there are resume tactics you can use to obscure that missed time, and frankly, the older you are, the better it is to use them. not just because of age bias, but also because even a resume reader who has zero age bias is likely to skim the resume, and/or regard your most _recent_ accomplishment as your most _characteristic_ accomplishment as well. so you have to completely disregard chronological order if you want to present a summary of who you are and what you can do, unless you are the one person in the world whose career history has only ever had ups, and never downs.

my most recent job search went really slow until I scuttled my comprehensive, chronological resume and replaced it with something which is basically just a list of sales-y bullet points: lots of languages! did this! did that!

likewise, don’t bother listing everything you’re good at. list the stuff you’re best at, and list the newest, flashiest stuff, and summarize the rest. “skilled in numerous languages, including Hot New Shit A and Old Thing That I Happen To Be Great At B” is great.

if my resume showed every language that I’ve ever used, I’d be including a ton of languages that don’t even exist any more. people don’t see that and think, “wow, how diligent to include such a comprehensive list.” they think, “does this person expect to use that here? why are they wasting my time?”