Ask HN: I want to leave my empty co-op job. How do I do it?
(Also, after reading what I've written I realized I come off as sounding a bit whiny and possibly aggressive. Entitled too :). Anyway, that's absolutely not how I feel nor what I wanted to convey. So just keep that in mind, 'cause I really just want what's best)
I just finished my first year of mechanical engineering at the University of Waterloo, and right now I'm on my first four month work term. The co-op program at Waterloo is a little different than most - simply put, you alternate four months of school with four months of work until you're done the degree (six total work terms, eight total academic terms).
Anyway, the problem I'm having right now has to do with the job I'm at. I came back home to Calgary to work, and I got a job at a large defence contractor. Nothing immediately wrong with that, I felt pretty lucky to get a high paying job back home where I wanted to be. However, after being here about a month and a half, I've realized it's making me miserable. It's the first "big boy job" that I've had, and so far it just feels empty. I get to work at 8:30 and I stay 'til 5:00 basically just counting down the hours until I get to leave. When I get home I'm incredibly exhausted for what seems to be no reason at all. I mean, I sit at a desk all day, you wouldn't think that's tiring. But it is. This soul-sucking routine that they call work is more exhausting than if I had been shovelling dirt for nine hours.
It sucked but I tolerated it for a while, because that's what's expected of me. Recently though, I've been realizing that it's time for me to make a change. I kind of woke up and noticed that nobody has the power to make me do something I hate, and that if I want to leave that's a decision I own. I shouldn't make a passive non-decision that sort of says "oh well, it's just my first work term, I'll just tough it out," because that's habit forming and it's the easy road. I've formed general ideas about what I want to do in life, and none of them involve just putting in hours at a place that doesn't have meaningful work for me to do. If I don't start embracing those ideas and nourish them NOW, I feel like I'm going to get stuck like everyone else - spending 20 years thinking "oh I'll get my feet on the ground and THEN be independent." So, I've basically already decided that I want to leave (or at the least make serious, serious changes). I will probably end up spending the summer studying a book my dad gave me (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs). I'm also going to start a building project like a picnic table and gazebo.
But my real plea is for advice on how to deal with the other people involved, mainly those from my school. I'm told that if I leave without reasons derived from "extenuating circumstances" I will get a failed work term, which goes on my transcript. They make it sound as though that's a huge bloody deal that will really hurt my "career," but my gut instinct thinks I shouldn't care. If I want to stray off the beaten path that consists of going through school, getting a job, working 50 years then taking my gold watch and a pat on the head, then frankly it's not going to matter a whole lot what's on my transcript.
That being said, I still feel like a failed work term negatively affects my reputation in an unfair way. After all, I would leave because I'm interested in learning as much as I can and working as hard as I can, and my company can't offer me that - isn't that a good thing? I was third in my class out of 105 people at (what's widely regarded as) the best engieering school in Canada, and I always work hard. I don't feel like I should be punished because I don't want to go to sleep and settle for the status quo like most of the people I know.
So what do I do? Are they allowed to do that? Can I do anything besides talking to them, legally or otherwise? I promise I will do explain myself to all parties involved and I'll ask their advice as well. I will do everything reasonably, and I'm not interested in being a dick. I just don't feel comfortable with them having that much control over what I do, and it's something I need to change. So what on earth do I do? If I leave the co-op program and go somewhere else, do they still have control over what goes on my transcript?
NOTE: I've already spoken to my co-op contacts from Waterloo, and they were exceedingly unhelpful and didn't want to discuss the possibility of me leaving at all.
Thanks for reading this, I'm just trying to get as many perspectives as I can before I do anything. I'm not interested in making an impulsive decision. Just the right one.