[FalconSensei]

I see your point, and I partly disagree. First because, they are doing it for fun, to solve things they want to make it work. That doesn't say they are learning something, or following clean code guidelines.

But let's assume they DO. They are better at coding. But are you sure coding is the only skill you want? I've seen my fair share of developers that lack "real world" experience, to the point they cannot see that what they are doing is not what a user wants, or how they want to do it.

In some cases, open source projects are made for developers, and managed/prioritized by developers, not someone with experience in project management, or with a roadmap with the users in mind. So, they might be lacking a lot of other important skills, and I would dare say that some also lack empathy towards non-programmers - the paying customers.

I'M NOT GENERALIZING GUYS!

I'm just point out things that I saw in some instances, with some people.

[dominotw]

yea ofcourse, if someone is better at skills you are looking for then by all means coding hobby is irrelvant.

But what if all else being equal, why would you not choose coding hobby candidate.

[slg]

If we are going the "all else being equal" route, one could argue the hobbyist is a worse candidate because they have spent more time working and thinking about programming but still haven't been able to demonstrate their skills are superior to someone who has spent much less time refining them. Give me the person who is able to get the same thing accomplished with less effort and time.

[FalconSensei]

Also I would imagine that the person who also code as a hobby is more likely to have a burnout later on. Just a guess though

[lonelappde]

There's no way to compare that "time" of course.