Let's say you're making a movie, and you're hiring your music composer. Both candidates have nearly identical CVs/experience/recommandations. - Candidate 'A' says "I'm only doing this for money, I can't show you any of my work because of NDAs". - Candidate 'B' says "I spend a lot of time composing in my freetime, here's a link to my soundcloud page". Which one are you going to hire?
I'd also think musician NDAs are in place while the project is not out, while developer one are usually longer
The problem isn't the people who are blissfully coding from sunup to sundown. The problem is the people who would prefer to have some more time for themselves and their friends and loved ones, and are buffaloed (by both supervisors and peers) into believing that that's not allowed. It's infuriating to see people being treated like that. If the author seemed angry or confrontational, that's why. There's enough work in this industry that everyone should be able to find their niche.
This is not their fault, and a real serious problem with the way developer recruitment works. You can't judge people by their previous work. Whereas in other creative industries everyone has a portfolio or showreel, and you can't get hired without one.
Other people are saying "well, just find time". "Finding time" requires sleeping less or cutting out responsibilities. (I am HNing this morning while eating breakfast, if you're wondering. :)
This is really frustrating when looking for a new job and probably two-thirds of them want to see my Github profile.
Because our profession mixes work and pleasure like no other. Lots of people work on pet software projects outside of work for 'fun', we go to tech meetups and hackathons for 'fun'.