How do I indicate on my CV that I took a semester off studying to work fulltime?

Question

How should I include in my CV that I deferred from university for in the middle of my undergraduate degree to work-full time?

Should I leave a gap in my education years? Or should I just say the start and end date of my degree.

I feel having 8 months work as a full time software developer, while not a huge amount of experience is important to mention, as I think it is a distinguishing factor of me compared to others in otherwise similar positions (multiple undergraduate degrees, and hopefully a PhD soon). Since it shows that I do have experience coding outside of the "Ivory Tower", on real projects.

The advantage of explicitly leaving a gap in my education start and end dates. e.g. Feb 2009-June 2011, Feb 2012-Nov 2014, is that it makes it clear this was a full-time work, not just me doing a little on the side.

The disadvantage is that it looks really cluttered, if I didn't do that I would be able to just write 2009--2014.

_{Technically speaking the work was not employment it was a "Workplace Learning Integrated Scholarship". But for all intents and purposes it was a full time junior developer position with the pay and responsibilities to match. Theoretically it could have been credited towards my degree, but because of a SNAFU it never was. I'm not sure if that is worth mentioning or not either; but that is not what this question is about.}

Answer 1

The CV is intended to give a snapshot picture of your skills and experiences to a prospective employer. Smaller details that don't contribute enough to the 'at a glance' point of the process, but still need to be addressed, can (and likely will) be brought up during the interview process. Additionally, experience and education can overlap in timing, as can jobs (such as working 2 jobs, or working while going to school). Think of the dates of education as the time frame of you being enrolled; Even a 0-credit semester counts for enrollment unless the school notifies you of a change in status.

With that in mind, I would recommend you keep your education ungapped, even if you took a semester off in the middle, and list the fulltime work as 'Junior Developer(full time) July 2011 - January 2012' followed by the description of job duties. This will allow you to have a clean, honest CV, while not removing your ability to expand on your reasons, timing, and experience with the job.

Answer 2

Just include it as a work placement (I have one of those on my CV).

I listed the date I graduated from my course and included the job in the work history section using the correct dates, starting the description as

Work placement as part of degree

Answer 3

Typically people put education in one section on their degree, and experience in another. Just put your education in Education and experience in Experience.

Your schooling was: Feb 2009-Nov 2014. It took you more time to get through school, as it does for many people -- for whatever reason. Many people also work while they're in school, and your resume will show that. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not uncommon for education and work to overlap.