[kabouseng]

What about young developers who haven't done any side projects, just trying to skill up at their company or spent all their time graduating?

What about older developers who worked before Github and so had their own projects dissolved to obscurity?

What about developers who don't do side projects but give 120% to the company product, even at home? (Some of us actually enjoy working on the products we build during the day :D )

You'll get exactly the same mileage by just asking the potential hire to tell you about something they built - full stop. You'll be able to gauge passion, if they actually did the work, how it solves a problem. You just won't be able to play with it, but I suspect the minimum of side projects is in any case live, and more about scratching an itch.

And even with non-disclosure agreements etc they'll be able to tell you enough of the technology to be able to make a call.

[DustinOfDenver]

"What about developers who don't do side projects but give 120% to the company product, even at home?"

Excellent point! I would hope that would be the response to the question... It would still provide the value the question seeks.