I'm not the first person to talk about this paradigm and I won't be the last. Every single programmer I've seen that is exceptionally good at their job also does it for fun. They have an itch. It must be scratched. No matter how fun and lenient the work place, they always have their own project to work on. Their own passion. But, I think there is more to it, or I'd just site some previous articles and be done with it.
But first, what do I mean by exceptionally good at their job? Well, Steve McConnell has made quite a name for himself in recent history bringing forth the research on 10x Software Development. This is the level of exceptional I'm talking about. The guy that takes a 10 minute set of verbal requirements, extrapolates, and builds a Web 4.0 Whooziwhatsit in a day, before you even know what Web 4.0 is. Paul Graham calls these guys great hackers, Joel Spolsky says they're smart and get things done. We just call them rock stars.
But, to possibly be a rock star, it's not enough for the programmer to just have a side project. The side project has to be fun (for them). Maybe they get a kick out of programming Lego Mindstorms to walk their chinchilla or creating an app for their mobile phone that synthesizes unique farting noises for ring tones based on the names in their address book. Whatever it is, they should be doing it for the pure joy they get by flexing their creative muscle.
Next time you're doing a phone interview ask the candidate about side projects early in the call. Dig in a little bit. Expect the rock star to change her mood and instantly become a lot more talkative. The passion will be self evident. If it isn't, this person isn't your rock star.
Obviously fun coding projects aren't the only indicator of a rock star, but they're a good way to filter out programmers that just do it for a paycheck.
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