Interviewer: "Show me a cool side-project you have been working on!"

Me: "No! I do not have a cool side-project to show you! I work to pay the bills, and do other things in my spare time! Like go fishing, or play video games. Why the fuck are you assuming that I spend my weekends coding for fun!? Do you call random people asking them questions every Saturday and Sunday just for the LOLs of it?"

He's got a point.

There's more to life than code

I never thought of saying that instead.

@lukegv I was hired after completing a B.Eng from university. Just like a carpenter is not required to build houses in his spare time an engineer is not required to program.

@lukegv I started at 8 on the Commodore 64, at 16 I did an apprenticeship

"cool" doesn't mean useful. At least they didn't stick a bunch of acronyms in

Me: here you go!

*takes out phone and shows off apps n site* (http://allanx2000.github.io)

If only someone would ask.... :(

I actually can't help but code during my free time if I have a problem I want to solve. I guess it's my equivalent to playing video games.

@allanx2000 nice page and cool info, though I'd like to throw in my thoughts :-)

1. The menu button is not working for me (android Google Chrome)

2. The about me section is a little hard to read on that background, I'm in no way a designer, so I don't have suggestions, but thought I'd share my opinion

@jonatan Thanks!

I didn't notice the menu doesn't work... I remember it used to work ... Maybe

The background I had the same thought so I tinted black, guess I need to make it darker?

Good luck getting a decent job. It's the nature of this field. Unlike carpentry, where the hammer hasn't changed in years, in software the tech is always changing and you need to put in the extra hours to stay on top of your game.

You'll get work with your attitude, probably at a bank or some other fortune 500.

@Coding101 thx. I actually did get a really nice job making $7000/month straight out of engineering school... without doing side projects!

@Lasse where and what do you do?

@dsteiner Mostly Angular 2 and C# in Scandinavia

@Lasse pretty nice. I am at 2300€ for a webdev job with 4 years previous experience :/

And congratulations, you then don't get the job.
I'd rather hire someone who has both (activities and side-projects) any day. It's important to show your interest and willingness to learn outside of work

@code my point is, that assuming that people in IT spend hours upon hours of their own time on work related stuff is kind of weird. Bank clerks are not expected to count money for several houses every weekend and doctors aren't expected to treat patients when they are off duty.

We (IT people) should be careful, because more and more employers are expecting us to work side projects for free. This leads to stress and lousy wages.

@dsteiner well, that's not much. What's your educational background?

@Lasse our industry is so different though - it requires talented and motivated individuals who want to innovate and keep up with the changes in technology.
The work on the job isn't enough.

From my experience, being motivated to learn more and work on side-projects really makes you stand out and will progress your career in many more ways. You'll contribute more to a team, you'll be more memorable, you'll enjoy your work more as you'll have far more understanding, you'll stand out from the crowd and you'll get better opportunities.

Shouldn't even be an issue if you love your work anyway :P

@code people shouldn't get payed for 40 hours a week, and be expected to put in 60!

Your attitude towards this will cause stress and burnout for 9 out of 10 people!

And it's not what you get payed for. It's working your ass of like that is your thing, then start your own business! But don't expect to hire people that will work like that for your cause!

@Lasse Are you working in Norway?

@Lasse oh IT? I actually work in IT and when I interview... They never ask, it's just oh can you do this, do you have 10+ yrs of experience with ...

Also my side projects are for me, I build them because I want to, not for a job... But yes I know people that are like I'm gonna try Scala just so I can put out on my resume.

This is also why I have a hard time learning algorithms and data structures... Because the only reason I see to learn it is so maybe....... I can get a job at a tech company.

I like to work on side projects, but I have a variety of hobbies ranging from coding to painting to lapidary.

Should I ignore some hobbies just to pad my resume a bit?

More importantly, I have a wife and 6 year old son. You think side projects take priority over time with them? Think again, and find another candidate.

I'm very grateful to work for a company that puts family first.

Hmm. I code for fun.

Well, I've been "working" much more than 40 hours for the past 3 years. I'm curious when I'll burn out cause I still enjoy it :)

@devilirium when you stop enjoying it. I never burn out in my own projects unless I lose interest for some reason.

But I can't count hour many times I burn out at work and have to pull myself part the finish line...

I don't do 40+ for non hobby work tho

I tend to work way work until I'm burned out, then use my nights and weekends to be social and exercise. If I can still write meaningful code after writing all day, I don't think I'm working my day job hard enough. That's just my two cents, though.

@Grumpy The company is based in all of Scandinavia. I work in Denmark, but travel a bit also.

@code "Shouldn't even be an issue if you love your work anyway. :p"

Yeah... most normal people don't and you shouldn't either.

Even if you do, have some freaking self respect. Don't let employers demand you work nights and weekends without appropriate compensation.

@capnsoup Sorry to hear that, you're in the wrong job if you don't enjoy it.

I love my work, and so do the people I surround myself with.
You're also getting the wrong end of the stick - employers aren't making you work extra hours for them. They're looking for people who are interested in their work, those who have spent their own time working on fun side-projects at home. Demonstrating passion, interest, and desire to learn.
If you want a top job you'll be competing against these people...

Eh I feel like if you're a coder and you don't enjoy coding at least something in your free time, you probably choose the wrong field. I do web dev for a living, but I use code in my art and music, which is what got me to enjoy coding so much in the first place. It isn't for my career, but it still conveys to an employer that I put in work to learn whatever I need to learn.

So... I code in my free time... :/

@Lasse thats pretty much standard here. You get up to 3200 after 5 years experience but thats more or less the usual top.
I've got a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and I canceled my master's degree in IT Sec.

You can get more in new and innovative companies but that job is actually kind of well paid for a developer here in Austria.

@code Yeah... not really. You're vastly overestimating the number of people who code in their spare time. And surrounding yourself with people who do is a form of confirmation bias.

And for the record, I write video games in my spare time, but I value my time too highly to put it on my resume as some kind of "another reason to hire me!!1 ;)" selling point. My off-time isn't free. If an employer wants me to work after my regular 9-5, even for "self improvement," they have to pay for it.

My own anecdotal evidence: So far my adamant insistence on only working when my employer pays for it has paid off. I've never been out of work and I've never been underpaid, regardless of where I've worked (even SF). Conversely, my more "flexible" coworkers have been consistently screwed over for raises despite having families, working more than me and getting paid significantly less.

Stand up for yourself. I can guarandamntee you nobody else will, unless you land a unicorn job with a CEO that cares.

This. I would absolutely love using this answer in an interview.^^

I've yet to encounter the question though. Somehow, interviewers only ever seem to ask what I do to maintain a "healthy life-work balance".

@capnsoup i agree with you

You nailed it bro