I Do Code in my Free Time

Recently, I found this article on DZone, one of the feeds I read the most.

The article is, in it’s essence, probably a rant against the hiring mechanism in Silicon Valley. Perhaps the author encountered a hiring process like the article stated and had a really bad experience. It states that expecting a programmer to do some coding in his spare time is blissfully naive. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t do something new. And yes, I do have responsibilities aside from work. But that doesn’t prevent me to try to grow at any possible opportunity. It’s called planning. I would really suggest that the author of the article go and buy a copy of the Passionate Programmer. For the record, I have no experience in hiring.

If I would ask a programmer if he does some coding in his spare time, I’d be happy with a ‘when I have the time’ answer. If he says ‘no’ immediately, this might mean a couple of things:
- you’re dealing with an ubercoder that has all the skillz he’ll ever need
- you’re dealing with a 9-to-5 coder
- you’re dealing with a coder without passion

You just cannot claim that you’re passionate about programming if you don’t code in your spare time at all. When are you going to try out new things? On company time? Wouldn’t recommend it unless your employer gives you the time to do some exploring. But in that case you’ll be confined to boundaries (you do need to have something in the end). For example, if I would ask someone if he knows about JBoss Envers because we’re using it and that person could tell me something about it (even if it is minor), I’d be more inclined to hire that person. If he has done some playing with the technology, even better. It saves on training. It shows commitment and passion, and above all: an eagerness to learn. Programmers that don’t code in their free time probably also don’t read a lot of IT books in their spare time.

Perhaps we Belgian IT people have a different mindset, but IT is a world in which constant learning should be promoted and encouraged, in and out of the office. You want that programmer that comes with a fresh idea in the morning for a problem you’re facing because he tried something new the evening before at home and it might be a solution to the problem. If I want plain programmers that do the task at hand, I’ll hire in India. Would I ask the question directly? Probably not. But someone who, for example, does open source work will eventually bring it up in the interview anyway.

The author makes learning at home sound bad. If you’re totally without ambition, this approach may work for you. Then again, if you’re pitted against a programmer with such an eagerness to learn on and off the job with the same credentials as you, you’ll lose. Innovation dies the moment people stop learning whenever they can.