[willismichael]

Are you a good developer if you do take on side projects? I think the answer to both questions is "not necessarily".

The big problem that I see with questions like these is that it presents a false dichotomy of "bad" vs. "good" developers. Not only is this a false dichotomy, but skills aren't even one dimensional, so even considering them as falling on a spectrum is wrong.

I'm certain that there exists some task that would take me 10 hours that would take my co-worker 1 hour, but there also exists some task that would take him 10 hours and only take my 1 hour.