Hey everyone!

It’s been over three weeks since the last blog post from the Zappos Interns, so here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve been up to lately:

1. Our first All-Hands meeting: On June 22, we participated in a Tech All Hands with all the other tech employees at Zappos. The afternoon included the usual briefings from top company officials, the CTO doing a ridiculous dance, and even a spoof video made right here at Zappos called “Sh*t Developers Say”. After that, we all enjoyed a Happy Hour poolside at Green Valley Ranch, which had been booked out specially for Zappos employees. Pretty sweet. But the highlight of the afternoon was definitely the surprise appearance of the legendary Steve Wozniak, who indulged us with a half-hour Q&A about his time at Apple, his thoughts on the future of technology, and some funny stories. That was surreal.

Ravi R. and Yong L. with Steve Wozniak 

2. A volunteer day at the local Animal Shelter: Zappos is really involved in the Vegas community, and it trickles down all the way to the interns. All of us spent a day learning about the great animal shelter here, as well as walking and playing with dogs. It was ridiculously hot outside, but hanging out with dogs usually makes things much more bearable!

3. General craziness around the Zappos campus: Probably the best part is the frequent table tennis sessions all around the office. Zappos even has a unique 3-on-3 version of ping-pong, aptly named “Zing-Zong”. It’s a bit ridiculous to outline all the rules (basically because when you watch it seems as if there are no rules, and when you play you learn a new rule every time). Suffice to say that it’s a cross between regular ping-pong and volleyball, with each team setting up teammates and the ball not being dead till it hits the ground. It’s sick.

4. July 4^th week(end): My superhero Christina had a July 4^th pool party, and that night we all walked to a nearby parking lot to watch fireworks. The display here in Vegas was definitely better than what I’ve seen in most other places. Then, on July 6^th, for another day outside the office, all of us hiked up the nearby Mt. Charleston. The weather was beautiful, about 20 degrees cooler than in Las Vegas, and the views were fantastic.

Left to right: Adrian T., Nick HS, Jessica C., Alex H., Kiersten S., Kim H., Michelle V., Luke Z., Ravi R., Yong L., Irene P., Tylan C., Anya E., Tony G., Taylor S.

5. A trip to the Grand Canyon: One of the best things about working in Vegas is the proximity to so much nature (e.g: California beaches, Zion, Grand Canyon, etc.). Three of us decided to make an impromptu trip to the Grand Canyon a couple weekends ago, and were there within two hours. We spent all day taking in the sights and climbing to as many treacherous places as possible. Good times.

All in all it’s amazing how quickly the time has gone – we’re already starting our eighth week here at Zappos! I’m pretty bummed that summer is over in a month. But up to this point, I couldn’t have asked for more. As interns, we’re always involved and in the middle of things here, it’s never lonely, and there’s a great work-life balance – all things that I’d heard thrown around at the beginning of the summer, but that I’d never truly understood until now. It’s a great feeling.

Till next time,

Ravi

Las Vegas, Nevada.

That’s where we, the first ever class of summer interns at the Zappos Family of Companies, find ourselves from now until the middle of August. And if the first 10 days are any indication, it’s going to be an incredible time.

Back Row: Yong L., Jessica C., Tony G.., Nick HS, Luke Z., Tylan C., Kim H., Lauren A., Ravi R., Alex H., Melodi E., Neil G.

Front Row: Michelle V. , Adrian T., Allison H., Irene P., Anya E., Taylor S.

I’ll be working with the Web Analytics team here at Zappos, so I figured it would be appropriate to start off with a quick numerical summary of the sweet setup we have.

By the Numbers:

• 18 = # of summer interns
• 12 = # of weeks in the internship
• 10 = # of universities we represent
• 8 = # of hours in our typical work day
• 3 = # of buildings that comprise the Zappos campus in Henderson, NV
• 0 = # of dollars we pay for food, drink, transportation, gym membership, etc.

And perhaps the most telling number of all:

Zappos has been ranked in the top 15 on Fortune’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” for three years straight, reaching as high as #6.

Even before the internship, our awesome campus recruiters Mike and Kiersten sent us welcome packages, filled with flip-flops, energy drinks, t-shirts, snazzy toilet kits, and more, all adorned with the Zappos logo. Then, as all of us filtered in to our gorgeous corporate housing at the Marriott Towne Place Suites less than ten minutes from Zappos headquarters, we were greeted by more goodies, as well as personal messages from our Superheroes. Here at Zappos, the terms “mentor” and “intern” were a bit too plain vanilla, so from day 1, we were known as Sidekicks learning from and working with Superheroes.

On Memorial Day, Mike and Kiersten, organized a great poolside welcome barbecue at our suites, where we all met each other and spent a few hours hanging out. Each of us shares a 2-bedroom suite, including a fully-equipped kitchen, bathroom, and extremely spacious living room, with one other intern. We even have a gracious hotel staff that makes our beds, does our dishes, and tidies our rooms each day. It’s slightly ridiculous in the best way possible.

Early Tuesday morning, 2 shuttles decked out in Zappos decals picked us up for our first day at the office. We spent our first three days in onboarding: a series of training workshops, lectures, and team-building activities led by Kelly, capped off by a famous tour of the Zappos buildings. I can now affirm that the office is just as awesome as it looks in all the YouTube videos.

Last Friday, we took a field trip to downtown Las Vegas, the highlight of which was a full-blown tour of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s breathtaking house! A scavenger hunt and evening free time saw us wander through some of downtown Vegas’s hotspots, including the new Zappos headquarters-to-be in the old City Hall building, the Fremont St. Experience, and First Friday. All in all, our first week was a perfect introduction to our Superheroes and teams, the 10 core values by which the company and its employees live and breathe and the unique company culture at Zappos.

Then, last week, we were thrown into the deep end with our teams. My Superhero for the summer is Christina Kim, the senior web analyst at Zappos. Ronn Shaw, my other primary mentor and the second half of the Zappos web analytics team, changed my official job title today to “Porous Sponge” in an attempt to encourage me to soak up as much as possible throughout my twelve weeks.

I’ll be slicing and dicing data, analyzing what customers are doing on the Zappos website and where they’re coming from, and utilizing our conclusions to drive improvements to our website design, marketing strategy, etc. to benefit the business. For the first few weeks at least, rather than being at a desk, I’m working alongside Zappos employees from Marketing, Search, Development, and more from a conference room playfully (or painfully) dubbed “The War Room.”

Christina has had me reading, attending meetings, and playing around with the Zappos analytics software from day 1, and I’m grateful for the opportunity so far to see how all the arms of the business come together and function as a whole.

I know all of us Zinterns are thrilled to be here, so please follow us throughout the summer right here on blogs.zappos.com. A couple of times a week, one of us will post about our projects, experiences, and insights to give everyone an inside look at the first ever internship program from a company that’s created a buzz around the country.

Thanks for reading, and trust me, at Zappos, we’re committed to Delivering Happiness from the CEO all the way down to the summer interns, so it’ll be worth 5 of your minutes each day to check in. But no other promises ;)

--Ravi