I've hired about 25 developers so far. So far, the 8 developers out of those 25 who had actual side projects (even not production ready and with caveats they told me ahead of time) have ended up being head and shoulders above the others.
Of course, there's not enough data to make a foolproof conclusion but I'd say that so far for me, having side projects that a dev can show is a clear indicator that they are an interesting candidate.
And when counting side projects, I count tools developers make to make their life easier and in my experience even great developers with edifying jobs will have situations where they create some small tools to help make their life easier.
Of course, there's not enough data to make a foolproof conclusion but I'd say that so far for me, having side projects that a dev can show is a clear indicator that they are an interesting candidate.
And when counting side projects, I count tools developers make to make their life easier and in my experience even great developers with edifying jobs will have situations where they create some small tools to help make their life easier.