Undergraduate and Graduate Co-ops Help Alumnus Discover Career in Venture Investment
Venture investor Charles Tan, E’90, electrical and computer engineering, MS’98, software engineering systems, credits co-ops completed during his undergraduate and graduate studies for giving him valuable industry knowledge and connections that set the foundation for his future in startups and innovation.
Charles Tan, E’90, electrical and computer engineering, MS’98, software engineering systems, did not plan on going to Northeastern when he began his university journey. Hailing from Malaysia, Tan originally attended the National University of Singapore to pursue an engineering degree. Tan’s older cousin, who studied and lives in Boston, ultimately encouraged him to transfer, recognizing how much he would benefit from co-op.
“The opportunity to go to school and combine that with working experience was very interesting, even at that time,” says Tan. “That attracted me to transfer to Northeastern.”
Despite knowing that transferring would give him new opportunities, Tan entered Northeastern largely blind to what this experience would look like. However, inspired by his move across the globe, Tan was ready to embrace the challenges headfirst. “Coming to a new country, it was just eye-opening,” he says. “I was ready to experience anything.”
Today, Tan works with early-stage startups as a venture investor. He credits co-ops completed in both his undergraduate and graduate programs with introducing him to the world of startups and entrepreneurship, from which he was able to grow a successful career.
“The Northeastern co-op program was very important in my life,” says Tan. “It’s definitely something that I would recommend anyone to do.”
As an undergraduate, Tan completed all his co-ops at the T.J. Watson Research Center at IBM, a role he discovered after his co-op advisor suggested he would be a good candidate for it. As part of the first batch of Northeastern co-op students accepted by IBM Research, Tan was excited by the possibility of working for a well-known company early in his career journey. More importantly, Tan was drawn to the ability to work in a research environment across multiple areas of study.
During his co-ops, Tan contributed to IBM’s research in semiconductors, working with a team that looked to increase their performance and reliability by improving their electrical conductivity and manufacturing yield. The research exposed Tan to new concepts and practices, such as lithography and electron beam deposition, sparking his interest in continuing to study semiconductors in his academics. “From the experience, I started to become more interested in that area of semiconductors and took courses because of it,” he says.
Along with gaining essential technical experience, the social aspect of Tan’s co-ops at IBM allowed him to connect with his colleagues while learning from them. This created a supportive working environment and allowed Tan to form valuable relationships with the people he worked with, including meeting another co-op who would become his wife. “I’m still friends with my former colleagues today after 20 years,” he says.
Tan’s research at IBM was conducted alongside decorated scientists, many of whom had earned a PhD. Working alongside seasoned researchers allowed Tan to co-author a research article during his third co-op term, which he continued to work on during subsequent co-op terms and the academic terms in between. The paper was published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) during his senior year. Today, Tan expresses both pride in his work on the paper and gratitude for the experience.
“Being an undergraduate, writing a research paper with well-known research scientists from IBM was an honor,” says Tan.
While working alongside IBM’s researchers on the research paper, Tan realized he wanted to pursue a graduate degree after completing his undergraduate program. He had not considered immediately continuing his studies before his co-ops, initially hoping to gain more experience in the field before looking into graduate studies. However, working alongside the highly accredited researchers at IBM exposed him to the benefits of higher education, motivating him to return to school earlier than he had planned.
Recommendations from his co-op employers at IBM and professors earned Tan a full scholarship to return to Northeastern to complete his graduate degree in the software engineering program, while working as a teaching assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Tan also completed co-ops alongside his graduate studies. Although not compulsory for completing his program, he was motivated to pursue additional co-ops after his positive experiences at IBM. “The co-op experience during my undergraduate was so fulfilling and rewarding that I wanted to do it again,” Tan says.
He joined an internet equipment company based in Boston for his graduate co-ops. Tan’s co-ops in the internet networking field coincided with the privatization of the internet, allowing him to gain hands-on experience in a new industry. These experiences were vital in forming Tan’s postgraduate career. “The opportunity to work in a new area was actually defining for what I ended up pursuing in my career,” he says.
Upon graduating from Northeastern, Tan joined Juniper Networks, an internet networking company based in Silicon Valley. Initially a startup company, Tan witnessed the company’s immense growth during his employment and was an employee when Juniper Networks filed for an initial public offering in 1999. Having worked in the startup space and experienced a startup’s challenges during growth phases helped Tan transition into the venture investment space after leaving Juniper Networks.
Still working as a venture investor today, Tan hopes to continue investing in innovative ideas with promising futures, a mission rooted in an objective that can be traced back to his undergraduate days.
“My goal is to always learn and improve,” Tan says. “The interesting thing for me is to invest in areas that are new and can be positively impactful.”