[ethicalsmacker]

"If a candidate says they had family related work gaps for four years then that will place them poorly compared to candidates that don’t."

Same applies to telling them you had health issues?

You are right, not lying is going to place you at a disadvantage. Especially when your competition is lying, padding their resumes and leveraging their networks as well.

[prepend]

Yes, but at least it’s a real story in stead of a fantasy.

I’ve worked in orgs where the resume passers and lying applicants are heavily screened out. There’s no perfect way to do this, but as an applicants, I’d rather tell the truth and demonstrate my value than lie and be believed without demonstrating.

One thing I really like about programming is that you end up with a portfolio of projects where people can evaluate your design decisions and code and whatnot down to an individual level. I think this is harder with other professions that don’t produce direct paper trails of individual contributions.