So last week, while everyone at RIT was on break, I was
working. I started my co-op last Monday, my second block since beginning RIT. Some
of my friends were making fun of me because I had to work while they got to do
nothing, but I would rather work anytime… Last week, I made over 600 dollars
from my co-op!
I am now working for Moog (a defense contractor near
Buffalo, NY) as an IT co-op. It is absolutely AMAZING! As I said earlier, this
is my second block. My first one was also at Moog. I enjoyed it so much, that
when they extended an offer to come back, I jumped at it.
For those of you that are not sure what a “co-op” is, I can
explain. It is basically a paid internship. I like to compare it to student
teaching. They both give you on the job training, experience, and contacts
within the industry. There are some MAJOR differences between co-op and student
teaching though. First of all, student teaching is not a paid position. You are
doing work, but not getting paid for it. Instead, you get a pass/fail grade
from your school. For an RIT co-op, you are getting paid (which is really,
REALLY, nice). Secondly, you are still paying tuition when you are student
teaching. You are NOT paying RIT tuition when out on co-op. So to recap, you
ARE getting PAID, and you are NOT paying tuition. Lastly, student teaching is
typically around the area of your college. Co-op does not need to be! My
brother came to RIT for Hotel and Resort Management… he ended up getting a co-op
at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas! They hired him right out of college and he has
been there for about 10 years!
I’ll start off by explaining my experience last summer. I
had one project for the 3 months that I was there. It was a pretty big project,
but still one project nonetheless. I was working with HTML, JavaScript, C++, C,
and XML. Like I said, it took me a while to complete it. But that was my
experience last year… here’s my experience so far this year…
Last week started off pretty crazy for me. I got in at 8am
on Monday morning, and asked where I was supposed to report. My boss showed me
to my desk and told me that he did not have too much for me. Well I think he
lied… he gave me a small maintenance task for my project that I did last year
(it’s really cool to hear that a lot of people use my program!). He then gave
me another small task with a system that I wasn’t familiar with. So two small
tasks, not that bad. He then gets an email and tells me that he has another big
project for me. So right off the bat, I have 2 small tasks, and a fairly large
project. Well he didn’t stop there… by the end of the day, I had 3 tasks and 2
projects! I could tell that I was going to be very busy during this block. But
it still didn’t stop there!!! I come in on Wednesday and find another document
on my desk, I read it, and it is another project! He also gave me another task
that day to bring the total up to 4 tasks and 3 projects. Towards the end of
the day today, I am handed another task…This means that I have 4 tasks and 4 projects to do! I am going to be a
very busy co-op!
There are some things that I can’t talk about, due to trade
secret regulations… but I can talk about some of the technologies I am using. For
this block, I am working with HTML, Javascript, CSS, C++, C, AJAX Web services,
SQL, and even COBOL! For the record, I am not very good at SQL, and I have
never worked with AJAX and COBOL before this block. That just goes to show you
how much of a learning experience co-ops are. Even though I haven’t worked with
a lot of things before, I am still confident that I can get the job done.
So here’s another nice thing about co-ops… NO HOMEWORK!
Everyone is going back to school now, and they are going to have to start
worrying about homework and exams and papers and all of the other not so fun
stuff that is associated with school. NOT ME! I get to put in my 40 hours a
week at work, get paid for it, and then I have the nights and weekends to
myself!
Comments (3)
Andrew - good luck with all of those projects and tasks - it sounds like they have a lot of confidence and trust in you. That must be a great feeling!
Posted By Mark McFee at
12:31:53 pm EDT. March 10, 2009
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That really sounds like a better deal than student teaching! When you say that you don't have experience with COBOL and AJAX, how do you cope (so to speak)? Are you expected to learn it on the fly or does Moog help you out with that? I'm currently an accepted student in the Software Engineering program at RIT, and I'm not really sure what having an SE job is like, especially since the technology continues to evolve daily. -Ben R.
Posted By Ben R. at
4:34:48 pm EDT. April 12, 2009
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Well, the one really nice thing about the SE program at RIT is that it realizes that technology is constantly changing. We have a course called "Personal SE". In that course, we learn different languages and technologies (C, C++, Ruby, and Ruby on Rails), but the point of the course is not to learn those languages, but HOW to learn those languages. There are different techniques that you can apply to learning a new programming language. I would have to say that that course has helped me tremendously.
On the topic of Moog, they do help me out. But not all companies will do this. Some companies are looking for co-ops that know a technology really well, and will only hire you if you are familiar with that technology. There are other companies (like Moog) that look at the applicant, and try to measure them in other ways. No, I did not have the experience with the different languages and technolgies before Moog, but they determined that I would be able to pick them up quickly, and I have.
So to answer your question, I am always asking people for advice here. If I encounter a problem with my code, I do some research online first, and if I cannot find the answer, I ask someone more experienced than me.
Posted By Andrew Bona at
6:51:45 am EDT. April 17, 2009
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