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In my experience, candidates with major pet projects, especially ones that aren't related to their current job, fall into one or more of the following categorie
by rickmb 15y ago
In my experience, candidates with major pet projects, especially ones that aren't related to their current job, fall into one or more of the following categories:
* They don't have life, and are usually not the most pleasant people to work with, let alone communicate with non-programmers.
* For some reason cannot find a job that involves the passion/knowledge/skill they put into their pet project. The job market for programmers being what it is, that's a major red flag.
* They have a passion for programming, but aren't good enough to hack it in a professional environment. Often not so much a skills but discipline or team player issue, but yes, you can have a passion for something you are not particularly good at! Millions of amateur-[enter activity here] do it every day!
Having or not having a pet project is an good angle for an interview, but not a meaningful qualification in itself.
- flyosity 15y agoHmm, seems I don't fall into any of these categories. I design and build web software during the day, then at night and on the weekends I work on my own iOS and Mac apps. I've been offered full-time iOS & Mac design/development jobs but I don't take them for a few reasons, most importantly that I really like my current "real" job and the hardcore web work keeps my skills sharp. So I'm not the first category because I'm married and do have a life outside work, I'm not the second one because I can easily find a different full-time job but choose to stay in the position I have, and the third just isn't applicable. I don't really have a position on the pet-projects-as-interview-question topic, but just thought I'd put in my two cents.
- postfuturist 15y agoI have pet projects. I also have a life. I have a job that involves putting my knowledge/skill/passion to work to a degree. Even if my employer would allow me to write each project in whatever programming language I was obsessed with that week, I wouldn't, because I don't want to maintain all my whims. Personal projects can be thrown away easily or restarted. All that work can be done without _any_ business concerns. That's just not reasonable for a paying job. I have a lot of passion for programming and I hack it quite well in a professional environment, thank you very much. My passion requires that I fiddle about with personal projects so I can test out new languages, frameworks, styles, libraries, paradigms, etc. without any business concerns in the least. If there is a place where I could get paid well to just hack on whatever the hell seems fun at the moment, I'd definitely make a concerted effort to work there--I don't think it exists.
- Fliko 15y agoI do think that people can have a real passion for programming, have a life, and be able to work in a professional environment. They probably already have a job, or will get one very soon. All the points you listed are totally valid though, and I totally agree with your last point.