BUT, and this is a big BUT, having multiple personal projects does make you much more marketable to potential employers.
If you don't have a well known University or a well known company on your resume, having a stack of personal projects that show you're constantly learning, that you're passionate about the programming and that you love what you do can mean the difference between getting a request to interview at a start-up vs. getting put in the "pass" pile of resumes/profiles that internal recruiters have to look at.
This especially holds true if you work at a large, enterpris-ey company (IBM, VMWare, Goldman, Delloite, etc.) and want to attract the attention of, and get a job at, a venture funded start-up based on our experience at DeveloperAuction.
I work at a large enteprisey corp (one that you listed actually) and I'm trying to break out. I find what you say to be true. You don't necessarily have to do side work but employers basically require it to hire you. Maybe it's not required but if it's you against someone with an awesome github profile you aren't getting the job.
In my case I'm trying to get out of a consultant role and more into a development role. Said company forbids me to share things I have done internally. My only option is to start doing side projects. I understand that an employer needs a way to make sure you can do what you say you can do. The only choice I have right now is to sacrifice my personal life to develop some projects I can share, look for another consulting role (which I don't want), or suck it up. The problem is the longer I stay the more out of touch I become with the development world. It's like a big trap.
BUT, and this is a big BUT, having multiple personal projects does make you much more marketable to potential employers.
If you don't have a well known University or a well known company on your resume, having a stack of personal projects that show you're constantly learning, that you're passionate about the programming and that you love what you do can mean the difference between getting a request to interview at a start-up vs. getting put in the "pass" pile of resumes/profiles that internal recruiters have to look at.
This especially holds true if you work at a large, enterpris-ey company (IBM, VMWare, Goldman, Delloite, etc.) and want to attract the attention of, and get a job at, a venture funded start-up based on our experience at DeveloperAuction.