Member Avatar for Ben Macdui

Dear All,

At the age of 30 and after working for 5 years for the same company as a software engineer and manager (almost an eternity in IT!), I've just had a change of circumstances and am considering putting my IT career on hold for between 6 months and a year to go backpacking and travelling in Central Europe, Asia and Australia. Although I do travel in my job occasionally (Western Europe and North Africa), some extended travel to see places, learn skills and experience new things is something I really want to do before I get older and have commitments.

While I will be looking for opportunities for contract and temporary work placements while abroad (and where legally possible) to pay my way - and plan to learn at least one other language to go along with my English and French, I still fear that upon my return IT employers may take a dim view of 6 months - 1 year away. In my research I've seen forums where supposed HR staff and recruiters recommend that returned travellers omit all but the most brief reference to their travel, stating that since gap year travel is so ubiquitous now noone would care and at worst you would be seen as frivolous and privileged. Others have been more accomodating to backpackers and travellers, seeing the cultural experience, soft skills and language skills gained as a real asset.

I wish to know what you think. Is a career break for travel (and possible occasional contract work) a good or a bad thing in IT?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Lusiphur

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For and others weighing a medium-length career break, the difference between a neutral gap and a career-enhancing sabbatical is the narrative and the evidence. Comments from , and touch the right themes: employer expectations depend on role, travel can develop valuable soft skills, and maintaining technical currency matters. What follows expands those points into concrete, resume-friendly actions.

On the CV the period should read as purposeful rather than unexplained. A concise header such as "Sabbatical — independent projects and cultural study (dates)" followed by 2–4 outcome-focused bullets works well. Bullets should point to verifiable outputs and contemporary practices (for example: public repo or demo, automated tests/CI, a short write-up of a problem solved while travelling, or a language milestone). Vagueness hurts; measurable or demonstrable evidence builds credibility.

A practical three-stage routine helps make the story credible. Pre-trip: select one sustained project or learning target that can be maintained remotely. During travel: keep regular checkpoints (weekly commits, monthly write-ups, small remote contributions or volunteer sessions where feasible). Post-trip: run a short re-skill sprint (2–4 weeks) to refresh any drifting tech, tidy artifacts, and prepare a concise re-entry narrative for recruiters. When explaining the gap, give exact dates, list tangible outputs, and tie lessons learned to business outcomes (problem solving, autonomy, cross-cultural communication).

Role-specific emphasis changes the details. Managers should foreground cross-cultural leadership and stakeholder outcomes; hands-on developers must show recent code and CI familiarity; operations/security professionals should document maintenance tasks or cert renewals. For someone with management experience like , a deliberately documented sabbatical that yields concrete artifacts and a short re-skill plan will generally be seen as a net positive.

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Member Avatar for MindSter

I would definitely hire a traveller!
But, again, depends on what IT field are you in. If you're in mgt, good to go. If you're a PHP extensive developer, I won't; you missed PHP5 lol
Good luck.

Member Avatar for leo002000

6 months to a year, does on the face of it look like a long time. However I think most people (the boss/company) realise that occasionally people have to follow their dreams/desires. As such I think that your desire to quench your travelling thirst shows maturity and is logical. Why carry on doing something for the sakes of it, when you really want to be on the road (broadening your horizons and developing additional skills) that will enhance your abilities as an IT manager. Additionally once you have completed your travels, you will return, refreshed and enthused, ready to further develop your career... (GO FOR IT) (Work to live) (NOT LIVE TO WORK)

Happy travelling :)

Edited by leo002000 because: n/a
Member Avatar for Lusiphur

I think the key point here (as far as potential employers are concerned upon your return) is that you don't plan to just let your skills vegetate while you're abroad.

You've indicated that you plan to suppliment your travel costs by freelancing while you travel which means that you'd still be in touch with the industry to a degree. You've also indicated that part of the purpose of the trip is to broaden your skills and your cultural horizons (possibly a new language skill) which realistically only benefits a prospective employer on your return.

As long as you manage to keep in tune with the current tech while you're gone and don't allow your skillset to become obsolete I can see no negative to taking the time to recharge your mental/spiritual batteries as it were :)

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