I don't understand this article in the least. The idea that people shouldn't be doing things they want to do on their own time, that you'd rather say "be honest

I don't understand this article in the least. The idea that people shouldn't be doing things they want to do on their own time, that you'd rather say "be honest, not everyone is an entrepreneur," than let people explore their potential themselves.. the whole thing is offensive and depressing. For a lot of my friends, side projects are the only thing keeping their passion for programming alive. You say below "If you're not happy with your job, just quit," as if it's easy for people to up and leave the position they're in. Not everyone lives in a tech hotspot and not everyone actually wants to or can just up and leave their roles. A lot of these side projects are explicitly being worked on so that they can get more up-to-speed with certain technologies with the intent to apply for something more satisfying to begin with. And if there wasn't value in side projects, companies wouldn't have any reason to "own" what you work on outside of your 9-5. If you're not getting value from your employee because they're distracted or they don't have the faith or enthusiasm they used to, that's on you to sit them down and talk to them about it and maybe figure out a way to compromise; telling someone they can't spend time on their hobbies anymore is a petty response that doesn't look at the real issue at hand. Perhaps the problem really lies in your camp, not theirs. If you're so concerned your developers are going to up and leave to work on their own dream, you need to incentivize them more. Or, you know, get over it and realize that's business and people have other ambitions outside of your own and there's no reason that they should have to stick around to fulfill them, especially if this is the attitude you have towards the types of things that keep them motivated. If you're really concerned about not being able to create your product because your devs are going to bail to do what they ultimately want to do in their life, perhaps you should become one yourself instead of telling them how they can and cannot live their lives outside of your payroll.