This Box executive loves candidates with side projects. His own involves bringing back old-school TV.
Box executive Rand Wacker emphasizes that AI literacy is now a baseline requirement for job candidates, with a preference for those who demonstrate initiative through personal side projects. Wacker himself uses AI tools to build hobbyist software, such as an app that replicates old-school television experiences.
Why it matters
This reflects a shifting hiring landscape in the tech industry where practical, self-driven application of AI is valued over traditional case studies.
Rand Wacker, a Box executive, loves a good side project. Box Rand Wacker, a Box product executive, wants his potential hires to go beyond being just AI-literate. Wacker likes when candidates show him their side projects, especially if they've monetized them. He's dipped his toes into building, too, with an Apple TV app that evokes the feel of old-school TV. Knowing how to use AI is only enough to get a foot in the door for interviews, according to a Box executive. Rand Wacker, Box's vice president of product strategy, said that for candidates applying for a job at Box, AI literacy is a bare-minimum requirement. Having a fully developed side hustle or project — something he practices himself — is what gives potential hires a leg up in interviews.
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