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Five years ago, I lost my ability to concentrate long-term, and therefore ability to code with professional efficiency.

I know why it happened, I understood how it happened, and on top of being able to re-create my calm and thus relaxed focus, I overcame the original (rooted in childhood) reason why my mind tilted on the overall situation back then; My understanding isn't rooted in words that a psychologist told me, I actually grokked them first-hand. I'm pretty much confident to be able to churn out productivity, possibly even more so than pre-burnout.

I also never lost my interest in code nor did I stray from trying to get my abilities back; I kept my knowledge up to date (I could always relatively painlessly learn things coding-related, just not apply them) and thus can say that I'm a better developer than before, even if my average LOC-count over those years is abysmally low.

On the other hand, now I have a biography that includes more time on the dole than in a job.

What would convince you, as an employer, to give my application a chance? I don't believe I should just keep the whole topic out of it.

EDIT: I think I should add that I didn't start searching my childhood for causes, it was the solution that pointed me to the cause. Alas, not doing my best to fix the company (which was disintegrating as I left, and completely disbanded a year later) is deeply rooted in the fact that in my childhood I, at one point, gave up on fixing my parent's relationship, misattributing it to my own failure at empathy instead of them being an utterly hopeless case, and I don't really see a way to explain that without referring to childhood. I'm perfectly able to say that without breaking out into tears, though.

That said, yes, I'm aware that I'm writing to you guys as friends, not employers, right now, that's the reason why I show my distrust in you by using a one-time account .oO( ... )

Yes, I'm planning to release some OSS code before I apply anywhere.

EDIT 2: I'm German and going to apply at a German company, so "creative truth" is definitely not an option.

As to the chosen answer: I chose Renesis over Pierre because, while the latter did an awesome job at motivating, getting across that I shouldn't give up and giving me points to beef up my social skills section with, Renesis actually answered my question by summing up the involved key factors.