Is it so hard to believe that someone can be a great candidate in an interview when you're getting 100% of their attention and then be horrible at their job when you're getting 20% of it because they're juggling 5 jobs?
Lots of devs don't have personal projects. I love programming but after spending the whole day programming I don't particularly want to go home and continue programming.
With agentic coding on the rise, it's easier to make a side project after a year of nights and weekends.
Nobody wants to go home and make a project that proves to future employers you can do the job, everybody wants to get paid though.
You might find on the opposite end of the spectrum that someone with a perfectly equal skillset is laughing at the idea of taking on personal projects when he can just optimize for getting hired somewhere where they prioritize paying you to learn on the job.