As many who know me know, I’ve been working on building my own web app startup, 8byte8, for the past year. Together with Jason Hurt, we released Lystee in May 2011, and released Lystee for iPhone in September 2011. We participated in the inaugural Vegas Startup Weekend in June 2011, and NodeKnockout in August 2011. In between, we managed to build a company website (and occasionally blog), teach ourself new programing languages and skills (Jason learned Python/Django and iOS, I learned about lesscss, Mustache/Handlebars, and drastically improved my design skills), attend #vegastech community events, and learn about startup investment and pitching, all the while maintaining our full-time jobs at Zappos.

When I graduated college 4 years ago, I knew that one day I’d want to be part of a startup, or even better, start one of my own. I even attempted a few projects on my own, one of which was a project almost identical to Instagram, which I lovingly called Bonsai. I ended up abandoning the project because 1) I figured no one would use it since Twitter pretty much did the same thing, and 2) My programming and design skills were severely lacking, and I had no idea how to build an app.

Less than a year later I found myself at Zappos, where I met dozens and dozens of amazing and smart people, and learned what true customer service was. I actually couldn’t believe they hired me, as I thought I had bombed the technical part of the interview. But I’m grateful they did, because I’ve learned SO much from my peers about web development and design.

• html5 & css3
• JavaScript & jQuery
• Ajax
• Github
• How to defer/lazy load
• JavaScript/markup speed optimization
• Sprite optimization
• The difference between UX and VisD
• Countless UX best practices

Would you believe I had hardly used JavaScript, had never used jQuery or Ajax, and had never even heard of Git before I started at Zappos? That’s not to say I know everything there is to know about each topic, and I’ve definitely still got much to learn, but Zappos has provided me with so much knowledge about what it takes to build a fast, secure, and beautiful large-scale website.

In addition, I’ve also had the opportunity to attend some conferences I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford, including The Future of Web Design, The Future of Web Apps, CES, and CapitolJS. During the team outings I was able to visit Magic Mountain, BBQ and drink on a boat down the Colorado River, drink on a riverboat near Hoover Dam, and hike the beautiful mountains of Zion. I’ve been to almost every hotel on the strip, whether it be for an all-hands meeting or a vendor/holiday party. I’ve had the opportunity to try out tons of new restaurants, bars, and venues from the countless happy hours.

Not only did Zappos open my eyes to a whole new world of web development, but it welcomed me into their family with open arms. Before I had even started or moved to Vegas, I was friends with my new coworkers on Twitter, had been invited to sushi dinners, and by the end of my first week I was going out on Friday nights with my new CLT friends. I became so busy I didn’t even have a chance to be homesick.

So you can imagine how hard of a decision it was to leave and pursue 8byte8 full-time. Starting January 9, I will be working for 8byte8 full-time as a designer and front-end developer. There is absolutely no way I’d be able to do this had I not worked at Zappos. On top of learning how to build and manage a large-scale website, we’ve learned how we want to build and run a company.

I’m incredibly grateful for being given the opportunity to work at such a wonderful place. The past 2.5 years have flown by. Despite this incredibly long blog entry, there still aren’t enough words to describe how I feel about Zappos and the people who work there. I’m truly going to miss everyone, but I look forward to this new and exciting chapter in my life, and look forward to all the ups, downs, and challenges that building a startup brings. Wish us luck!

[NOTE] Did you know it’s harder to get into Zappos than it is Harvard? Zappos hires less than 1% of all applicants. Wow.