Why the downvote? It is bullshit. This is the first stage in making yourself an obsolete COBOL developer - just say "I don't have time to keep up with the latest technologies." and twiddle your thumbs for 5 years.
- The first thing I think when I read "this is bullshit" is "fuck you, you are bullshit". You start by obliterating any chance for a constructive interaction
- You are not actually engaging the arguments of the person you respond to. It seems you didn't get past his first three lines.
- Not only does it seem like you didn't read the arguments, it also seems you cannot think of valid reasons why a decent programmer would not have pet projects. Otherwise your response would have been less vitriolic.
- You are complaining about being downvoted ... by repeating the offensive assertion that probably got you downvoted in the first place and then poisoning the well by asserting that anyone that disagrees is engaging in 'knee-jerk defensiveness'. That's the second time I thought "fuck you", without even having considered what you actually wrote.
Pot, meet Kettle. You're judging me on the first word of my response, when the rest of it responds to his argument in detail.
Here's another response. This time I've quoted what I'm replying to, to save you any more confusion:
> Really, having or not having pet projects ... shouldn't matter [at] hiring time. You judge people on their ability as good as you can and what they do in their free time is simply none of your business.
So, my choice is between a) someone who likes programming enough to have a personal project - code that you can see and ask questions about - and b) someone who claims to have been too busy raising a family or having a life to have done anything else but work, can't show you any code because it's either "none of your business", or so much of a drag that they can't bring themselves to do it outside of work hours.
It's a no-brainer who I'm going to pick, and it's nothing to do with exploiting him.
Lots of knee-jerk defensiveness on this thread.