I kind of agree with you for people who already have verifiable experience that sideprojects are not important. For people without anything on their CV however

I kind of agree with you for people who already have verifiable experience that sideprojects are not important. For people without anything on their CV however I think it can be a good idea. I have been on both sides as well, many times and to be honest, if someone was a graduate and they didn't have some kind of side project, we just scrapped them.