I found it much better to work “overtime” at my day job to learn new to me technologies and do POCs if the company is not using the technology or to volunteer for assignments based on something I don’t know well and put in extra time to meet the deadline.
One reason is that I can seek feedback from coworkers and polish the POC. I also can take advantage of infrastructure that may be cost prohibitive to test something at scale based on real world usage.
The other reason is that for my next job, it’s much more impressive to say I spearheaded work for a company than a hobbyist side project.
Yes I know one advantage of your own side project is that you can show your code. But most of the time the hiring manager isn’t going to take time to look at your work anyway.
I have personally been fortunate enough to have unfettered Admin access to an AWS account on someone else’s dime between two jobs for the past five years where I could experiment and learn on the job.
One reason is that I can seek feedback from coworkers and polish the POC. I also can take advantage of infrastructure that may be cost prohibitive to test something at scale based on real world usage.
The other reason is that for my next job, it’s much more impressive to say I spearheaded work for a company than a hobbyist side project.
Yes I know one advantage of your own side project is that you can show your code. But most of the time the hiring manager isn’t going to take time to look at your work anyway.
I have personally been fortunate enough to have unfettered Admin access to an AWS account on someone else’s dime between two jobs for the past five years where I could experiment and learn on the job.