Please read the article further down. The author explicitly says:
> It's OK too if an engineer doesn't have any side projects.
I always ask about side projects to give candidates an opportunity to highlight their side projects, not because we require candidates to have side projects.
I'm sure some hiring managers out there have side projects listed under their "must have" criteria, but in my experience the good hiring managers are just collecting as many data points as possible. In fact, I've known many hiring managers who take side projects as a potential risk factor, because they can pose a distraction to the candidate if they become too demanding.
All other things equal, a candidate with extensive side projects is going to have more experience than a candidate who has never worked on any side projects. In the real world, you never find two candidates who are identical in every way except for their side projects. The goal of an interview is to collect as much information as possible about the candidates in the limited interview time. Asking about side projects is just one more place to search for those data points. It would be equally unfair to disqualify side project experience from the consideration process.
In my experience, have side projects is largely a boost for junior candidates who haven't had enough opportunity to build a long professional resume yet. I can't remember the last time we interviewed a senior developer where side projects were the tipping point in our decision making process.
One thing that I've never disliked about hiring managers asking for side projects, is that when I work on one, I do what interests me. I like trying new things, experimenting on stuff that I don't know how it will turn out. When I get bored or I hit a dead end, I stop. A lot of it is unfinished and messy. It's for me, not anyone else. My time is valuable, especially outside of work.
Yeah. I'm building an http server for fun. Last year I wrote a JSON parser one weekend. A few years ago I wrote a YAML parser. I make things like this fun & learning, not because I'm trying to impress anyone. When someone asks why I'm reinventing the wheel, or is generally unimpressed that I didn't do something they view as more useful, it can be awkward.
Not only that, but when you are programming for yourself, you can take on practically infinite risk. There is no downside. When you are programming for the company, you have to err on the side of conservatism. Sometimes the only way to break through to another level is to take on that risk and see how it turns out. It says a lot about a programmer that their portfolios consist of lots of efforts that don't end up with a "product". They have tried a lot of stuff that you can't reasonably try in a work setting.
fair point, I did miss that further down in the section. It's still unfortunate to lead with a generalization that plays into a common trope/assumption about developers that does play out in the hiring process, but it's good to see it called out explicitly below that it shouldn't be required. I certainly don't disagree that side projects are a good data point especially for junior developers who don't have the direct professional experience.
Fair criticism, point taken. Thanks for the feedback here. Def did not mean to breed a culture of always being "on" and "crushing it" which might also be part of the trope.
> It's OK too if an engineer doesn't have any side projects.
I always ask about side projects to give candidates an opportunity to highlight their side projects, not because we require candidates to have side projects.
I'm sure some hiring managers out there have side projects listed under their "must have" criteria, but in my experience the good hiring managers are just collecting as many data points as possible. In fact, I've known many hiring managers who take side projects as a potential risk factor, because they can pose a distraction to the candidate if they become too demanding.
All other things equal, a candidate with extensive side projects is going to have more experience than a candidate who has never worked on any side projects. In the real world, you never find two candidates who are identical in every way except for their side projects. The goal of an interview is to collect as much information as possible about the candidates in the limited interview time. Asking about side projects is just one more place to search for those data points. It would be equally unfair to disqualify side project experience from the consideration process.
In my experience, have side projects is largely a boost for junior candidates who haven't had enough opportunity to build a long professional resume yet. I can't remember the last time we interviewed a senior developer where side projects were the tipping point in our decision making process.