Ripple, ROWE, and the Intern

Back in December, I interviewed with Mike and Joshua for a position as a Marketing Intern at Ripple IT. It was a unique interview experience, to say the least. This was the first time in my life that someone sat me down and instead of handing me a list of tasks I’d have to complete and qualifications I needed to have, asked me what I wanted out of this experience. Uhhhhhhh…. Fast forward a few months and I finally have the answer.
I needed to dabble. And dabble is what I did. I wasn’t sure what parts of marketing I liked and disliked, and I was given the liberty to find out. At Ripple, I wasn’t required to fetch coffee (although I offered- you’re welcome), file papers, or show up within a set time frame, as a typical intern does. I was free do what I wanted, when I wanted, as long as I produced results. So I played in HubSpot, wrote in WordPress, posted in Google +, and dabbled in Buffer. I worked in the office, at Octane, and from home. Mike and Joshua poked fun at my formal writing style (mostly indented paragraphs), but taught me a lot about the importance of tone in conveying a company’s personality.

It felt nice to be trusted to work on my own and receive guidance when I needed it. I wasn’t familiar with ROWE before coming to Ripple, but I do believe it is the key ingredient for the greatest work environments. If traffic was bad, I could work from home. Most days I chose to come in to the office regardless because you are surrounded by people who genuinely love what they do and love their co-workers. Not once did I hear a complaint about crappy hours, driving through rush-hour traffic, or having to miss an important family event because of work.

Through this internship, I was able to explore different parts of marketing and build a portfolio, all on my own time. It was an amazing experience and I definitely believe I got more out of it than I would have from a “traditional” internship. The most important thing I will walk away from this experience with is the impact ROWE has on a work environment and that happy employees are the most productive.