Companies love someone who spends their free time learning skills that benefit them.

I've always made sure to mention my personal interest and the last few years my full-server rack at least a short summary.

It's gotten my foot in the door quite often when talking to managers with some IT knowledge; ones that don't have any I wouldn't want to work with anyways.

Good luck at your new job OP!
And don't listen to the disgruntled old-timers that say you'll stop exploring in your free time, they're just jealous and/or have kids with very little free time left.