Side projects can be fun, but they’re also an important part of our work. Our community is built on side projects: from jQuery plugins to NPM modules to full-on frameworks, many of the tools we used were built in somebody’s “spare time.” For EmpireJS KAdam explored how these passion projects let us learn and grow, and argues that we’re letting ourselves and our employers down if we don’t make time for this exploration—”nights and weekends” isn’t enough!