Does anyone have an experience of taking a long break like 1-3 years and going back to software engineering job?

from what i've seen across hundreds of these threads, the market doesn't punish the break, it punishes the stale skillset. the successful returns i see aren't from people who just rested; they're from people who came back with a point of view on one new thing. you're not restarting your old career, you're starting a new one with the same title.

Yeah, I have taken 1-2 year breaks multiple times throughout my career.

I used each break to learn a bunch of new and cutting-edge technical skills, so never had much trouble finding a job again after the break.

Also, good referrals from past coworkers and bosses helped a lot in quickly getting interviews 😊