This is a pretty accurate description of my motivation for doing side projects. Corporate pays well if you are willing to work on maintaining their existing pro

This is a pretty accurate description of my motivation for doing side projects. Corporate pays well if you are willing to work on maintaining their existing projects; the catch is that you'll often be working with languages and frameworks which peaked a few years ago. Also, corporate isn't always a productive place. A lot of creative energy is lost on stuff like communication, process and management. Working on your own projects means getting to work with stuff that excites you, and to pave the road for future opportunities. Most of all, to have fun. That being said, my wife and kids have first dibs on my spare time these years and that's fine. I try to squeeze in half an hour of recreative programming a day.