They don’t have to actually code outside work. I scratch my coding itch at my job.

But I read all sorts of technology and programming stuff just because I’m interested in it. And that knowledge ends up coming in very useful.

I’d rather have someone like me than someone who does their coding at work but never reads anything that they weren’t assigned to by their job.

To use your analogy, would you want to musician who worked 9 to 5 but never listened to any music outside of their job?