I'm going to throw in a counterpoint to many of the people saying it's the worst time to do it. In my view, it's the best time to do it.
When times are good, it's hard to take yourself out of a job market where you can waltz into offers and get big raises every year by job hopping. The opportunity cost is high.
When times are bad, you don't have the fear of missing out of a big opportunity. Honestly, I've been trying to take a gap year for a while and I could never pull the trigger because it felt silly. Now it feels much more palatable to do so.
This does depend on your timeline and runway of course. If you're only looking for a couple months off as a hard cap, maybe not a great time. If you're looking for (or fine with) a year or so and have the financial flexibility to do so, then it seems like a perfect opportunity.
When times are good, it's hard to take yourself out of a job market where you can waltz into offers and get big raises every year by job hopping. The opportunity cost is high.
When times are bad, you don't have the fear of missing out of a big opportunity. Honestly, I've been trying to take a gap year for a while and I could never pull the trigger because it felt silly. Now it feels much more palatable to do so.
This does depend on your timeline and runway of course. If you're only looking for a couple months off as a hard cap, maybe not a great time. If you're looking for (or fine with) a year or so and have the financial flexibility to do so, then it seems like a perfect opportunity.