Let's be clear: it's only discriminatory against people that don't have pet projects. Having a family or other hobbies and having pet projects are not mutually exclusive.

Really? Try having a 18 month old & a 3.5 year old and single parenting.

And yet here you are, demonstrating that you have time to read Hacker News and participate in the discussion.

I'm not saying that parenting isn't time consuming but it's not as good an excuse when it's so obvious that your lack of time for more programming is also caused by much less noble activities than parenting.

That is a terrible argument as downtime is essential for humans to stay productive.

Of course people are going to watch some TV with their families, or play an hour of games to unwind a little, or go watch some sports game with their buddies, or spend god knows how many hours practicing their musical instruments. This is what keeps people sane, productive, balanced, and happy.

Having other hobbies after work is generally a good sign that the person is mature, and has good perspective on life.

Exactly. It's hardly as if there's a lack of time. The average geek, in my experience, seems to waste more than enough time playing computer games, watching movies, or bunkum on the TV. It's not a giant leap to suggest that people actually using their spare time to work on aspects relating to their career are, and should be, doing better than people who treat it as a 9 to 5. (Oh, and posting on HN.. hehe)

So doing things other than thinking about work is "wasting time", huh? I guess as an employer you want to hire people that will grind themselves into dust making you rich, but as an employee I work to live, not the other way around.