I started working in 2001 as a software engineer, but I can only list 10 years as my years of experience, since I count only the number of times I am employed. I have many side-projects, personal projects, apps in between, and skill/time wise I can easily bump my YoE.<p>Now, I have been seeing resumes that list more than the years they are employed, and assumed the initial start date working on a tool, and/or programming language, do collectively counts as the present number of years.<p>I think many people still was unsure what YoE means (or they plainly choose to be dishonest about it).<p>So, for the record, what is the real definition of "Years of Experience"?
It's the years you've worked.<p>> I have many side-projects, personal projects, apps in between, and skill/time wise I can easily bump my YoE.<p>No. And you know this too since you're only counting the years you've worked.<p>Some years (within your own career or compared to someone else) being more intense/valuable than others tells you that YOE isn't the most reliable metric. But it doesn't mean that you should change how you measure time.
The amount you can claim and you can get away with in terms of your track record.<p>If you're a part of the React core team I'll hire you even if you claim 500 years of experience with React.
Days employed as a "software engineer" (as in, where writing programs was your primary responsibility), divided by 365.<p>It's supposed to represent commercial experience.