@joeqwerty I've got releived from my previous company so I can't wait for 10 days any more.

A companies online job application portal wants exact dates for experience and is rejecting you because you are 10 days out? How pathetically stupid of said company. Just give them what they want - 36 months of experience. Who is to say that you didnt start learning 10 days before your current calculation takes into account etc etc etc....

Not sure if you have, but you should also include any notice period that you have been given. That may tio you over the 36 month period.

I'd think about not wanting to work for a company that apparently prefers to follow a very narrow-minded set of rules instead of dynamically evaluating situations.

@Moo The exact purpose of online applications is usually to save the company money. Hiring above-average software developers or spending a lot of time supporting said application beyond its basic function is antithetical to that purpose.

To play Devil's Advocate: The company has to draw a line somewhere…  Maybe the figure quoted already includes lots of leeway (e.g. they really want at least 4 years)?

@puck: The simplest explanation, though, is that nobody thought about the edge case to start with... I would be careful about reading intent where mere forgetfulness is at play.

@puck It's just a software issue with an edge case. It's probably not even their software. I wouldn't overthink it.

@Moo They might be justified rejecting you if you lack the flexibility to change the dates to 3 years :-)

rounding is easy to do with 10 days... It's not like your rounding up 2 years and 10 days...

@puck, one Web app written without much thinking, and possibly, if websites are not the company's business, by an external contractor who are always time-strapped to the point that stop-and-think is impossible, does not necessarily reflect on the company from the inside. I was doing the best science of my life for many years with a company whose Web site was all written in impassable (to a geek like your truly) Managerese. There must be a reason why thedailywtf.com has existed and flourished since late past century, AFAICR. :)

@puck It's software, it has to use a hard limit. If not exactly on the day, how much tolerance should it give? And what if someone falls just one day short of that tolerance?

Were you owed any leave when you left?

I mean, 10 days is so short it seems like you could just wait 10 more days to apply, but then complain if you get an interview.

@PyRulez I don't think the OP has said whether they're currently gaining relevant experience. Perhaps their 3 years - 10 days experience was in the past.

I had this happen once - on a job where I had already accepted a written offer. They required me to go through the process of applying on their ALS. In their case, I called HR directly and asked them what to do, and they told me to just fudge the dates so it would go through. I would do the same thing, or talk to the hiring manager or a recruiter at the company and have the same conversation.

There has to be a hard cut-off point somewhere, where n days of experience is enough but n-1 days is not. If not, then it’s simple to show that no experience at all is required. Start with “Is 1 million days enough experience?”, then “Is 999,999 days enough experience?”, and keep going until either the answer changes (a hard cut-off) or you reach zero.

Reminds me of when I had to prove to a computer that I'm human by selecting bikes and motorcycles and boats and busses and after almost 5 minutes, I finally gave up. Though, a job application might be worth more trouble than buying a video game.

I think what @gidds and mike Scott have to say may have some merit. OP should prepare a statement to account for this in any following correspondence.

@MatthieuM. like the saying "never attribute to malice what you can attribute to stupidity" ? :)