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After two co-ops, two campuses, and one high-octane internship, Ben Meyer is returning to Microsoft
From Oakland to Boston to the world's largest software company, Ben Meyer has honed his formula for professional success — software classes, hackathons, and interview prep on the one hand, determination and luck on the other.
Computer science students often dream of landing jobs at Big Tech companies, but what does it take to turn those dreams into reality? That’s what fourth-year computer science student Ben Meyer has tried to figure out. Now, with a job offer from Microsoft in hand, he has his answer.
“Determination, software classes, hackathons, and interview prep — combine those and you’re set,” Meyer says. But also, he notes, “It’s a lot of luck in the end. Opportunity and luck.”
Meyer made the most of every opportunity available to him at Northeastern, from co-ops to hackathons. And though his unique combination of experiences culminated in his internship at Microsoft last summer, it was a long journey to get there.
“When I was 13, my family gave me a book on how to program in Minecraft using Python and I’ve just kept going,” says Meyer.
Despite growing up on the East Coast, Meyer spent his first year on Northeastern’s Oakland campus. The smaller, tight-knit community allowed him to connect with professors like Ellen Spertus, make friends, expand his network, and access the wonders of the West Coast.
“I was able to visit Yosemite, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Muir Woods, which were all completely new for me,” Meyer says. “I also attended Stanford’s TreeHacks hackathon.”
Meyer moved to Boston after his first year and became a teaching assistant for Spertus’s “Foundations of Computer Science” course. The following spring, he worked at HarbourVest Partners in Boston, where he spent his time learning to remediate security incidents and write Python scripts to automate security tasks.
Beyond coursework and co-ops, Meyer expanded his skill set and grew his network through hackathons, which he cites as an important reason for his success as a software engineer.
“Hackathons are really exciting environments where you can work with a team to solve interesting problems over a short period of time,” Meyer explains. “You compete against other students, you see what problems they are trying to solve, and you meet people who you never would have met in classes.”
Meyer’s second co-op was with Nara Logics in Boston. As a software engineer, he built AI advisors for enterprises.
While applying for that second co-op, Meyer also applied directly to Microsoft’s internship program. When he finished his stint at Nara Logics, Meyer returned to the West Coast, this time to Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington, where he lived in corporate housing with other interns for 12 weeks over the summer. The Microsoft campus was a dreamland for an aspiring software engineer.
“Imagine a college campus, but for engineers,” Meyer says. “They have treehouses, cafeterias, volleyball courts, and soccer fields. It’s everything you could imagine.”
At Microsoft, Meyer worked on Copilot for Sales, an AI assistant designed to improve seller productivity. He built a full-stack project from start to finish, navigating the many steps involved with pushing a feature to production at a large company.
“First, they give you a project and you determine the project requirements,” he explains. “You discuss it with your team, and then you build a prototype. Once the team approves the prototype, then you create the feature.”
While he was at Microsoft, Meyer was encouraged to use AI-assisted coding tools. He says he enjoyed putting the tools to use and believes they offer a huge benefit to developers.
“When I started programming, I liked building and solving problems. AI amplifies that,” Meyer explains. “It just makes programming faster and more exciting.”
After graduation in April, Meyer will be heading back to Microsoft as a software engineer.
“I’ve learned a lot at Northeastern through my courses, team projects, co-ops, and internship,” he says. “I am thankful for the opportunities Northeastern has provided me and the support I have received from my professors, classmates, friends, and family.”
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