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Following another question here I went down the rabbit hole and ended up on Calculating experience when you had two jobs at the same time? and the conclusion was essentially that 'years of experience' is basically 'elapsed time'.

I'm asking about IT/development/programming specifically.

For part-time roles (yes, they are relatively rare in programming etc but do exist), or for a role where it was on a "proportional" basis of full time (e.g. working as 50% Business Analyst, 50% Developer) - do 'part time' years of experience count the same as a full year, on a similar basis?

So for example if I'd worked for 2 years on a 50% BA, 50% Developer role (or just part time with 20 hours a week as a BA).

Then I apply to a job that required "2-3 years" as a BA. Would I be correct in saying I have 2 years BA experience? If so is there a reasonable minimum amount of time (per week/month) "actually performing the role" that would count - e.g. in an actual past role, I had a responsibility that was 20% of my time and I am curious if I could count that as just 'elapsed time' experience with the 20%-responsibility technology.

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  • Are you applying now or is this a curiosity/hypothetical? Could you perhaps quote the phrase asking for such time of experience, so we can give better answers.
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Oct 2, 2019 at 19:28
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    @DarkCygnus hypothetical based on curiosity as I didn't see it as a question already but I have been curious about that for a while - as such I think it could be a good addition to the site as it must be a situation that happens to many people. I've put a bit more text in to hopefully make it clearer.
    – seventyeightist
    Oct 2, 2019 at 19:35
  • Thanks, the details you added help as hypothetical questions are hard to answer here (and also not so encouraged, but I think this is ok)
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Oct 2, 2019 at 19:37
  • How did the 50% role A, and 50% role B play out? Was it 1 year doing A, then 1 year doing B? Or was it 2 hours each day doing A, and 2 hours doing B, for 2 years? That will make a difference in quantifying your experience
    – Mohair
    Oct 2, 2019 at 19:40
  • @Mohair The role itself as a "Business Analyst / Developer" with the expectation of the average amount per week or month being 50% on each (though it would vary a bit week to week depending on what projects were going on).
    – seventyeightist
    Oct 2, 2019 at 19:41

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Then I apply to a job that required "2-3 years" as a BA. Would I be correct in saying I have 2 years experience?

It would only be partially correct. If you fail to mention that your BA role was only 50% of the time then you would essentially be lying about your experience. You need to let them know that you were 50% BA and 50% Developer for two years and let them determine if two years of part time experience is sufficient for the role.

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  • I would be especially careful about "un-combining" work experience years as described in the OP if they give an implausible result, which they quickly will in a hybridized position. Someone with a CV indicating their first job 10 years ago but also listing 20 years' worth of professional experience is easy to notice, and probably not something the hiring party would be pleased to see.
    – Upper_Case
    Oct 2, 2019 at 20:25
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I wouldn't worry too much about trying to allocate a percentage to your experience. It's not like you were doing two completely different roles, like Developer / Lion Tamer. The roles you did are actually complementary in a lot of ways, and I would emphasize that. Your experience should add up to more than 100% as a result.

What I would say is that I was Business Analyst / Developer, part-time, for two years. If they ask for details, I would say I split my time doing both.

These are just numbers that are somewhat meaningless. If you can show you have the experience they want, it's not going to matter.

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