Zillow

My favorite part of Zillow was the culture. It's remarkably transparent, with the CEO sending out daily updates of what he's working on via Slack and employees at all levels being very accessible.

It's also a very flat and open structure; where else could you get to hang out with a VP on a raft at another VP's lakehouse?

Most of all, it was just a fun place to work. We got to go whitewater rafting, had a barbeque on the beach, and took weekly breaks for beer and board games.

My team treated me like a full-time employee: I was given the freedom to make my own decisions and pursue the work I wanted. However, my manager and mentor were still readily available if I needed advice or help with anything.

The office environment is great: lots of free snacks, a candy wall, and some games like ping pong and shuffleboard.

The tech stack is definitely showing its age, which can make it hard to move fast and think big. However, there are a lot of internal efforts underway to make improvements in this area, and I'm excited to see how things improve over the coming years.

While my intern project was impactful, it felt below my ability level.

Intern housing: it was a beautiful space and great location, but the staff and policies were overly strict and made it hard to feel at home for the summer.