In my experience the industry is not at all insistent on side projects; lots of people talk about having them, and the way people talk about them has become wei

In my experience the industry is not at all insistent on side projects; lots of people talk about having them, and the way people talk about them has become weirdly culty in the last five-ish years, but it is entirely one-sided; nobody who is doing the hiring cares at all.