I have to say that looks a weird and potentially very harmful way of thinking. Why by default pit yourself against your job? Why you have to work on some "personal project" which seems to be completely isolated from, even contrary to your job? I guess it has to do with some "unsuccessful intern experiences" by the author, but I don't believe it's the correct perceptions of things. The ideal scenario, obviously, is to blend personal interest/fun together with the job you are doing. And I believe a lot of, even the majority, of top people in their field do things by such principle, and are living a happy + productive life, not only satisfying their own intellectual appetite, but also benefiting the company, and more broadly the world as a whole.