The Side Project Debate

Every few months, a viral post circulates arguing that engineers shouldn't need side projects — that demanding them outside of work hours is exploitative, unrealistic, and a gatekeeping tool used by hiring managers. There's truth in that critique. Nobody owes the industry their personal time.

But here's the thing: that debate conflates obligation with opportunity. Side projects shouldn't be mandatory. They remain, however, genuinely valuable — when done for the right reasons, at a sustainable pace, and on topics that actually interest you.

What Side Projects Actually Teach You

In a professional setting, you inherit constraints: an existing codebase, an established stack, a team's conventions. Side projects strip those away. You make every decision — from architecture to deployment — and live with the consequences. That's a learning environment that's hard to replicate at work.

Specific things side projects teach that day jobs often don't:

  • End-to-end ownership — from idea to production to maintenance
  • How to evaluate and choose tech stacks without political influence
  • The full lifecycle of a product: build, ship, break, fix, iterate
  • Infrastructure decisions you'd normally leave to a platform team
  • What it feels like to be a user of your own product

Side Projects as a Learning Accelerator

Want to learn a new framework, language, or cloud service? Building something real with it — even something small and imperfect — is dramatically more effective than any course or tutorial. Tutorials create recognition. Projects create understanding.

This is especially true for engineers looking to transition into adjacent areas: a backend developer learning frontend, a full-stack engineer exploring machine learning, or a developer getting into product management.

The Portfolio Argument (It's More Nuanced Than You Think)

Yes, side projects can strengthen a portfolio. But their value in hiring isn't "I built things outside work" — it's the evidence of how you think, make decisions, and solve problems. A single thoughtful project with a clear README, sensible architecture, and honest write-up is worth more than ten abandoned repos.

Sustainable Side Projects: A Few Ground Rules

Side projects should energise you, not drain you. Some principles worth adopting:

  1. Build something you'd actually use. Intrinsic motivation is the only kind that survives long nights.
  2. Timebox ruthlessly. Two focused hours on a weekend beats eight scattered, guilty hours.
  3. Ship something small. A live, working project — however minimal — teaches more than an unfinished ambitious one.
  4. Accept imperfection. The goal is learning and shipping, not production-grade perfection.
  5. Stop when it stops being fun. An abandoned project is fine. There's no shame in a pivot.

You Don't Have to Have a Side Project

Let's be clear: a fulfilling career in software doesn't require side projects. Many excellent engineers have none, and that's completely valid. The decision is personal — shaped by energy levels, family responsibilities, interests, and career goals.

But if you do choose to build something on the side? Build it because it interests you, not because someone told you it would make you hireable. That motivation will carry you further anyway.