Code or not in your spare time? Does it really matter?
Posted by CesareThere is some buzz around the topic “I prefer or not you to code in your spare time”. I guess it all started with Ted’s post. I think it is just an excuse if somebody tells you: “we are not hiring you because you don’t program in your spare time”. I like both developing and designing personal projects. By definition personal projects don’t provide any income (at least at the beginning) so you end up working on them during the evening or the weekend. But … there are weekends I don’t want to see anything which has to do with technology. Will you hire me anyway? Will you like the part of me which refuses technology during Saturday and Sunday? More provocative: is it negative to the success of your project that I live 48 hours of my life avoiding technology and specifically computers?
I will anticipate my final moral: you shouldn’t care, but let’s see why.
Let’s exaggerate by reversing the reasoning. I am a project manager and I say: “you absolutely have to code in your spare time, on some project of yours, otherwise I’ll not hire you”. How many people will file a cv in this case? Probably a few. The same holds for the opposite statement: “you absolutely have not to code in your spare time. Don’t touch any computer during the weekend”. More or less the result should be the same, few candidates. Why? Because you sort of invade privacy. There are many people around that don’t care of the job itself, it is just a means to get an income. If you want somebody committed to your project then prepare yourself to do many interviews and, moreover, you will discover the commitment only after one month (or more) you hired the programmer. You can be more lucky if you spread an inspiring call for job, with a few technical requirements and much more details about the motivation behind the project. Something like: “we are working on a project that will revolutionize the way people blog” can help you to be surrounded by people that share with you an objective.
In case you already have a project, somebody working on that, and you need someone’s help to not pass the deadline, don’t bother with their private life. Let’s say you need a php programmer to finalize part of a project. Let’s also pretend you find somebody so in love with php and technology which contributes to some open source project during his spare time. This can be be a double-edged sword. In the best case you are lucky, because the person you hire knows tips and tricks of php, many of which -probably – have been learnt during spare time programming. You hired a genius, and you are sure your project will be successful. Let me be evil.
- what if the genius gets involved in a toy project, more engaging than yours?
- What if he starts working during the evening, maybe going to bed late?
- Will his brain be fresh and ready for your project the day after?
- Will his attention be the same of the day before?
- More evil: what if he works on the open source project during the weekend? That’s what you want right?
- What if on Monday he is a bit tired of staying in front of a monitor with a php editor open?
- What if his spare time passion causes even a temporary indigestion?
I think that you don’t want that.
A spare time passion can feed or subtract energy to your project, whatever the passion is. If I go skying during the weekend and I arrive home sunday night, late, on monday I can be satisfied and ready to work as well as tired and not ready to code for your project. In the second case, will you ever tell me I should quit skying? Will your job post include a “no snow riders” restriction? I think no.
Passion for ‘x’ does not mean you do or you want to do ‘x’ everyday. Also, passion for programming does not imply you code all day and night. It means you read and write books/posts about programming, subscribe to rss and podcasts, stay updated with news, look at someone’s code etc. EVERY developer does it, otherwise he is not a developer. Just like ANY designer feeds his creativity by taking pictures or getting inspired by the nature. Just like ANYBODY chooses his on way to spend the weekend.
Last provocation: in my life I met many developers and I noticed that many of them like to drink beer. Will you include that as a requirement when you post a job call? :)
I think you should not focus your search on what a developer/designer does during his spare time. You should rather focus on professionalism and seriousness. If I do what you want, without passing the deadline, isn’t enough?
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Interesting. I’ve just been to an interview, and they asked me about my spear time. They didn’t ask me if I worked 24 hours a day, but they wanted to know if I worked more than the regular hours (without saying it).
I told them that I did a lot of stuff, like reading books, watch movies, play with my kids, play basket ball, kayaking and so on, but I didn’t mention anything about work. My guess is that they won’t offer me the job :-)
- Jens -
Whether the employer wants it or not, if the programmer wants to have a personal project he will still have it. The more pressure and the more stringent the employer gets about it, the more hidden and undetectable the projects will be. The ideal situation therefore would be, that the developer is clear of what employer expects from him; this could be meeting deadlines, being professional and serious at what he does, not getting involved in direct competition projects etc. At the same time, employer should give freedom to them on what they want to do on their spare time.
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