The problem I've noticed with hiring people based on whether or not they code on their free time is that whether they do so is often dependent on how much their

The problem I've noticed with hiring people based on whether or not they code on their free time is that whether they do so is often dependent on how much their work/coursework sucks. If it sucks pretty badly (which it usually does), then the folks who enjoy programming will tend to do as little work as they possibly can, and save their energy for their side projects. One interesting thing you can infer from this is, if you're running a shitty shop, you actually want bad programmers, not good ones. Bad programmers with a high degree of discipline. I don't mean for this to get sucked into that other discussion about immigration and employment, but I've long thought that this is why the big employers like IBM like to hire foreign talent (it's not for the same reason why we want to keep foreign talent here).