I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

It is very hard to push your skills forward without side projects. Do accountants balance ledgers in their spare time? No. But good ones do read up on their craft and push their knowledge forward off the clock. It just so happens that pushing your knowledge of code forward usually involves coding.

I could see someone who only programs for work or school becoming a competent developer, and a good employee.

So, do you have to program for joy to not be a bad developer? No. But if you don't love what you're doing, it's unlikely you'll ever be great. People who are the best at anything reached that point through a combination of natural talent and vast amounts of work. Chris Broderick ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkpZ645ztl0 ) wasn't born this way... when everyone else was hanging out with high school buddies or going to college, he had a guitar in his hands 4-8 hours a day. Loving what you do is more powerful than desiring the rewards. If you love what you do, learning to do it better can feel effortless.

On the other hand, having a passion for a topic to the extent that it consumes your work and personal time isn't always a good thing. When you do it in lieu of things friends, a romantic life, spending time with your children or simply resting your mind, you may regret that later on.

  > good accountants don't balance checkbooks in their spare
  > time, do they?

How much did balancing checkbooks changed compared to that of 20 years ago?

  > lawyers don't hold mock trials

IANAL, but I assume a big part of lawyers work is that would be considered "side project" in programming, namely going through different cases and looking for stuff that can be useful.

  > doctors don't do surgery on their friends as side projects

Doctors don't experiment easily on one hand, and on the other hand, if I am not mistaken there is some mandatory training once in a while to ensure that doctors are informed of the latest best practices in the field.

  > construction workers don't pour concrete for kicks on the weekend

Are we talking about code monkeys there?

The thing is: software development is still young and evolving field. Unless your employer sends you to the training courses, conferences, and has some kind of "20% for own project" rule the side projects is pretty much the only way to learn new things and experiment.

I mentioned to someone that in my spare time I made iPhone games. They asked, "as a hobby or you trying to make money?" I replied that sure, I'd like to make a few bucks. He said to me "If you let your hobby become your job, what will you do for a hobby then?"

At that point, I realized that making a distinction between a hobby and a career path is a good move, and you have to know what you are pursuing. For example, I tinker with arduino in my spare time, as a hobby, and I don't intend to sell or make money off anything I make with arduino. There is nothing wrong in learning, say, Ruby in your spare time because you know that it will come in handy and that you could make money with it. But that's not a hobby.

Doing iPhone development (among other things) is my full-time job, and I am loving it -- mobile app dev was never my hobby, but a career choice, and I'm ok with that because I am happy at the place I work.

Most developers I know - in real life - don't program in their spare time, never mind going to conferences or evening meet ups. If you work as a developer and your hobby is developing then there's a good chance that you'll burn out.

That's not to say that it is bad for people who do it, just try to expand your hobbies to something outside of technology.