> "On the other hand you have many startups who won't even interview you if you don't have side projects or open source contributions to show"
In my experience having too many side projects can be perceived as a negative for some employers.
In my experience having too many side projects can be perceived as a negative for some employers.
Personally, I would love to hire a person who is doing side projects to keep learning. I feel very confident that they will be able to take care of the regular tasks assigned as part of the job.
A) You won't have time to work "outside of office hours". A lot of tech is notorious for having people work all kinds of hours. If your busy working on side-projects, you won't be working on work-projects
B) Burn out. If you spend all your time coding, you might end up burning out after the company has invested money and time into you.