rodzik@www

For the past two summers (plus this one), I've held an internship somewhere in my field. In 2005 it was at Elastic Image in Terre Haute, IN through Rose-Hulman Ventures, and last year it was at GE - Consumer & Industrial in Louisville. I spent much of the summer of 2005 programming and testing software, plus working on production projects for Pixar (we did work for them relating to the movie Cars) at the very small company of Elastic Image in "downtown" Terre Haute. Last summer I worked on fixing and upgrading some Java web-software, as well as an excruciatingly boring enterprise printing project at one of the largest corporations on Earth.

While those two jobs might seem as opposite as possible, they both share some very common traits. First, I learned a ton about applying my knowledge in the workplace, as well as learning much of the soft skills necessary to be successful in the workplace. Yet they also shared the trait that many times I would get through the day by reminding myself that I was getting paid and thinking about what I could do with that money. Sure, there were times when I enjoyed what I was doing (some days more than others), but nothing could compare to this summer.

It may be too early to say, as I've only been in the office for a week, but I absolutely love my job this summer. I seriously don't even care about getting paid (ok, when I have to pay for food/rent I care, but that's about the only time I even think about it), and on multiple occasions during every single day of work this past week I've either had a stupid grin on my face or thought to myself about how much I love what I'm doing. Sure, it's extremely tough and challenging, but also great fun and extremely self-satisfying. I've always been trying to figure out for sure what I want to pursue as a career, and while I still have a lot of possibilities rolling around in my head, at least I now know what I'm looking for.