[Chris Fultz]

I was a co-op student and working a Spring and Fall session. There were not enough classes avialable for a full summer session schedule of classes, so I was looking for summer work (summer 1982).

There was a job posting in the career office at IUPUI, for a contract position as an engineering assistant. I applied and got the job and worked the summer at Allison Gas Turbine (GM Division) working with computer models of turbine airflow. I returned to my co-op company in the fall, and then graduated about 15 months later (December 1983).

When I graduated, I was not happy with the offer from my co-op company, so I called the contract engineering firm to see what they had. They had another position at Allison, I interviewed, and got the job. Working as a contact employee was not ideal (no benefits, no committments), but that was not a good time for technical jobs in Indy - many of my friends were having to relocate to get decent jobs - so I said yes.

The contract position I had was converted to a full time job and offered to me in March 1984, about three months after I had started. I became a Reliability Engineer for Allison Gas Turbine. Allison was later sold twice and is now part of Rolls-Royce. 21 years later, I am still with Rolls-Royce and have been able to move around through several very exciting, interesting and challenging positions.

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Something important to pass on to high school and college students. My contract positions were not ideal jobs, but they helped me establish a reputation. When other, better positions opened up, I was a good candidate partly because I was known by some of the managers and because they knew I would do what I was assigned to. Soem experience in a good company, even if it is an unpaid internship, is a great way to establish yourself.

Remember, you are always being watched and evaluated, and if you cannot complete relatively simple tasks, why would anyone assign you something more challenging??