Definitely...actually I found after college that I didn't really like programming and didn't feel very good at it, at least not compared to my classmates who hacked all the time in school. But when I started programming for myself, and various side projects, it made me a much better and happier programmer. I'm happy to have become better, because it's helped me expand the scope of things that I want to accomplish...but time is ultimately a limited resource, so I'm mindful of what I've sacrificed by spending late nights tinkering with code.