The end of a chapter

Today was my last day as a Co-Op (and possibly ever, in any position) at Delta.

I decided to participate in the blood drive this morning. Total waste of time. After sitting in line for an hour and a half, when the dude finally got the needle in my arm and was taking the sample vials, he turned around to pick something up from a nearby table. Unfortunately, the tube was caught on his coat and the needle got ripped out of my arm. Of course, once that happens they aren't allowed to start again.

Beyond that little adventure, my day was just tying up loose ends, saying goodbye to everyone and leaving early. It's bittersweet. I got plenty of professional experience and a lot of life experience from my time at Delta. Most of the people I worked with were very knowledgeable and very good at what they do and used that willingly to help me learn and grow. Everyone treated me very well and they definitely want me back. The co-op program is as much for them to find and groom talented young professionals as it is for the students to get a learning opportunity. But I don't think I'll be back. I want to do actual engineering work. You know, designing/testing stuff, rather than relying on past experience and the expertise of the OEM to justify certain actions. I want to get paid a competitive salary. Delta doesn't really do that for its engineers. I don't want to live in Atlanta. There's really nothing special about it. It's very much a city of commuters. And the summer weather blows.

All that said, I'm glad I got the chance to work for Delta (the travel benefits didn't hurt either), but I'm looking forward to the next chapter of my career and what life will have in store for me after I graduate this December.

I might post up a few stories about the fine folks at Delta from time to time.