As someone who hires for software development, I have to only partly agree here. No, your little dogfood calculator is not going to make me hire you, but given

As someone who hires for software development, I have to only partly agree here. No, your little dogfood calculator is not going to make me hire you, but given equal resumes and presentation, I'd hire the candidate who also shows some self-initiative and actual code vs the candidate who is all on paper, only uses the limited 8 year old stack of their previous employer, or worse openly admits they have no actual experience. So, to OP, definitely don't over-do it on the side projects, but do be sure your potential employees know you enjoy what you do and are self-taught and self-motivated.