Wanting to understand how humans were engaging with bots, I decided to create a simple Facebook Messenger bot called MotivateBot — which sends motivational quotes every morning, and on demand, to inspire you throughout your day. Oh, it knows a few jokes too.

After just a few days live, I was surprised as to how many people were engaging with it and probably even more surprised that VentureBeat actually featured it as one of their “5 Bots To Try This Week”.

What is super interesting to me with this project is that I’m able to watch users engage with the technology in near real time — kinda like peeking through the looking glass of how humans interact with machines. Most of the interactions I’ve seen were expected, but one thing that has really stuck out is how many people actually say “thanks” to the bot. Never really saw this coming.

As someone who builds technology products for a living, this interaction came off as incredibly peculiar…I mean, have you ever seen anyone thank the Weather app on their iPhone when it provides the daily forecast? Or what about thanking MS Word when it successfully saves a document? I’m guessing the answer is NO.

The fact that conversations are so innate to human beings, gives the chat interface a chance to go beyond what has been done in the past with the standard UI. Perhaps to a place that builds lasting relationships, and maybe most importantly, a sense of trust between the human and the technology (or the brand in front of the tech).

If you think about it, when a human is interacting with a bot in the same way that they would interact with their friends/family, it’s hard not to see it as a deeper type of relationship than when they are just tapping around in an app. For any companies servicing customers through tech, take note.
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While saying “Thanks!” to a chatbot may just seem like a one-off interaction to many, I personally think it’s one of those unique proof points that ultimately foreshadows the success of the conversational interface.

Eric Rems
Co-founder, The Mindful Tech Lab - Check out all of our amazing apps to help improve your life here

“Tell me about your side project, what’s that about?”

That’s how my interview began a few years ago, and ultimately ended — talking about the side project I had been working on for the past year. We discussed how I came up with the idea, developed the initial requirements, designed product mock ups, hired an overseas development team, launched the product, iterated the product, and pitched investors…while holding down a full-time job working on Wall Street.

They loved it, even though in my mind it couldn’t have been any further from the position I was interviewing for — digital media (my project) and institutional finance normally don’t overlap.
Prior to my interview, I had heard that the firm was known as having one of the most difficult hiring practices in the industry. This led me to later question how I stood out among other candidates once I got the call that I had been hired to be a Product Lead developing technology solutions for the world’s capital market leaders.

I’ve spoke with several recruiters and hiring managers after landing that job and pulled together 5 reasons why side projects help candidates stand out.

1. Proves You Are a Self-starter
Everyone has ideas, few people execute them. Nothing says you are a self-starter like taking an abstract concept and bringing it to life.

As you climb the career ladder and take on more responsibility, you have fewer people above you telling you what to do. Being a self-starter proves to employers that you won’t just sit around and wait to be told what to do — you’ll run with your ideas.

2. Showcases Your Toolkit
Launching a side project often means you’re taking on the role of idea generator, maker, marketer, designer, etc. In the cross-functional world of modern employment, employers love your ability to interact with other areas of the business and often even taking on roles that may be “outside” of your defined position.

At no point during my full-time career had I ever pitched journalists. Identifying relevant journalists, cold pitching them, and ultimately getting press coverage was something I would have never done in my day job.

3. Displays Your Appetite to Learn
One of my most recent side projects, a Google Chrome extension called New Tab Motivation, was simply a way for me to understand JavaScript (a language frequently used in development, but I knew little about). What better way than learning the basics of a language than actually building a product, albeit an extremely simple one.

4. Shows Off Your Time Management Skills
Nothing says time management skills like holding down a full-time job and launching a project on the side.

Being based in NYC, and hiring a development team in India (12 hr time difference) to get one of my projects (AbridgeMe) off the ground, my team was literally working on my side project while I was sleeping. When I’d get up early in the morning they were wrapping up their day and I’d review their work, chat over Skype about what they accomplished, and discuss what they should work on the following day.

5. Demonstrates Your Creativity
We’ve all heard the overused cliche “think outside the box”. Bosses have been saying this for years to employees, but have probably never meant it more than in today’s environment. Every industry has either been disrupted or is in the process of being disrupted and business leaders want creative thinkers. Launching a side project proves you don’t like seeing things the way they are and instead want to build something different.

With one of my newest side projects, MotivateBot, I wanted to explore building a Facebook chatbot. I also had been looking for a way to start my day on a more positive note. Combining both of these goals, I created MotivateBot in Facebook Messenger to deliver motivational quotes every morning to kick off each day with a bit of inspiration.
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Looking back at my life post-college (about 10 years), I’ve worked on a series of side projects with varying levels of success. At no point while creating and growing these ideas did I ever stop to think, “this project is really going to help me land a job in the future.” I was genuinely just interested in doing things outside of my day job remit and pursued them — I suggest you do the same if you’re curious about any area outside of your day job. Who knows, it might someday help you land your dream job or better yet, turn into something more than a side project.

Eric Rems
Co-founder, The Mindful Tech Lab - Check out all of our amazing apps to help improve your life here