My personal experience has been quite the opposite. My side projects (and my blog) have been instrumental in me getting two key jobs that really boosted my care

My personal experience has been quite the opposite. My side projects (and my blog) have been instrumental in me getting two key jobs that really boosted my career quite a bit. I'm not saying "you should definitely do side projects". I'm just disagreeing they aren't always useless. Like pretty much anything in life, your mileage will vary.