Ha-ha. Well... Jith didn't exactly say personal = home. He did, however suggest that he needed permission from his company. And, Jith, if you're asking the company for permission to work on projects at home, you need to re-evaluate your relationship with your employer.

Super Lloyd, I think we're not seeing eye-to-eye on this subject. What is your definition of free time? I'm talking about projects done while at work and that's why I added the bit about workload. Do whatever you want when you’re not getting paid by the company. But whey you're at work and working on a bench project I ask that it loosely have a future use for the company.

I manage IT folks and I feel these personal (bench) projects are vital. They build bench programming strength, they allow developers to test out new techniques or new technologies, and they reinforce creativity in solutions. All I ask from my team is that their bench projects should have the potential to have a future use within our company (and that their workload does not suffer due to work done on these projects).