Building a Lifelong Career Through Co-op
After completing multiple co-ops at Digital Equipment Corporation, Willy Burgess, E’81, computer science, was offered to return as a full-time employee, which marked the start of a decades-long career.
When Willy Burgess, E’81, computer science, was applying to college, the co-op program put Northeastern at the top of his radar. While co-op was important to fund his tuition, Burgess’s co-op experience gave him the skills and connections to develop a successful decades-long career.
Burgess was originally a computer hardware engineering major when one of the industrial engineering professors founded the computer science program at Northeastern. He switched his major after his professor encouraged him to join the program, feeling his new major would align more with his interests.
“I’d always been interested in getting into computers and computer software before going to Northeastern,” says Burgess. “I realized I wanted to follow more of a computer software track versus a hardware track.”
While at Northeastern, Burgess was heavily involved in multiple student organizations. He served as the president of his graduating class in 1981 and was vice president of the student alum organization. In various student activities, Burgess met his now-wife, connecting through their overlap in multiple organizations. “I have a lot of cool experiences to look back on from my time at Northeastern,” says Burgess.
In the summer after his first year, Burgess returned home to work a summer job as a chicken farmer, as this was a higher-paying opportunity than the co-op opportunities available to him. After a few weeks at the farm, he decided he would benefit more from the career exposure provided by a co-op. This led him to the computer manufacturing company Digital Equipment Corporation.
During his co-op, Burgess worked in the Engineering Systems Group (ESG), where he connected with CAD/CAM companies to move their software onto computers running VAX/VMS, an operating system designed by Digital. The role was marketing-heavy, which Burgess says gave him experience engaging and communicating with third-party companies. It also gave him industry exposure that complimented his computer science degree.
“Even though I was in a marketing group, I actually had a sort of a development position working with those companies,” says Burgess. “It was a really good experience.”
Although Burgess had not considered a marketing role before his co-op at Digital, his exposure to the industry in this role inspired him to take business courses as electives while at Northeastern. After graduating from Northeastern, he furthered his business studies, completing a master’s program in business administration in 1990 from Babson College.
Burgess’s experiences with Digital in his first co-op encouraged him to return for his remaining cycles. His later co-ops saw him take on additional responsibilities, ultimately allowing him to work without guidance to migrate third-party companies onto Digital’s software. This allowed Burgess to be more independent within the organization and strengthened his skillset, benefits that continued drawing Burgess to Digital.
“My responsibilities were growing as I did the different co-ops,” says Burgess. “It was really cool in that regard. It kept me there.”
Thanks to his work experience, Burgess received multiple job offers from big-name companies such as IBM after graduating from Northeastern as one of the first two students to complete the computer science program. However, Burgess decided to pursue a full-time offer from Digital based on his positive experience with the company’s work culture and the potential to expand his responsibilities.
Burgess worked full-time at Digital for 15 years, taking on various roles and responsibilities. He was relocated to a facility in Palo Alto, California, to help build a new engineering group that developed VMS and Unix-based workstations. When he moved back to Massachusetts, Burgess worked as part of Digital’s PC networking efforts with Microsoft before transferring to network security. At this time, Burgess took responsibility for hiring co-op applicants for Digital. “I really tried to focus on hiring Northeastern co-ops into my group,” he says.
Burgess departed Digital in the wake of company-wide financial struggles. Looking for new experiences, Burgess accepted a position at Lotus, which allowed him to work on new software in a smaller working environment. Lotus was eventually bought out by IBM, and Burgess’s responsibilities changed due to the acquisition.
While at IBM, Burgess oversaw the acquisition of various software companies, a role that relied heavily on the business background he began developing during his co-op at Digital. He eventually transitioned to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) office, where he oversaw system architecture and deployment. Burgess worked at IBM until his retirement in 2018.
In his retirement, Burgess remains highly involved in the Northeastern community. He and his wife are active members of Northeastern’s Cape Cod alum group and have contributed to the Boston and Cape Cod organizations. “It allows me to partake in a lot of really cool activities that Northeastern is doing for their alumni,” he says. Burgess and his wife also make annual donations to Northeastern, which has made them members of the Northeastern Loyalty Society.
When reflecting on his experiences, Burgess says co-op expanded his skillset beyond what he was learning in the classroom and exposed him to career opportunities he had not previously considered.
“Co-op gave me experience in the real world and in multiple roles, not only from the engineering piece but also some business aspects,” says Burgess. “A lot of the experience I got on co-op, you certainly don’t get it in a normal degree program.”