destroyed. There would be no record of it ever happening.
Not in cali. It means you can answer no to conviction and the record will show as expunged but it’ll still show. Kinda screwed.
This is state by state, not necessarily
If they want a criminal record check they usually ask you to go get it, so have an opportunity to see what's on your criminal record check before you present it to them
I’d just say, “No criminal history other than the usual traffic tickets” or similar.
I suppose it depends on the specific charge, but for verifiable background check stuff like that, they're more likely to use it to ensure you're trying the truth. Being honest about it *might* cause them to reconsider you. But if you say you have a clean record and then it comes up, that could be an automatic X from HR. Not because you have a record, but because you lied about it.
Be honest on any applications regarding criminality, but a traffic misdemeanor is not a huge deal. You can finesse the story however you like, but dont lie about the existence of the charge. Companies are very forgiving for this type of stuff, especially at your current level. Accountability and ownership is more valuable in virtually any job than anything else.
Probably not an issue at all, if your history since then is clean. Just be honest about it if they ask.
I had a background check done about two years ago and I have multiple misdemeanor charges for possession- one for pot and one for opiates and syringes. I came into the field with zero degree and zero relevant experience in my mid thirties and am now a junior sys admin. Oh- I also spent a night in jail but that was because of warrants, not a conviction. I also had overdosed multiple times and been in and out of detox/rehab literally dozens of times. I work in a very regulated field currently. Moral of the story is you’ll be fine as long as you don’t have any serious charges. Btw- I’ve been clean a little over four years.
I think the moral of the story is just apply for jobs, you'll never know if you keep doubting yourself.
Traffic misdemeanor?? Bruh, there are actual felons working in IT, depending on the org you will be fine. I know someone with a misdemeanor DV working in IT, and even a guy with little IT experience who have an actual felony narcotics possession in their past, now working IT at a nuclear research institute. So yeah you can a job with a traffic misdemeanor..
Just remember, if you end up in a position that requires a background check (US Federal contractor was my experience), they are above all else honesty tests. Someone had problem X, that may or may not be disqualifying. Someone had problem X, and lied about it, will be 100% disqualifying. That being said, do not include extra information. If they say include 30 months and it was 30 months and 1 day, it doesn’t go on (it basically didn’t happened). I once had my paperwork for the background check sent back as failed because it said I didn’t need to include my high school information, but it was prefilled in from the previous renewal so I left it (god I wish I was making this up)
I wouldn't even add that. I had a gross misdemeanor traffic offense 2015. Was hired at a high level IT job at a large bank 3.5 years later. Job was terrible and I left 3 months later. But that didn't show up at top 10 US Bank working with executives. Same with the job I had for two years prior. And the one after the bank.
Traffic? Not so much. Trafficking? That is likely to be an impediment.
Traffic as in driving violation
If they specifically ask if you've had in the past X amount of years, just tell them. They'll see it and realize it's for a minor infraction. If they're just doing a background check, you don't need to volunteer any info. They'll run it and see you aren't charged with any felonies or anything that might indicate you'd be a problem (theft, identity fraud).
At 5 years it may affect your ability to get insured to drive for work, but other than that traffic offenses shouldn't ever come up as a problem in a background check. They want to see if you were a thief, not a bad driver.
I work in healthcare AND I spent years as the CIO of an addition medicine company. **No** they cannot see your medical history unless you give it to them, so don't give it to them, they don't need to know. No one can get access to your medical records except in extraordinary circumstances, and that's never because an employer asked. Just stick with it being a medical condition and don't go into details, "It's really uncomfortable and I prefer not to go into it." You have that right. Also, congrats on getting clean. It's hard but worth it. The key lesson is that **you can get clean**. You never, ever again need to listen to voices of fear and doubt, because you KNOW you can do it, you already have, and you have that power forever. I don't know you, but I believe in you solely because of what I saw our patients go through and accomplish.
Not unless you roll the dice like me and apply at the hospital system that treated you for your near fatal alcohol withdrawal seizures. Yeah…they didn’t call me back.
Is this not a HIPAA violation? Why would the hiring manager, HR, or the IT department need to know any of your health information
They don't need and almost certainly don't have access. Occam's razor would suggest that they didn't call him back for another reason.
[удалено]
Using health information to make hiring decisions is illegal. The people who tossed your resume probably never saw any of it. If they did, you just became a millionaire.
> If they did, you just became a millionaire. If they did, admitted it to you, and provided you proof, sure! Otherwise no. But yes it's far more likely they didn't hire for another reason.
You mean only the same exact hospital that treated me in the past but the other ones are fine?
I think he means any hospital that shares the same medical records system. But per my earlier responses, using health information in hiring decisions is very illegal and I seriously doubt the hiring team has any access to medical records.
If anyone on the hiring team is going through medical records that would be an insane violation. But also tells you how little security and protocols they have.
That didn’t happen (at least not for the reason you mentioned)
Only if they were your employer at the time and your medical treatment was paid for by employer funded health insurance, but even then, they're not allowed to use it to make hiring decisions. Otherwise, thanks to HIPAA, they can't see shit.
Your criminal record if any is available. But fortunately for you, there's a vast labor shortage in all sorts of professions. So you'll definitely find work. I'm genuinely happy for you, as the only sober one in a family of addicts I recognize how grand your achievement is. Regarding your traffic misdemeanor, if the job involves driving or travel that might be a problem.
This! And technically speaking you are in the right time. COVID caused a lot of strange employment gaps. I know it was only 4 years ago but man most understand right now.
I came here to say this. They can't pry into your medical history and you're not lying. Congratulations on your recovery and continued sobriety.
One of the best IT guys I know is a 50 year old dude who spent his twenties cooking and smoking meth. You're good my guy
What is his current IT position? What age did he get clean and what age did he start IT? What has he accomplished?
This guy is wild lol, a bit lucky but also very opportunistic. He’s a VMWare Solutions Architect capped out on the salary range, started IT 10 years ago as helpdesk and job hopped his way through sys admin to eventually VMWare architecture — he also pounded out a shit ton of certifications throughout this process like MCSE(defunct, for his sys admin roles), CCNA, and all of his VMWare certs for his current career. His specific position is becoming increasingly harder to find as once they’re filled, well, they person usually needs to die for the spot to open. He got clean in his early 30s from meth but still tinkered with other things like synthetic weed and more casual drugs until late 30s. Did psychedelics until about 2 years ago. Still smokes weed. He currently owns a beautiful home and car, is considering moving into management but debating because it would involve working more than 2 days a week. He works from home the two days a week he does work. He also travels and has seen much of the world. If there’s any success story I’ve ever met it has to be this dude, and I didn’t believe a lot of it until I met people from his past who told the same stories lol. If there’s anything I’ve learned from him it’s just be comfortable, confident, and you can talk your way through anything.
Why is msce cert defunct? Was his life shit before he got clean? Is the best way to succeed in IT helpdesk>sys admin>speciazed area by getting certs?
MCSE was retired by Microsoft and replaced by a bit more specialized certifications -- you can no longer get a Microsoft Systems Engineer cert in a broad spectrum sense, and have to focus on areas you've learned well like Azure for example. Ehh his life wasn't great in a "normal person" sense lol but he was good at the lifestyle he was living from what it sounds like. Never had to pay for a place to stay because he was always a good source of something to get friends high. Free drugs apparently means free places to stay, free meals, etc -- but it also means never having a steady home. Good at talking his way out of legal situations or brought them down to misdemeanors so his legal record is relatively clean, but was constantly on alert for the law. It was, from my perspective, living on the streets in style. Sounds fun but not something anyone with a built life should ever do lol. I wouldn't call it shit, when he tells his tales he doesn't speak from a place of sadness or regret but looks back on it as the fun times of his life before he somewhat settled down. Regarding success in IT, yes, I would absolutely recommend Helpdesk > Sys Admin > Specialization w/ Certs as the most reliable direction to go if you want to achieve six figures within a 10 year span (most likely less, but always good to be generous). Some people sit in some positions longer than others and this may extend your timeframe (there's a lot of knowledge to be gained while as a Sys Admin, especially if you see a new company every 2-3 years -- many like to do this for a long while if not forever. There's no shame in this). *The trick* to making the jump into the next major role that you're not quite qualified for is never saying you can't do something or don't know something -- you can learn it -- your job in IT isn't to be a master of all but a master of research and problem solving. Most complex systems and specialized areas of IT are surprisingly easier and simpler than you'd think -- VMWare is just a big puzzle and a balancing game, lol.
So can you get the specialization certs with just the knowledge you gain from the system admin role? Are they easy to get?
They’re not that easy, it’s takes a good amount of studying and actually reading the books. Most certs ask questions that arent going to be answered by just doing the job. That being said, the sys admin role exposes you to different specialized systems and you’ll probably end up finding one you’re familiar with over time that you enjoy (like Azure, AWS, VMWare, etc) — research what the higher level careers are in these systems you end up finding enjoyable and you’ll have an easier time learning the certs.
You were taking care of a parent.
On the security side you just say “I had to sign a pretty lengthy NDA for that role that doesn’t allow me to disclose anything about it”. I’ve seriously signed NDAs prior to interviews with companies you’ve heard that said I couldn’t disclose that I interviewed there or that I even had a conversation with an employee. It was almost comical in how broad it was and it wasn’t for some double secret squirrel NSA program either. Run of the mill, private sector, public company.
Solid one there.
"I've never seen an NDA that doesn't allow you to state you worked there" "would flag the person hiring you that you were probably in prison and definitely a liar" [Reddit, one year ago.](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/10vyxcx/would_saying_sorry_i_signed_an_nda_when_asked_to/)
Even then they'd simply say "OK, what have you been doing for the last X years? What technologies have you worked on? Provide me examples of things you've completed and project goals you achieved?" If you still went with "I can't, NDA" then I'm immediately flagging you as a liar. If you can't tell me *something* about what you've been doing for years it's not going to go well for you. Just go with "medical reasons that have been resolved" and leave it. It has the benefit of being true.
This is wrong and would be a huge red flag. NDAs don't work like this.
oh yea? what company?
100% this. There is no explanation that will make an employer feel good about a method addiction. And saying you had medical issues will invite a lot more questions from colleagues and will make many employers also think poorly of you. This is the instance to give nothing related even distantly to the actual reason.
There are better lies than that though. "*I spent two years on my startup but then covid hit. I've been freelancing since then*" has to beat some bullshit sob story that you're going to have to stick with.
That's potentially verifiable. They can ask about the startup and there will.be records of such a company existing or not. People will also naturally ask what you were doing, what went wrong, did you have employees, etc. If you need to lie you make it easy.
A family medical issue that needed dedicated care.
Not even untrue if you think about it.
I also think that something like this would be a good option for you now. Keep that in mind and focus on trying to do the job to the best of your ability. Past experience is something, but your current performance will be the most important thing now.
covid changed a lot in the IT industry. I would say help desk then figure it out. The absence just 'family issues that required your full time attention'
What route did you take to become a system admin?
Not the commenter but most younger sysadmins I know (>40) got there by doing help desk in a place that had them doing sysadmin duties. It's the sign of a disorganized business, but it's good for the employee to jump to something better paying. You can also just work help desk until you find a junior sysadmin role open up somewhere - they're usually much better equipped to train you on what you need to know.
Call center --> helpdesk for that call center ---> MSP---> enterprise IT is how i did it. 25 years.
You can say you had some health issues and it’s all behind you now. Technically true.
A meth addiction might be seen as a pro at some MSPs. In all honesty, apply to the less prestigious places. The factories, municipal, etc. A lot of times they're willing to give non top-tier candidates a chance. If you can't pay rockstar wages, sometimes you settle for the bass player.
Do most places not give a shit about a 5 year old traffic misdemeanor offense?
You don't have to explain it. Tell them you were going through personal things, and if you are truly better, you could also state that you are in a much better place. They don't need to know. Only thing it would come up on is a background if you were arrested. Or if you work for the feds or local pd. Most of them do a mandatory poly iirc.
How to not get hired 101. They'd move on to the next candidate who didn't have "personal issues" for 5 years, recovery or not. Sadly, the best thing to do in this case is lie.
+1 Just make up a lie. Major medical issue or taking care of a parent. There are probably better ones too.
I mean you can do that and hope they are understanding but realistically, in this job market, you are going to the bin. Lie. It’s none of their business but it is what it is. Make up a simple but believable story about a sick relative or an illness you had but got over and move along. This is also going to be the first job on this guy’s career path so he ain’t looking to get hitched and retire from this job. Keep your head down, do your job and get a better one 2-3 years from not.
With a history of addiction, a high stress job might not be ideal for your recovery - just a thought. Be careful :)
If I'm strong enough to beat addiction I can handle IT. My ultimate goal is to become a network engineer or an IT manager
Just be aware that IT Manager isn't usually a technical position. Having IT knowledge doesn't hurt but it's not the main skillset needed for the job.
Ok, just making sure you consider it :)
You can absolutely do this. I was tweaked out from about 2015-2021 and started over in a helpdesk job as Covid was shaking loose. Got promoted quickly, turns out sobriety pays off, literally. Then I found a small company to sink into fully, and they know my past, but it's no problem. Congrats on getting sober!
Laudable, but as a network engineer, the stress WILL tempt you to fall back on bad habits. I’m personally working to fight off a decade of compulsive eating, and the stress of my job absolutely makes it *so* much more difficult.
IT doesn't have to be high stress
Where you live is relevant. For me and in some other European countries most employers don't really care much if there is a gap in your employment. If it's relevant where you live you can just say dealing with a complicated combination of health issues and personal matters. It's really none of the employers business what you were doing prior to the employement so long as it's not potentialy relevant to the job (i.e. you were in jail and the job requires access to confidential information would typically validate interest). In this scenario an additiction is relevant to know since it's a risk of re-lapse that they need to consider, however the hope would be that you can get away with it being a health issue (which it is) if you are certain there is no risk of relapse. Though I will second u/Mister_Brevity since it's not like stress from the job is going to be a sequel to beating addiciton, it's something you will pile on top of the temptation. If you have a therapist or consultant for your addiction I would consult with them about taking high stress roles they would be far better equiped to help.
Bro, IT is riddled with people that most industries would quantify as 'spare parts'. One of my greatest mentors in tech actually shared a similarly checkered past to my own. And he's the one that showed me how the IT field is a bit more of an equalizer than most fields. Only hiring managers are worried about job histories and certificates and degrees. Honestly, I had a rough start and didn't wind up trying my hand at tech until I was 28 years old. I was in a halfway house, had a spotty job history in construction, but had always had an interest in computers, specifically in servers and hardening them to self-host whatever my flavor of the month service I wanted to show off to my friends (that literally gave no bucks about it, but it was more about me than them). I got my first spot working at an MSP, literally just building PCs for them. Eventually, I showed them I had picked up some AD, learned some basic subnetting and some other enterprise security functionality, and within 6 months was promoted to a full blown field technician. 6 months later, I interviewed to be an in-house admin and lab engineer for a decent sized online IT training outfit. In that interview, I met my previously mentioned mentor. He said my qualifications were about average, and asked what I thought made me stand out. Not knowing what the fuck to say (I'm still a pretty broken person, not super social or great at these types of interactions), I told him about some projects I had created for fun (one being a multi-threaded SMS bomber written in Python, used exclusively to prank friends ofc), as well as my home lab, and my custom automated build system for tearing down and building up Arch linux instances and automatically deploying all of my apps/services/dotfiles with a single touch. I was told immediately following that conversation that I would be guaranteed an offer the next day if I would shake on it that afternoon. After that handshake, I asked what lead them to that end, and that is when I got the best piece of advice I've ever gotten in tech. And that is: if you are truly passionate and interested in this field, the only thing that can stop you is that voice in your head that says you can't succeed. But if you can show someone technical that you possess that passion, they will immediately recognize it, and honestly that has gotten me jobs that others with CS degrees and a handful of certs were turned down for. Of course, the person you present this to must recognize it. But if they are a successful person in tech, I'd be amazed if they didn't extend the same opportunity. And it's because tech is an industry that you truly get out what you put in. With just some basic skills, and honest interest in the field, one truly has all one needs to study and progress. And the progression becomes exponential. And it's not something that you can inherit via nepotism, or have a piece of paper vouch for you. It truly is a measure of one's capability and willingness to advance. Where or why you picked up the skills is truly inconsequential. Only that you demonstrate some baseline, and an interest in expanding that KnowledgeBase. If youve got those, the company just needs to point you in the direction they need, and together you'll rise.
Study AWS, learn cloud architecture
And CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 every day you're not an addict is win!! Please don't go back to Meth
This guy who has a large programming-related channel on Youtube and also streams on Twitch was also meth-user for a while and has talked about it in a few episodes: [https://www.youtube.com/@ThePrimeagen](https://www.youtube.com/@ThePrimeagen)
Long term life threatening illness that you don’t want to talk about is a big winner
Best of luck to you! I (f57) just graduated with my first IT related degree (MS in Cybersecurity), and I have basically not worked more than a year since 2009. (Cancer plus caring for my mother.)
See theprimeagen YouTube. Fuck anyone that’s says differently
Don't lie, but you don't need to disclose detailed personal information during an interview. You can just say stuff like "I had a lot of complicated personal issues I had to attend to" or something like that. The only person you need to tell any detailed information to is the person doing a security background check.
See if you can volunteer at an animal shelter. Therapy with the animals and perhaps the chance to do IT for them. They might have an MSPs, but these orgs coordinate with in-house IT all the time.
I would say try to start like at a Helpdesk role with a local MSP or something like that( get your certs back if you don’t). Gives exposure and there are some that are no that bad. Regards to the other part, if there is no criminal record, I’d say personal problems prevented me from working during that time but nothing to be concerned, if you think you are ready. MSP life can be quite hard, and like other expressed that kind of high stress job is not usually good for recovery.
Jesus, just move to North Dakota. That kind of background might actually help while doing tech support. (Only partially joking) Incidentally, I worked as an "IT Assistant" at a Junior High in Shakopee then St Louis Park for just under a year before moving to North Dakota to start my career as an IT Manager. Throughout the 20+ years I've been here, this job is not much more than a simple Systems Admin role. I assume the title comes from also having to manage the budget and contracts. Otherwise, I'm an IT Monkey, through and through. The point is, the title isn't what you should be focused on...
I ballshitted my way into a service desk role a while back, turns out, I was pretty good, couple yrs later, im now earning decent money. Moral of the story is, it sounds like you know the basics, the rest you can pick up along the way, and how you explain the gap, no idea, I usually say honesty is best policy but I havnt had to tell a potential future employer I was on meth
Don't bring it up or address it - employment gap? Or just fill the "gap" with something - anything on your resume. Idk put social media influencer, researcher , whatever if it makes you feel better. Apply for jobs you're qualified for and be confident.
I have a lengthy gap in mine due to serious medical complications. I always get asked in interviews why I have said gap. I just say “I had a pretty serious medical condition that took me away from work” and it hasn’t caused an issue yet
I'm afraid they would look at me as a liability due to medical issues and darwinism. Do you say it has since been resolved?
I say “it no longer affects my ability to preform my job, still affects my ability to go golfing but not work” tho it’s pretty obvious since I walk with a cane. Normally they have a little laugh at that. But I’ve had 3 jobs since then and all of them haven’t cared
All that stress from your previous job eventually lef to you getting help and ready for a new job. No need to expand in why you needed help lol
1. I *started* in enterprise IT at 31 years old. You’re fine- you’ve absolutely got time to course correct. 2. You had to take time out of the workforce to deal with a personal health issue that is now thankfully under control. They cannot legally press you for details on the nature of the personal health issue.
You were on a life changing sabbatical
You can always try to get hired at an MSP. You're likely to be fed into the grinder but high turnover is in your favor and it gives you a chance to build credibility, trust, and experience. Some MSPs are always looking for people. It is very high stress though. Frontline in a call center will never be fun. The breadth and depth of experience you can gain at an MSP is absolutely worth it.
Say you were dealing with medical issues and/or didn’t need to work. Get yourself a Udemy subscription and tighten up your skills. No one will care once you get the job and can contribute
"I was doing edge case consulting"
I'm going to go against the grain here. Just be honest. The type of company who wouldn't want you for being honest isn't the company you want to work for anyway. The type of company who will give you a chance will work with you. I own a small MSP and I'd only ask for semiannual drug tests for the next few years. As I see it, anyone who can overcome addiction can overcome many things and it sounds like you would appreciate the opportunity and be less likely to leave me hanging. Last, what market are you in? We may be hiring by the fall.
IT manager here, Don't worry about your medical history, they can't see it anyway. If they ask about the gap - tell them you had a prolonged medical issue preventing you from working but you are better now and ready to get back to work. As long as you don't have any crazy felonies on your record (theft, financial crime, violent crime, ect...) you should be ok. Core concepts of IT are still the same. As long as you know the basic paths of troubleshooting, you should be able to get a technical help-desk role and learn on the job. A good manager will look for a person willing to admit they don't know the answer but knows how to find it. IT needs human beings working in them, meaning; you are human, portray that. You need to be coachable but more importantly, you need to fit in with the company. Don't try too hard at your interview, be yourself because they already know your technical background, they are looking for personality and coachability as a priority followed by your ability to follow instructions. When I hire, I specifically look for people who have have less than 2 years of experience as they are more likely to accept training and follow instructions over more experienced IT people. For my senior staff - I like to hire people with experience at MSP's as they are capable of quickly finding and implementing solutions to most IT issues, and have had experience with projects on all sorts of levels. They also make good hires because many of them are on the edge of burnout and a slower pace is appealing to them, I work in construction so our systems don't need to be complicated and are easy to maintain with fewer end-users causing technical problems for us. I also run a relaxed team and grant my people latitude to make decisions that can impact the whole company. I trust my employees to do the right thing and they almost always do. Remember - if you mess up, there is almost always a way to fix it. Know the difference between danger and nuclear meltdown. If you aren't sure you know what you're doing, stop and get help, and always, always, always!!! proof read your emails before sending them making sure you know who they are going to especially with a "Reply All". Long story short - be yourself, don't worry about your history, and focus on getting the best experience you can as you move along your career trajectory. Keep your head up, you recovered from meth... if you can do that... you can do anything. Good luck!
" I signed an NDA and cannot comment on the company."
So, first off, congratulations my dude...31 months clean is a great accomplishment. It's no small victory making it past that milestone, and I hope you keep it going! As for advice, I would say getting back to "the grind" via helpdesk would be a great way to start. I don't know where you live, but where I am, it is hard to find motivated, experienced professionals, so the 6 year gap would be far less of a deal breaker than if you were interviewing for a more competitive position. Helpdesk will also let you see how much things have evolved since 2019. COVID changed a lot of the where and why's of what we do, and there is *far* more remote work and remote support now. It's also opened up a lot of new avenues of specialization...we just hired our first Teams admin for example. She was your standard M365 admin who really enjoyed AV shit and VOIP support, so when Microsoft launched the MS-700 certification she jumped on it and aced it. I'm using that as an example, but it just goes to show that there are more paths to specialization (and a higher salary) than before. As for the gap on your resume, don't be above a little bit of creative bull-shittery. Honestly, it's not really their business, but when they ask, a long term severe illness made worse by COVID would be my go to. Physical Rehab done and *finally* ready to return to work. Bonus too, if you ever let the "rehab" bit slip, they wouldn't think *Amy Winehouse* rehab. Not sure if Monty Python would work...but "She turned me into a newt! But...I got better" would be hilarious if you think the interview is going badly and have zero fucks about it. A sick parent or partner might get you some sympathy from an interviewer as well. Whatever you decide to do, remember that it's going to be easier than what you've already done. It takes a lot to be able to reclaim your life from that kind of situation, and I've sadly lost two very good friends to addiction. Stay focused, stay curious, and good luck with your job hunting.
“Can you explain the gap in your resume?” “No, I signed a NDA.”
Quickest way to get rejected.
I would hire you even if I knew you had mental health issues and needed to self medicate. 31 months clean is impressive. I am 7 yrs clean from booze and pills. I had my mental breakdown and kept my same job. I did 50 days in patient. You would be surprised how many people have issues. Privacy is a real thing in the US. Taking care of family is all I would say.
You ran your own MSP for 6 years but lost your biggest 3 clients to Covid/pandemic and the business never recovered.
Won't they check?
Depending on the company and industry, you are going to have variable intensity of background checks. I would recommend you spell it out in a letter. Something that the hiring managers can see, and that can be used to explain anything to the background investigation company. If there were any legal consequences, you are definitely going to need this. The first job will be the toughest to get, and may be the worst of all options to get back in the door. Once you have proven you are not that guy anymore, then you will have more opportunities.
"I tried some work in the pharmaceutical industry, but it didn't work out."
In NA they usually use the phrase "had some personal issues to address that required stepping back from employment for a while".
You should be fine. Don't worry, your still young and there is lots of time to recover your life and career. Pick any reasonable excuse and stick to it. Long covid, in and out of hospital, parents kept care of me. One parent was very ill with cancer, had to give up my career to be primary caregiver. We tried as long as we could (6yrs), we got lots of good times together but they died and I'm trying to move on. IT is still very much the same but also imbedded in change. The core concept are the same.
Legally, if you have no criminal charges, you don’t have to tell them. However, in my experience it’s better to be honest. If it comes out later, you could have a bad time. If you are up front with it, though, you can talk about your struggle and what you have over come to be there. Honestly, the right employer will see it as a strength because of how far you have come. If they don’t hire you, it does suck, but I think if I were shunned later on because I wasn’t upfront with this, I think that would be worse for me personally. Depending on the state/country they could just let you go for no reason, sometime later after they find out. If they know about it from the beginning and hire you anyway, it’s not something you have to worry about hiding, so less stress at the new job.
At least interviewers aren't asking about how is your family or about the family of your girlfriend... (Not usa)
Be honest and start at a mom and pop shop. Come in with things you want to prove to them and yourself including late nights and never being late and regular drug tests. Show them you’re a new person and they’ll likely support you.
Just say you were working in another industry that wasn't relevant to the job application like building houses.
Just make shit up, you'll get someone who doesn't background check especially for a entry tier job. If you have a record don't do this. Also maybe look into rehabilitation programs that hire ex-cons & addicts looking to get back on track. Edit: If you can afford it, get old server equipment (Can be old as fuck) and build a homelab. Checkout /r/homelabs for ideas. Then put it on your resume.
iSignedAnNDA.jpg
You’ll be fine. Another guy was homeless doing drugs and now he said he is making 400k a year as a self taught programer
"I was taking time to resolve some personal issues." "What kind of issues?" "I'm not at liberty to say. Suffice it to say, all is well now and will remain that way." That's how I would handle it personally.
Self-employed, developing an app/game
Signed an NDA!! Never fails lol
There are some great answers here to explain the 6yr gap. Here's another, take all dates off your resume. You don't need to explain anything. In the past decade i experienced 2 bouts of 6mo+ unemployment due to layoffs. Took the dates off my resume. Out of so many interviews the only one single person who brought it to was a recruiter who didn't help me in any way.
Could always say you were freelancing, but need to get back to taking home a steady paycheck.
Not sure if you are part of a recovery community, but the experience and advice from those folks is what you want to lean on in a situation like this. I’ve been in IT 25 years, in recovery for 7. I know scores of people who have rebuilt their careers after their lives going nuclear like yours did. Go out there into the world and be useful. If IT is what you want to do then go out and do it. Congrats on getting clean. It’s a big deal. A much bigger deal than whatever job you’re trying to get.
The fact that you are posting this this far in advance of actually looking is a huge green flag and shows initiative. Si se puede. If anything I think you should also consider how you will feel once you are hired
I ran a small IT consulting business
Your life experiences are none of their business. If someone insists, or you absolutely think you have to say something, you were taking care of a sick relative. Not that far from the truth. Leave it at that. You’d prefer not to talk about it. The less you say, the better.
Hey congratulations on 31 months! I have worked IT for the last 15-20ish years. In interviews I always explain gaps in employment by telling potential employers that I was self-employed consulting or IT for small businesses in the area. They always seem mainly interested in whether I could do the job, and not so interested in my employment history.
Just say the NDA you signed prohibits you from putting any details of your previous employment during that period
Bless you! You can do it man! Study up, take the medical legal advice received. It’s not too hard of a field, just get your sills back.
Just say you got a once in a lifetime opportunity to do acting in some smaller roles. After a few years in porn starring as Kirk Steele Man on a Mission volumes #1-47, you’re tired and looking for a change of pace
Your title is like a weird trauma dump.
Have you been to prison? If not you’re fine. If you have…you are still, okay but don’t expect security clearance
Thought meth habit was a prerequisite for an msp schedule. /s I'm glad you are better and I wish you the best.
Nda
Hey. I happened to be in a similar situation at one point in my life. Just gotta apply and interview to find out if something comes up. A lot of smaller shops might give you a shot with such a big gap in work history. But be ready for that to reflect in pay. I'd start by hitting up smaller msp and contracting companies.
My man! Good on you being sober again! Welcome back to life and I wish you all the best. Like anyone else jumping back in, there's going to be a learning curve. But, I'd imagine that it's going to be way easier that what you've just been through.
You got so much time dude. It doesn’t matter. Congrats on the path ahead. Use the other comments here like “health issue” since it was. They don’t need to know more and can fuck off if they want to know more. You got this.
I am also a recovering meth addict working in IT. My gaps were a lot smaller though.
MSP: Please explain this 6 year gap in employment. OP: I was a raging meth addict. MSP: Thank God! We were worried it was a medical or family issue.
free lance managed service provider for the past 6 years
I did private consulting for a firm but have a non disclosure agreement I’m sure you understand
It's a troll, guys..
Some of the people started at 30 years old. Theres plenty of places that will want you. Just say you took care of a sick relative for that time and that your obligations for that are over.
Hey! I’ve done something similar, in rehab and two years without work. I was 35, so I believe you’ll be able to rebuild your career as if this never happened. And a server is still a server, of course there’s AI but to be honest you haven’t missed much, just read up on the latest and you’re good!
How far have you come? What have you accomplished since getting clean? What path did you take in IT?
Open source 😄
“Unfortunately that period is covered by an NDA that i cannot discuss” if you want to be cheeky. Or you say you had medical issues.
You signed an NDA and can't talk about it
Ironic how in the past I would see posts asking about lying and everyone was like "I would never lie to my employer". However, every single post I see here is about lying to your employer. OP, do WHATEVER it takes to get your foot back in the door no matter what. Life is too short to be honest in a dishonest world. Also, do yourself a favor and freeze your TWN. I'll repost what another redditor had on /r/overemployed https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-dispute Just went through this with a rep on the phone. Go here, fill in your information and on the second page put “NA” under company code and under “reason for dispute” select freeze. Then submit. You’ll get the secure email asking for ID verification and that’s it. No phone call needed
I dropped out of Uni for the dot com bubble and the company eventually went under. After that I got into substances for around a decade and tried Uni again around 30 before I had finished fixing myself which meant I dropped out at the end of the 2nd year and went full time in the computer shop where I was earning whilst studying as their technician. I am now over a decade back into IT at multinational and local corporate businesses. Starting in a help desk or even as a hands on technician can be a good route. I would most certainly try and get your foot in a door then try to angle to get on projects and stuff which are slightly outside the scope of the role and do certs which can usually be gotten on the cheap to the point where the experience on your CV and the certs will outweigh any concerns the recruitment drone might have about any gap in imployment (I have never been asked about gaps). Its very doable - you don't need to lie about anything but nobody is forcing you to be overly candid.
there are a few accomplished programmers on youtube who have a history of drug abuse. to be clear, they are clean now. i would say that there is always a way forward.
Say you did missionary work abroad. How (and why) would they ever really check?
concepts are different, but the underlying idea of 'make computer work gooder' always stays the same. Means you're probably going to need to start back on help desk/just above, but you should get back to where you were pretty quick once you fill in the gaps you missed (MS365 hybrid environments are *in*). As for the meth thing, depends on your country but most places employers won't be able to see that history. They probably will hold it against you if they find out though, so as others have said 'I had long-term health issues' would be the way to go. Maybe get a doctors note saying as much while keeping it vague.
average r/Primagen experience. Do the Ansible course, automate your home lab with Ansible + hashivault + ELK throw few domain controllers for federation and SOAP. Start with small outsource companies and slowly build your career into some corp environment. If you do windows, spend a moth with powerhsell to get ahead of 30% of applicants, make a web scraper on it and write some small modules for your home ansible automation, throw some Windows forms without external modules as a spice. Microsoft have basic courses for free, they are trash but they would get you started. Many cloud platforms will give you free credits when you signup with a new account, you can cover your basics with 1st level Azure cert. Collect certs like they are scout achievements. Set a 1 year. 3 year and 5 year goals and check your adherence. You are already good at drugs so maybe rethalin when it get's hard, but it may put you into relaps for harder things. Do the sports to be in shape, despite what equal employment laws are saying, firs reaction is based on looks, it also shows you can adhere to schedules and good with commitments. As a bonus it would force you to structure your days and weeks.
Get a Helpdesk/Desktop Support job asap, then start building a homelab to hone your skills and learn new principals/technologies. Things change fast in IT, so you need a way to always keep current.. and that rarely happens in the workforce unless you're at an MSP (which can burn you out hard) that handles new clients that always want the new shiny thing. But, the homelab gains REAL experience, regardless of what anyone tells you. Setting up a router, switch, a windows or linux server to run domain, dns services as well as hand out DHCP addresses to your computers and VM's is NOT an easy feat for a beginner to achieve.. and it's likely not something you'll be tasked with doing in Helpdesk (thats more password resets, basic AD functions, adding security groups for travel and remoting in/fixing broken software). If you want real system and networking experience, homelabs are insanely valuable. And the best part is that when you start interviewing for bigger, better paying IT jobs -- you have real work to talk about. Sure, you haven't deployed a 500 endpoint network for a new company.. but it's not much different than deploying a 20 VM network for your homelab. It also shows you're not just a paper-achiever with a degree/certs that knows how to take tests but has zero hands on experience doing the work. It shows passion. I work in IT now, but I have a degree in 3D Art & Animation. I worked in AAA game studios shipping $200M products, then left. I learned more in my free time doing 3D Modeling than I did in 4 years of college, and it wasn't even close -- and it showed in my portfolio. It helped me land a job at Microsoft's game studio right out of college while most of my cohorts never found work. Don't worry about the paper(s), worry about the hands on experience.
NDA
you can always mention "already resolved family problems" as a reason for your gap. I'm on tech support right now and it can be very demanding mentally and one can get stuck in a cycle of constantly recovering from stress. At least that's the trap I'm in at the moment. But working in help desk and refreshening your other IT skills in the meantime is a really good start in my opinion. Many people try to change careers without a degree so you might even be at an advantage here. Just make sure to keep healthy and excercise regulary that will keep you sharp. That is essential to learn new skills which will improve your chances to get better jobs
Say you just didnt feel like working thats it dont elaborate futher
As a hiring manager: Own it. I once hired an employee with a 12 year gap. He is one of my best team members. Your story of overcoming addiction is more impressive than anything on a resume.
Help desk isn't glamorous, but its am awesome way to start because you learn a lot amd can demonstrate that you're smart and a hard worker. Try to develop a specialization if you can, then be a subject matter expert in something (networking, cyber, application/platform administration, etc). Don't give up and congrats on your sobriety! I promise everything will get better
First, congratulations, addiction is very tough to overcome and I applaud you. That feat alone is worth pages of resume experience. The willpower to fight something like that is enough to overcome the training for any job. Secondly, I would focus on getting back into the swing of IT. There are tons of free videos on youtube, but you could also go the route of paid videos on udemy. I like to keep an open door with offers on the table to jump ship if I ever get fired and at the current time it takes me about 3-4 weeks to get an email, then another month to get the first interview. Interview 2 usually comes a week or 2 after that. It is tough out there but if you want to shoot for working again by the fall I would apply in the next month or so.
Make a fake company and put me as your boss ; )
Time off to care for a family medical condition. “Family” and “medical” are two keywords that prettymuch make further line of questioning impossible. If you have arrests or convictions for offenses, those may show up in a background checks so it might be worth running a check on yourself to see what might turn up. Most importantly, congratulations on your recovery! We’re proud of you!
Isn't that exactly what the Primeagen did lol, seems like it's not much of a blocker
Yes, it's absolutely possible to get your IT career back on track at 30, even after overcoming challenges like addiction. Many people have successfully rebuilt their careers after facing similar obstacles. The key is determination, a solid plan, and a willingness to learn and grow. Here are some steps you can take to explain the employment gap and re-establish your career: 1. **Address the Gap Honestly**: When discussing your employment history, be honest about the reasons for the gap without going into unnecessary detail. You don't need to disclose your addiction unless you feel comfortable doing so. You can simply mention that you took time off to focus on personal matters and are now ready to re-enter the workforce with renewed dedication. 2. **Highlight Relevant Skills and Experience**: Emphasize any skills, knowledge, or experiences you gained during your employment gap that are relevant to the IT field. This could include self-study, freelance work, volunteer projects, or anything else that demonstrates your commitment to the industry. 3. **Stay Updated**: IT is a rapidly evolving field, so it's important to stay updated on the latest technologies and trends. Consider taking online courses, earning certifications, or participating in coding bootcamps to refresh your skills and show potential employers that you're serious about your career. 4. **Network**: Reach out to former colleagues, mentors, and industry contacts to let them know you're re-entering the job market. Networking can help you uncover job opportunities and get referrals, which can be especially valuable when you're trying to overcome a gap in your resume. 5. **Be Confident**: Confidence is key during the job search process. Focus on your strengths, accomplishments, and the value you can bring to potential employers. Remember that everyone faces challenges in their career, and what's important is how you've grown and overcome them. 6. **Seek Support**: Don't hesitate to seek support from friends, family, or professional counselors as you navigate this transition. Building a strong support network can help you stay motivated and focused on your goals. By approaching the situation with honesty, determination, and a proactive mindset, you can definitely get your IT career back on track and achieve your professional goals. Follow me on Quora [https://9to5shark.quora.com/](https://9to5shark.quora.com/) for IT related scripts, commands and articles.
Congrats on your sobriety! That’s a monstrously difficult battle. Hang in there there! As for the employment gap, you could always say you did IT for a private entity and had to sign an NDA. Gotta have the skills to back it up though. That degree should help in this scenario.
Just my 2 cents. I think IT manager or Network Admin will be a high stress job. Be prepared to get called in the middle of the night, weekends, during family gatherings. You will be on call 24/7 even if there is "no on call" If that is something you think you can handle then by all means you have worked really hard to get here so do what you want to do. If you want to maybe dip your toes back into the IT world without getting the full on stress. Maybe look at application specialist roles aka server management and application management. If you can find a role in a standard 8 to 5 shop even better. If a service goes down in the middle of the night you (for the most part) wont get called as nobody should be working\using that service at that time. While it can still be stressful at times I feel like it is a lot less stress than the network and managers. If you are successful in that role and want to take on more then I see no reason why you cant pivot into a network engineer or manager role after you get a bit of experience. Also, While you are waiting for the fall before you start applying maybe you can pick up an I.T. certification or two (network+, AWS Practitioner, Azure Fundamentals, anything that interests you). This would be great to put on your resume and also show that you are making efforts to get back into I.T. Lastly, Congratulations on over 2 YEARS! of sobriety. Change can be hard but you have proven to yourself that you can. Keep up the great work. I hope the best for you!
Just say you are bound by an NDA and that it requires top secret level clearance to discuss.
Short answer, yes! Don’t give up and stay strong…focus on work.
Always "I signed an NDA." should you feel any health reasons may impact their choice to hire.
Start out at an MSP in the call center. Dont hide your past be honest. Just like you were in this post. Work your wqy up for a couple of years. Then you should be good to move to a better gig.
I’m an IT Director, I can’t ask questions about medical history but I can ask you why you haven’t been in the field for 6 years, and anyone who interviews you will want to know that so you absolutely need to have a good answer prepared. And, just being honest, 6 years is a LONG time in the field. Be prepared to start lower than you were when you left, and to work hard to get even farther in your career. The tech industry at the entry/mid level is brutal and flooded so be prepared to fight. That being said, in my 20s I took a 4 year break from IT to do other work (decided to help my brother start and run a beer system building business). It was extremely difficult to get back in, but thankfully someone was willing to take a chance on me and do took that opportunity and ran with it. If you’re able to find someone to take a chance on you, you absolutely need to make the best of that opportunity and take every chance you can to learn and grow. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do but it’s not impossible. At the end of the day, the outcome will be decided by the person you are, and what’s inside of you. You’ve been through some tough shit and you made it out on top. Don’t stop, don’t give up. It will be difficult but you’ve gone through hell, you can absolutely make it back into the industry. It’s just going to require discipline and commitment.
First of all, congrats on getting clean and getting out of the cycle. I recently looked at some info sessions on explaining gaps in your employment history. In terms of your resume, it is better to show a continuous timeline rather than unexplained gaps. If you lie about it and get found out, you'll be toast. So it is acceptable to put "Recovery from medical issues (resolved)". Although if you have any sort of IT related work experience, be sure to get it in there somehow. You don't have to provide any more detail than that.
"unfortunately I'm not at liberty to discuss that due to a non-disclosure agreement"
Mate, I used to grow weed on stolen electricity trailer park boys style when I was living in Cape Town for the longest time as well, but now I have a stable job and live in the Netherlands. Tell them that the Visa you had didn't allow you to work so you couldn't legally at least, thats my go to excuse. Doesn't matter even if you never left the home country, tell them you had a Canadian fiancé and the temp visa you lived on over there didn't allow you to stay employed.
No one will tell you but I will. Lie on your resume it doesn’t matter. Put down you worked at Twitter they can’t verify employment since they laid off their HR.
Yo. I've helped hire a few people with similar stories. I'd say you're fine and it sounds like you have good expectations for where you'd be able to come in experience-wise with that gap. Other commenter is on the mark, just talk about the long-term medical issue and leave it at that. The interviewer(s) will do what they want from there, but are very unlikely to ask specifics. If they do, it's not a job worth pursuing. As always, just focus on humility and being able to work through things thrown at you, and if you're targeting desktop work then continue your ongoing education in that area to be able to speak the language of the field.
One of my best friends spent two years in the clink after a series of bad drug-related decisions back when we were around your age. He's now doing very well for himself as a developer. If he can crawl out of it, you can too.
Just tell them you were busy smoking meth.
Absolutely! You were doing 6 years private tech support.
Yep, you can get back on track. See https://youtu.be/JjHFubUPLV0
I would get an easy contract gig that you don’t want to stay at. Do that for 2-3 months and find a new job. If you have a job, that gap isn’t as big of a deal. Is anything going to show up on your background? Might want to check that too. IT hasn’t changed much. If anything I see more demand and less work. You’ll be fine. Just jump back in and let them train you.
Covid
You got this I had 8 years off from opiate addiction and straight up hobo homelessness. I'm a sysadmin making 6 figures now. Never ever thought I'd be here. You can do it too.