My current theory is that while you don't need to actually do anything hobbyish outside of work hours to be a good developer, you DO need to be curious about code and what you can do with it to be a good developer, which for many people will lead to coding in their own time, but it is not the coding in your own time itself that is beneficial. I think that without curiosity, the return on investment for learning new technologies, languages and techniques is far too delayed for any human to be good at it, with curiosity there is instant positive feedback on this exploration that translates to much more knowledge and much better thought out code over time.
Really interested in what other people think of this!
My current theory is that while you don't need to actually do anything hobbyish outside of work hours to be a good developer, you DO need to be curious about code and what you can do with it to be a good developer, which for many people will lead to coding in their own time, but it is not the coding in your own time itself that is beneficial. I think that without curiosity, the return on investment for learning new technologies, languages and techniques is far too delayed for any human to be good at it, with curiosity there is instant positive feedback on this exploration that translates to much more knowledge and much better thought out code over time.
Really interested in what other people think of this!
Great comment.