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> Asking to see side projects presupposes an unhealthy amount of focus on work, discriminates against people with lives This argument is so ridiculous, because

> Asking to see side projects presupposes an unhealthy amount of focus on work, discriminates against people with lives This argument is so ridiculous, because I enjoy programming it means I don't have a life? Is this an actual argument people make?

apetresc 9y ago
Yes, this was the overwhelming sentiment from a post that was on the front page just yesterday.
- dx034 9y ago
  When you have a family and full time job it could be that you simply don't find the time for side projects even if you love programming.
  - lightbyte 9y ago
    That's fine, but the argument was that it "discriminates against people with lives". That's offensively wrong, as you're saying I don't have a life because I enjoy to program.
deadmetheny 9y ago
My takeaway is that it's more a mark against someone who doesn't want to do their job function in their non-working times as well. To me, not wanting to code outside of work if you're coding all day is perfectly reasonable and shouldn't count against you during an interview process, an expectation that you have side projects just feels unreasonable. There's obviously not gonna be anything wrong with someone who also likes to code their own projects outside of work for fun. That's my view from the outside as a non-dev, anyway.
- lightbyte 9y ago
  That wasn't the argument though, the argument was it "discriminates against people with lives". That's an offensively wrong argument. If the argument was that it discriminates against people who don't hobby program, than yes I'd say that's correct.
  - astura 9y ago
    There's some subtext you missed there. "it discriminates against people with lives [outside of programming/tech/work]." as in "It should be ok, if you want to, to not spend all your time outside of work doing unpaid work." Excluding candidates that don't have a github or whatever is a signal you are looking to get employees that you expect to spend their entire lives at work. If hobbying programming is your strength, own it. Nobody is going to disregard code samples you send them. The context is employers requiring hobby programming.
disiplus 9y ago
i hacked on sideprojects when i had more time, but most of my sideprojects are automation things that i did when i had something to solve or help a friend, or some scrapping for my needs. the rest of my programming outside of work is freelancing. if somebody would ask me for sideprojects i would have nothing of value to show.

apetresc 9y ago

Yes, this was the overwhelming sentiment from a post that was on the front page just yesterday.

dx034 9y ago
When you have a family and full time job it could be that you simply don't find the time for side projects even if you love programming.
- lightbyte 9y ago
  That's fine, but the argument was that it "discriminates against people with lives". That's offensively wrong, as you're saying I don't have a life because I enjoy to program.

deadmetheny 9y ago

My takeaway is that it's more a mark against someone who doesn't want to do their job function in their non-working times as well. To me, not wanting to code outside of work if you're coding all day is perfectly reasonable and shouldn't count against you during an interview process, an expectation that you have side projects just feels unreasonable. There's obviously not gonna be anything wrong with someone who also likes to code their own projects outside of work for fun. That's my view from the outside as a non-dev, anyway.

lightbyte 9y ago
That wasn't the argument though, the argument was it "discriminates against people with lives". That's an offensively wrong argument. If the argument was that it discriminates against people who don't hobby program, than yes I'd say that's correct.
- astura 9y ago
  There's some subtext you missed there. "it discriminates against people with lives [outside of programming/tech/work]." as in "It should be ok, if you want to, to not spend all your time outside of work doing unpaid work." Excluding candidates that don't have a github or whatever is a signal you are looking to get employees that you expect to spend their entire lives at work. If hobbying programming is your strength, own it. Nobody is going to disregard code samples you send them. The context is employers requiring hobby programming.

disiplus 9y ago

i hacked on sideprojects when i had more time, but most of my sideprojects are automation things that i did when i had something to solve or help a friend, or some scrapping for my needs. the rest of my programming outside of work is freelancing. if somebody would ask me for sideprojects i would have nothing of value to show.