HR Reached out with the position.
Scheduled round within 1 week.

My background - IIT Grad with 4 YOE in Dream11.
Left job to upskill and build side projects. 2 months out of job.

Round 1 - Past Project Discussion + DSA
DSA Question -> Sliding window Maximum

Round 2 - Past Project Discussion + HLD of the Project +

Frontend Machine Coding Question (In 30 mins)
Design Autocomplete Search with data fetched from API call with discussion on possible optimisations

Both Rounds positive response. Next Round Scheduled in a week.

Round 3 - HM Discussion and AI Usage.

HM joined the call and left to get coffee.
Jumped back to the call and asked how would I have took the first 2 rounds.
Answered intutively.

Then he drilled down in my CV. Was going great until he pointed my service traffic number misprint.

He sounded satisfied with the discussion and asked about my 2 month gap where i was building personal project. And why i was not scaling that and giving interviews.

I think I messed up a little here.

Got a rejection mail a day after.

Guys If you have personal projects that are gaining traction and you are out of job. Do you write about them and talk about it in the interview.