Like cmpeters, I'm a recent college grad (BEng in Computer Engineering) from a top school in my Western English-speaking non-American country. I've got a good education, a respectable resume, a terrible GPA, and few peer networking contacts (I found people in my program to be boring, so didn't hang out with them). I also can't find a job; most companies that I get through to say - truth or not - that they're in a hiring freeze for the next six months.
I mentioned that I've got no in-industry peer networking contacts, but I have a few very good ones in politics. Specifically, I've got a possible job offer through one to be one of the two or three advance guys for a very senior national politician. It would be a year of traveling around the country with them, likely including an election, and would be incredibly exciting.
My worry is this: if I take this job for a year, will I be aged-out of most positions when I get back? I'm currently a little over 26, and if I do this for a year, would be 27 and a bit when I would be done. Going back into tech/software at that point, I worry that I would be over the normal age for a junior developer position, but would lack the professional experience to be hired as an intermediate one.
I'd like to take this ops job, but worry that I'd be somewhat screwing over my future career. Any thoughts?