[Volundr]

Yeah this is something that's bothered me for a long time. For awhile I felt bad and tried to focus on doing the whole "side projects" thing, but now I've just come to accept that some people will never hire me, and that's OK.

The fact of the matter is that I have a job where I work on different things and am encouraged to learn. It's not a dream job, I don't "love" what I do, but I like it. The fact of the matter when I get home from my 8 (ok, often 7) hour day, I really don't feel like programming anymore. I feel like curling up on the couch with my girlfriend and watching a movie. Or hanging out with friends, or going for a motorcycle ride. You know, those things that keep you from burning out?

So, at this point I've decided that if someone doesn't want to hire me because my Github profile isn't cool enough, well OK. That tells me that the culture there values work over work/life balance, and I don't want to work there anyway.

I work on side projects when I have to urge to, and rarely does anything worthwhile to anyone but me come out of it. But I'm done feeling guilty about it.

[LordHumungous]

I feel like you are setting up a false choice between spending all your free time programming and spending none of it. Taking a few hours here and there to expand your horizons isn't that much to ask.