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by devurand 2285 days ago
> The fact that I do programming at the weekend for fun on my personal projects does not in the slightest imply that I have fun at the kind of project that I have to do for the employer. So, judging by this criterion is a really bad idea of the (potential) employer.

I am not sure that was the argument being made. I think it was more like "If a candidate actively uses and develops their skill set in their own time, then they will be preferred over candidates that don't". Those candidates demonstrate a higher level of mastery of the skills needed by virtue of doing something, _anything_ over other candidates who don't, even if the demonstration is trivial. It can also signal a lower managerial load if the candidate has demonstrated the skill set to self-start and self-motivate. That can also mean less ramp-up time to being productive.
2 comments
rustyboy 2285 days ago
> develops their skill set in their own time

I don't see working on personal projects as doing personal development. What I do then is riddled with bugs, no unit-tests or documentation, and with no sense of project or time management.

Don't get me wrong if a personal project to you is production code, well then to me that is a hobby or maybe you are doing it to pad your resume, in which case sure it does seem like a good signal.

Overall though you have to have unproductive fun and that's what personal projects are for me, and this notion that anything tied to code equals resume is really insidious. Like when do we ever get away from work? Hustle culture seems to have made it's way into a white collar job, I need to tune out.

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watwut 2285 days ago
I mean I had side project I don't maintain anymore. I did learned some on it, but I don't think I became so much better then what I am learning normally on the job and from reading.

I am coding majority of my working time. Some more hours at home does zero for my learning.

Also, people who put really a lot into work during work day, don't have projects outside. Because they are literally tired from work. If they would not, they would work more intensively on work. Like, if one have slow boring month, then it is easy to crank some more. But in normal week when you do with full focus, you get tired.

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