Getting through college with just a set of grades but no personal projects, no extracurriculars, no volunteer work, nothing beyond the paper is a potential red flag that the person might not be interested in going above and beyond.
Sure, there's an argument to be had there...but there's so much of value to be had from one's undergrad education besides simply job training that it does a real disservice to project the idea the students should be taking a full course load *and* working on a personal or OSS project on the side if they want to work in software. Study abroad, take up a cause, learn to dance, get involved with a local high school, heck...just have long nights talking with your dorm mates, but don't spend all your free time on some coding project just for job purposes. Spend college getting an education and spend your first months on a job getting training...there are a lot of opportunities that are harder to take advantage of after school than during it.
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Getting through college with just a set of grades but no personal projects, no extracurriculars, no volunteer work, nothing beyond the paper is a potential red flag that the person might not be interested in going above and beyond.
Sure, there's an argument to be had there...but there's so much of value to be had from one's undergrad education besides simply job training that it does a real disservice to project the idea the students should be taking a full course load *and* working on a personal or OSS project on the side if they want to work in software. Study abroad, take up a cause, learn to dance, get involved with a local high school, heck...just have long nights talking with your dorm mates, but don't spend all your free time on some coding project just for job purposes. Spend college getting an education and spend your first months on a job getting training...there are a lot of opportunities that are harder to take advantage of after school than during it.