The benchmark is "do they do it for fun", i.e. personal projects.
But the real trick isn't "number of personal projects", but how weird they are. There's no "rational" reason to do them, they don't increase the person's marketability / hireability. They are done purely for intrinsic reasons.
(On reflection, this also seems to be a pretty robust predictor of autism. :)
But the real trick isn't "number of personal projects", but how weird they are. There's no "rational" reason to do them, they don't increase the person's marketability / hireability. They are done purely for intrinsic reasons.
(On reflection, this also seems to be a pretty robust predictor of autism. :)