Understand that being an airline pilot (which is what I assume you intend to be) is about getting the passengers from point A to point B as safely as possible. We spend a lot of time button pushing and monitoring because the automation frees us to more effectively see the big picture, which in turn makes things safer. Obviously we need to keep the fundamentals sharp in case the automation fails us, but make no mistake - it's a good thing when our jobs get easier. Sometimes the pilot ego in us doesn't like it, but we owe it to our passengers to keep that attitude in check. You can always go buy your own airplane if you need to feel like Chuck Yeager up there.

EDIT: Scambo beat me to it. Also, I just realized this is the Delta thread - in the interest of full disclosure, I'm not a Delta pilot. The point is the same, however.