Companies are interested in professional development that benefits themselves — not the kind that lets you learn new skills or be able to credibly claim those s

Companies are interested in professional development that benefits themselves — not the kind that lets you learn new skills or be able to credibly claim those skills to a different employer. Those are the skills that side projects are useful for. If companies do offer professional development that is not useful to themselves, it’s a form of compensation, and an employee is free to negotiate that. An employee could also negotiate more salary or vacation instead, and I know which I’d prefer.