I think thats where side projects have to be something you care about. Scratch an itch whilst learning pet technology. Ex: a friend of mine wanted to modify so

I think thats where side projects have to be something you care about. Scratch an itch whilst learning pet technology. Ex: a friend of mine wanted to modify some data on his garmin GPS thing. He also wanted to learn Go and google app engine. A few weeks later he had resume items and the goal accomplished.