The difference is the 'personal project' bit. If you have to do something, because it's for work and there's a deadline, then the fun hacks produce a general feeling of unease, uncertainty, and of not doing ones job properly.

At work myself i work mostly in isolation on codebases that have been in maintenance mode for years, where the original authors have typically either left the company or moved to another dept, and where there is almost no documentation. Everything is hacks and exploratory work, but it sure ain't fun. Adding relatively uninteresting small changes can take days or weeks.

Working on a broad and deep project as half of a pair is my preferred working mode so far in my career.