In interviews do companies take your home projects in consideration?

Question

Imagine the scenario: you are unemployed and you get an interview. During the interview you say you are not working in any company at the moment but you are working on personal dev projects.

As the title says, I just want to know if companies take it in consideration or just may think "he's saying that because is not working". Even if the person being interviewed is working, companies take it seriously?

This question can have different answers for different regions/countries so if possible, I appreciate if you can mention your area. If you are an interviewer (team leader, manager, it will be great if you can share your thoughts)

Many thanks

Answer 1

Good companies (interviewers) do.

Bad companies (interviewers) don't.

Personal projects fall into the same category as questions how you came into programming path. They're trying to find out whether you're genuinely interested in your craftsmanship, will learn and better yourself or just do it because it's not that bad career path as a trash collector or something.

Answer 2

I think many developers in the US now are taking up hobby programming whether they're employed or not. The best way to demonstrate what you've done is to give a demo during the interview.

If you've worked on an open source project, mention it by name and describe what it does in general and what contributions you've made. If you've wrote small apps for yourself, bring them along -- try to talk about some of the problems you encountered while writing them, and draw parallels to how it might help you at any potential job, etc.

I should hope (and sincerely believe) that any company hiring for software development talent rather than just trying to find someone with exposure to a particular technology would be impressed.

Answer 3

I imagine in part it would have more weight if you can say the projects and related discoveries are posted on my development blog, or have something to show for it like a website, or project on an opensource site, or any of the things that go with being serious about your personal projects, not just saying you are developing personal projects.

Having a front runner to say I'm working on a project that does X using y because of Z percieved problem/need or a desire to learn this new technology. A short sentence or two summary of what one of those projects is would go a long way towards credibility.

Answer 4

From my experience it is helpful to describe your home projects, even if they don't have anything to do with the work you're supposed to do in the new job.

Answer 5

I would consider it as a bonus to one's passion, attitude and desire which are big in my book.

The more a candidate can do to separate themselves from the herd is great. Telling/showing these kinds of things are a great way to do that.

Answer 6

Personally: I personally look for outside of work activity as it indicates they have a passion for programming. I ask people about books, websites, and projects when relevant. The resume just does not tell you about interest in the field or passion. I try to get someone talking about open source side projects, answering questions on stackoverflow, a cool thing they researched, etc to get a picture pretty quickly about them. Are they a passionate, life long, developer/techno addict.

Tip: You might try bringing it up yourself not as an accomplishment, but examples of interest, passion, and your commitment to being a life long learner. All things that should matter to companies even if they don't get the home projects value directly. Translate it for them.

The type of job you are interviewing for matters. I would say the interviewer is more important than if the company is good or bad.emphasized text