Why I’m loving every minute of my UX internship
Philip Ogaga Appah explains how a fashion-obsessed Environmental Engineer from Nigeria came to be working on UX challenges at Zalando
How did you hear about Zalando?
I’m obsessed with fashion, and discovered the platform when I was studying in Berlin. As a student, you can’t always pay for things immediately. But Zalando offered me the possibility to be wearing a new pair of sneakers now and pay for them later. That’s unheard of in Nigeria where I come from. I was seriously impressed by how the transactional side of the platform really did consider the needs of the customer. It made me a loyal Zalando customer during my student days, and I started to follow developments in the company with a keen interest.
How did you come to join the company?
I was doing a Masters in Environmental Resource Management, but realised that the main openings in that field were academic or in public policy, and would probably mean returning to Nigeria, and I really love being in Berlin. So I decided to do a course in UX, because that provided full scope to the thing I loved most in my study and work experience — hands-on creative problem solving. I figured I could have more immediate impact solving problems through design. A friend told me about internships offered by Zalando in partnership with an organisation called ADAN. The deadline was the next day, but it felt like a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to experience from the inside this company I was such a fan of.
What is ADAN?
ADAN is an Afro-German Academic Network that helps talent within the German community to kick start their careers. This is the first year with Zalando, and I feel honoured to be part of this. As an African in Germany, I felt this spoke directly to my situation. There’s a really beautiful fit between the purpose of ADAN and a place like Zalando, which is serious about inclusivity, and about giving diverse potential from any background an opportunity to contribute.
Tell us about your role at Zalando
It’s a complete coincidence, but I’m working in Payments — the very thing that first impressed me about Zalando’s platform back in my student days! It almost feels like destiny. But it’s also so rewarding to be involved in finding ways to make the payment experience better for customers like me. UX demands a lot of empathy, and here I am, a customer who can apply my own experience to what I’m working on.
How would you describe Zalando in three words?
Collaborative — I work in Payments, but I also get to work with and understand individuals and teams from a lot of different areas. That makes you feel like your own contribution has a bigger impact.
Goal-orientated — There’s a strong focus on solving specific problems — either for customers or partners, or more broadly, such as sustainability or inclusiveness. There’s a real sense that the specific tasks you are working on have a clear end goal in sight.
Open — This might be collaborative again, but I really feel part of a community, and that I can go to anyone in the company with a problem or a question and they would help me. I don’t feel like an intern, but very much part of a team and that I’m working on real problems.
What advice would you give to someone considering an internship at Zalando?
Make the most of the here and now. The temptation as an intern is to worry about “what’s next”. You know it’s a short-term stage of your journey, but you should not obsess over that. I feel lucky to be working on real tasks that will make a difference to customers like me. I’m not focusing on what’s next, but on what I’m learning and doing right now. It’s a golden opportunity, and I’m enjoying every single minute of it.
Philip Ogaga Appah is currently a product design intern in the Payments team at Zalando, based in Berlin
Learn more about Zalando’s partnership with ADAN
