As coop students we look at work and school as four month intervals. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Normally, during those four months you're able to determine a few things. Whether you enjoy development at the company. Whether you like the town. Whether it's worth coming back to (and if it's a promise of more responsibility, you are mistaken). Even if you hate the position and you just flushed four months of experience into QA or something. It's only four months and you get to try your luck at the next round.
So ... I'm all out of tunnels.
I'm actually at a different position than my taller, whiter, smarter counterpart. I'm still fairly excited about the work I do at this co-op job. However, our reasons for the way we feel may not differ. This is Ian's second term at this job and he seems to be uninterested in his current project. I'm at my first term and using Java for the first time commercially. I say I'm excited now but around four months is where I'm usually about the boundary. I'm starting to wonder if I will find a good development job that I'll like and feel productive after coop.
A lot of people subscribe to the notion that your work is what pays the bills. Your work is exactly that, work. I think there's an advantage to that. I'd probably never put in more hours than I'm supposed to for a project (unless I'm being handsomely rewarded). But, I, personally am still going to hold onto the ideal that I'll love my job. I need to ... Otherwise all these years I spent in school was for basically nothing.
I'm hoping that what I'm speaking of, and what Ian is experiencing is just a down. Development cycles and projects themselves have ups and downs. Just as any other profession. I guess I'm still young and idealistic but I believe that if I keep doing what I'm doing that I'll find a job that'll reward me for it.
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I think you are right when you say work is ultimately still work. i think the thrill we know and enjoy comes from seeing something new that we've done coming together and working for the first time. once the firsts and the news are all gone, the thrill wont be there, just the fact that bills will have to be paid.
I think this is something that needs to be accepted, so that if anything better happens, it will be a positive rather than expecting more and being let down.
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