While many of my peers have been in class under traditional schooling methods, I've worked for 6 months in the field of my choice, doing something of my choosing to better my future career. This Cooperative experience is one of the keys to the education and success of students here at Northeastern.
As I started my first coop at OurStage, a music competition website, I was a simple intern answering support emails, listening to lots and lots of music and blogging. It seemed nearly daily, a new task would fall under the category of things the interns should be doing. Of course, this was fine with my fellow intern, Jason and I; we wanted to get involved as possible.
Now in the music industry, many interns start out by taking out the trash and stocking the fridge. OurStage was the complete opposite, each staff member welcomed us gratefully. Using skills in web programming that I've developed over the course of my life, I quickly became a goto figure for getting things done that were not complicated enough to goto the development engineers.
I'm very grateful for all the opportunities provided to me by the company and I hope to continue a strong working and business relationship with the company. When I speak to students at Northeastern about coop and their careers, I always emphasize doing something they love combined with something they do well. I love music, and I'm good at web development. I wasn't hired for the skills I have however they came in handy throughout the experience and beyond.
Coop, one down, two to go. Sorta.