I hear you however that's shortsighted on part of the employer. As an employer, you have a projects/tasks which needs to be done, you set up estimates on how lo

I hear you however that's shortsighted on part of the employer. As an employer, you have a projects/tasks which needs to be done, you set up estimates on how long it should take. If the employee does it within those estimates, what he/she does in their spare time should not matter at all. Personally, I would love to hire a person who is doing side projects to keep learning. I feel very confident that they will be able to take care of the regular tasks assigned as part of the job.