Scared of Resume Gap

For some context: I have about 4.5 YoE & 3 years directly in product along with Master’s level qualification. Primarily have worked with early stage start ups and have experienced similar challenges in each so avoiding this segment and red flag companies (taking Glassdoor, ambition box reviews as the basis here) But a few people/seniors are suggesting to consider any opportunity with any kind of company as the market is bad. So wanted some perspective on the risk of career gap on resume vs being stuck in a similar company and going through the same job search process maybe 6 months or a year down the line? What would be a better trade off? P.S: Currently I am able to focus on overall up skilling and whatever is needed to clear job interviews and have decent financial security & runway. Any advice/perspectives are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'm a 2021 graduate. I left my first job at a small startup in Bangalore in January because they refused to pay my salary and my hike for 3 months (promotion was done but just on paper, they were paying the old salary). I'm not good at DSA at all even though I handled multiple projects related to security and development tools using Go and have a good understanding about the language. But I'm not good at DSA at all, I don't have a leetcode account or solved any DSA problems yet. If I want to get a job I have to start DSA from scratch which will take a minimum of 4-6 months. Which makes me unemployed for 1 year. I'm scared whether this is a red flag in the recruiters point of view. And create a situation where recruiters intentionally try to hire me for less salary. What should I do? Should I leave my current domain and switch to other technical jobs that may not require DSA during interviews or spend time to learn enough DSA to clear interviews? If there's any way to get some guidance from senior engineers or people who had similar issues like this in the past, please let me know.

I got laid off and I have been getting rejected in my interviews a lot and want to take some time to work on my skills, is it a bad decision? My YOE is 3 years as a SWE

If someone has close to 3 years experience as a software developer after completing B.tech and wants to pursue M.tech, but for some reason he could not clear GATE exam and wants to join as a software developer after 1 year of preparation gap. I want to know what will be the impact of this while searching for a job after one year of preparation gap?

I am 26M with close to 3 years of work experience and a MBA from a tier 1 college. I make decent salary, however I am not really enjoying my job. I am also depressed from working very hard the past 5 years with graduation, Covid and job Etc. I just want to take a few months off and focus on my mental/physical health. I also want to prepare for Product roles and try out some business/freelancing ideas I have. My concern is how Career gaps are treated like a stigma in the industry. Like what was the use of working so hard and getting qualifications, if I cannot take a few months in between jobs to focus on myself. Can someone help me get some perspective?

It's been a year and a month since I've been unemployed. I had a chronic illness which lasted for 2.5 years ( yes I was working when I was sick - worst decision of my life ) . I recovered from it in September 2023, since then I've been looking for new jobs in frontend domain. In my previous role , I was working as a support engineer for a service based company but wanted to work in frontend. During my illness period I also joined a cohort and also did a certification in React development. Now, when I apply for jobs, I'm getting no calls, when I do get calls from recruiters, they ask about my career gap I tell them everything that happened. After the call they just ghost me. How am I supposed to justify my career gap so that I can proceed further with the interview? Do I lie about it and say that I did freelancing, I've heard most people do these kinds of things when they have to justify any kind of career gap.

Hello, all i have a gap of 6 months, will it affect me to find jobs as i carry 1.5 year of experience causing me a lot of diffculties while getting shortlisted ? What should i do , feeling stressed ? I need your advice and if there is any opportunity for me i am open up for that, my tech tack is frontend development with using react, redux, vue js.

Can anyone suggest me what should I do to get a job after career gap?