The Loosely Coupled podcast has released their latest episode, Episode #5: Side Projects hosted by PHP community members Jeff Carouth and Matt Frost.

In this episode Matt and Jeff talk about how and why you should consider getting involved in side projects. Despite the jovial subtitle, “Getting a little side action,” participating in development outside of your normal development routine is beneficial to you as a developer as well as to your employer or clients. They further expand on the topic by talking about non-code-related side projects such as podcasts, discussion groups, or even writing.

They point out one application that's a good starting point if you're not sure where to get involved: the PHP Mentoring Mentor App. You can listen to this latest episode either using the in-page player or by downloading the mp3 directly. If you like what you hear, consider subscribe to their feed too.