I was the same way. I spent my college years poring over HN, /r/programming, various blogs and articles. An older software engineer I knew was always surprised at how many
things I knew and had opinions about, even though I was inexperienced. But I never actually wrote up a "complete" project in my own time, not a single one, I couldn't stick to anything. And I kept worrying that it would make me less employable. Yet I got my offer at [large, popular software company] before I graduated, only on my merits.
I think the best that can be expected is that you do your work, do it well, and never stop growing. You don't have to dump time into coding outside of work, just don't get complacent. That's assuming you don't have crappy leadership, in which case you may want to consider a different team or company.
As an example: I know a guy who's about to become a 3rd level developer at [large, popular software company] at the age of 28, which is a pretty big deal from a career development perspective. I don't think he's touched a line of code, or a single technical article, outside of work in the 5 years he's been here. He regularly works 25-30 hour weeks. He's just smart, puts out good projects, and is productive when he needs to be.
I think the best that can be expected is that you do your work, do it well, and never stop growing. You don't have to dump time into coding outside of work, just don't get complacent. That's assuming you don't have crappy leadership, in which case you may want to consider a different team or company.
As an example: I know a guy who's about to become a 3rd level developer at [large, popular software company] at the age of 28, which is a pretty big deal from a career development perspective. I don't think he's touched a line of code, or a single technical article, outside of work in the 5 years he's been here. He regularly works 25-30 hour weeks. He's just smart, puts out good projects, and is productive when he needs to be.