> I have yet to meet a good programmer that doesn't have at least one pet project developed outside of the office. Frankly, I have never once had any need that

> I have yet to meet a good programmer that doesn't have at least one pet project developed outside of the office. Frankly, I have never once had any need that could not be solved by free off-the-shelf software and/or a couple short scripts. I have absolutely zero desire to get home, having spent the day programming, and program some more. I guess I would still fall into that because I developed and ran a website for some time (and forums that I sometimes hacked a little on), but I've never mentioned it in an interview and really, looking back on it, I should have spent that time doing other, non-tech related things. Yet at every job I've been at, management considers me a "rock star" (ugh). I think you criterion is likely (though of course not guaranteed) to get you good programmers, and it's not necessarily a bad thing to exclude the set of good programmers who don't meet that criterion, but I find the idea that I should love programming so much that I should dream about it and do it at home...unsettling. Nobody expects that from other professions. And I think I associate it generally with people who are willing to accept below-market pay (and therefore companies that pay poorly) because they're happy to just get a job doing it. That said, I do like programming, well enough. But what I really like is solving other people's problems. And what I love is my hobbies that have nothing to do with computers and are unfortunately impossible to monetize.