[buffington]

There's absolutely nothing immoral about practicing your craft outside of "work hours."

It wouldn't be ethical to drive into the company office, then work on your side gigs using their computers, bandwidth, software, etc.

There's nothing unethical about working on personal projects while not at work. In a lot of US states, an employer can't legally stop you either, salaried or not, unless they can make the case that you working on your side projects directly harms them. That can be a hard case for them to make as well, since, typically, someone who practices their craft outside of "work" improves themselves in a way that benefits their employer.

When I hire programmers, I very much want to hear about their side projects. Not because I want to lay claim to them, but because I want to have a broader sense for what makes a candidate tick. All things being equal, I'd hire a candidate who works on interesting side projects over one who didn't as well.

[drakonka]

I agree with you, but my interpretation of the comment you're replying to is that they're saying working on personal projects _within_ work hours, "on company's times and hardware", is "immoral". They didn't say anything about working on personal projects outside of work.

[buffington]

I like your interpretation better than mine, though I'm not sure it changes too much of what I said.

That's in part because what I consider to be "immoral" is likely different than the OP. I could be an anarchist that believes the only moral act is to undermine my employer. Or I could be so dedicated to my employer that I'd consider merely thinking negative thoughts about them immoral.

In the end, it's not about what's "immoral", it's about what's legal. Which, of course, depends on where you live and how smart your lawyers are.