What Excites Me About Zappos.rtf

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\f0\b\fs24 \cf0 WHAT EXCITES ME ABOUT ZAPPOS
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As soon as I saw this application form, I remembered an episode of 20/20 or perhaps 60 Minutes which featured Zappos a few years ago and the general idea from what I remember was that it seemed like a very cool place to work. When I read over the 4 steps of the application process, I got excited that this opportunity was right in front of me and I just happen to be lucky enough to catch it on time as I was coming to inquire about a recent order! \
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Last week, I ordered a pair of Vivobarefoot shoes from Zappos and I noticed a sticker in the box that said the shoes should have an insole (mine didn't), so I thought I'd double-check and see if there was a mistake by submitting an email to customer support\'85 that's when I saw the "We're Hiring!" graphic and completely forgot about the shoes. \
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As I read through the opportunity, I started remembering all I'd heard and read about Zappos over the years and felt like I had to jump on this opportunity. I liked what I remembered from the 20/20 (or 60 Minutes) episode; that the Zappos requirement was people who are maybe "a little weird \'97\'a0not too weird, but maybe just a little bit." I seem to remember "a little weird is good" being the general idea and that it was all about genuine originality, not about fashionable weirdness. This describes me, I think. I'm always curious and checking things out and it seems like for that reason I am always aware of stuff that people around me just have no interest in or they might think is a little weird. Thankfully, we have the internet, so there's plenty of opportunity to share ideas and experiences with other people all over the world.\
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I watched the videos on your application page and this just got me more excited. I worked in a place like your offices once with big open floor and a cubicle type of set-up\'85 but it was grey and everyone was miserable. Your office space is clearly not like that. Since that cubicle experience, I've stuck to small design studios with a more livable atmosphere, where people take on broader roles and are allowed a sort of flexibility or space that is necessary to grow, learn and be great. However, I've always wanted to work for a larger team of like-minded people where this creative, independent attitude is really fostered and not just the byproduct of a handful of people doing as many jobs as they can on a shoestring budget.\
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I am currently located in New York and want to move out west where it is warmer and fewer people piled on top of each other. I especially love that you are willing to train the people who seem to be the right personality type, not just the most qualified. I would absolutely love to be part of this 6-week training course and would be excited to be a part of a company that would bring me up to speed this way. \
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I've been teaching myself Javascript, PHP and jQuery through CodeAcademy.com and Derek Banas great youtube videos as well as a few other places online and the more I learn, the more interested I get. I have been a professional print designer since 1997 and started getting involved in web design in 1999, but the learning process is starting to really gel for me right about now. I'm starting to realize a lot of coding that seemed impossibly hard is just really not hard at all, actually; the problem is that I was trying to learn from inferior materials like horribly-written books with an errata list as long as my arm.\
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I hope you will take a look at my solutions to the Zombie Survival Responsive Site and my Alphabetized List Bookshelf as well as my solution to the Dragon Zoo on my first ever gitHub repository, which I've just learned how to do thanks to this Zappos assignment. I could have designed something much more interesting with more time, I'm sure, but this is the result of 4 hours of work from about 7:30 to midnightt.\
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Best,\
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Nathan Snyder}