People in this thread (and the original article) emphasise building stuff to help you get job interviews and do better in your job. I'd argue that's the wrong

People in this thread (and the original article) emphasise building stuff to help you get job interviews and do better in your job. I'd argue that's the wrong way of looking at it, yes having something to show might be a signal booster on your resume, but it should be a side effect. Building stuff is only fun if you want to do it, the motivation and passion has to be there, otherwise you'll just be building something for the sake of it. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely useful to gain knowledge from building, even if it's just a toy project, but you'll get so much more out of it if you're building something you're passionate about.