Co-ops Lead to 46-Year Career With No Signs of Stopping
Co-ops at the Ciba-Geigy chemical plant allowed Michael Feldman, E’77, mechanical engineering, to financially support himself through his Northeastern education and introduced him to the contact who gave him an opportunity at Hart Engineering, a company he still works for 46 years later as a vice president.
Michael Feldman, E’77, mechanical engineering, did not formally begin his engineering journey until he enrolled at Northeastern, but it’s safe to say that he’s always been mechanically inclined. A self-proclaimed tinkerer, Feldman spent much of his youth taking apart and reassembling whatever he could get his hands on, with varying degrees of success.
“I remember, believe it or not, going to a local junkyard where I grew up and getting old bicycles,” says Feldman. “I’d fix them up and give them away to people. I just liked putting around with stuff.”
Feldman did not have the easiest childhood growing up. His father passed away when he was eight, putting strain on Feldman’s mother to be financially responsible for his whole family. When looking for mechanical educational opportunities to pursue after high school, Feldman became interested in finding a school with a co-op experience to gain financial support while professionally advancing himself.
He initially took an interest in the General Motors Institute, now Kettering University, which offered a highly selective automotive engineering program that allowed students to co-op in their local areas. When he was rejected from the automotive program, Feldman found himself unsure of what steps to take. “I didn’t know what to do,” he says, “but I knew that if I was going to continue with school, the only way I could do it was with co-op.”
To break him out of his impasse, Feldman’s mother spoke with their next-door neighbor, a professor at Northeastern, who eventually sat down with Feldman to discuss his options at Northeastern. Although Feldman had known about Northeastern through a friend in his youth group who was a chemical engineering student, the conversation with his neighbor convinced him to apply, kickstarting what would eventually become a fruitful journey at Northeastern.
Today, Feldman is the vice president of Hart Engineering, a mechanical contracting company, which is a part of Hart Companies based in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Hart specializes in the Bio –Tech / Pharmaceutical Industry as well as the public sector working on Clean Water and Wastewater treatment. He had not planned on entering the construction industry, but by pursuing the opportunity, he created a thriving career that lasted over four decades and counting. Feldman credits his co-op experiences for opening the door for him to secure his job at Hart Engineering and allowing him to afford and complete higher education. “It was through my co-op that I was reached out to get the job that I’ve had for 46 years,” he says.
All of Feldman’s co-ops were completed at Ciba-Geigy, a chemical plant in Cranston, Rhode Island. He discovered the position through his friend from his youth group, who had completed co-ops at the plant before Feldman began his co-op application process. According to Feldman, his friend played a critical role in the early stages of his co-op journey, helping him secure an interview at the plant and making the process far less daunting than it originally seemed. “It was an incredible opportunity for me,” he says.
As a mechanical engineering student, Feldman was responsible for taking on projects in the Ciba-Geigy plant, where he learned to thoroughly assess the scope of a job down to the finest detail and present his findings to a supervisor for budget approval. The work developed Feldman’s multitasking abilities to a high-functioning degree, sometimes requiring him to take on 15 or more projects simultaneously as he progressed through his co-op cycles.
Ciba-Geigy also taught Feldman how to navigate a professional work environment, an experience he had not had prior. His first co-op term was especially vital in orienting himself within the company, introducing him to the people he would be collaborating with on each project and showing him the systems he would be working on. It was a challenge, but the willingness of his coworkers to assist him when needed and the variety of his daily responsibilities made Feldman’s co-ops engaging and educational experiences.
“I got to be involved with so many things, from manufacturing to processing,” says Feldman. “It was never boring. I loved it.”
Upon graduating from Northeastern, a hiring freeze at the Ciba-Geigy plant and an opportunity at another chemical plant that fell through eventually led Feldman to Raytheon, where he worked as a mechanical engineer in the manufacturing division that developed radar systems to intercept and respond to missile strikes. He remained at Raytheon for a year before departing to find a job that better suited his interests. When a struggling job market limited his job opportunities, Feldman took a job as a vehicle mechanic.
Feldman eventually received a phone call from a man he used to work with at Ciba-Geigy, detailing an open position at Hart Engineering he thought Feldman would be a good fit for. He was not actively searching for a new position. Still, Feldman recognized the unique opportunity he was given through his co-op contact and quickly jumped on it, landing the role that would grow into his position today. “I had an opportunity, and it was because of co-op,” he says.
In the decades since starting at Hart Engineering, Feldman has continued working closely with Northeastern students. He launched a co-op program at Hart Engineering and has also spoken at a Professional Development for Co-op course, during which he and a junior employee at Hart Engineering discussed the benefits of co-op from their perspectives. He hopes to award people the same professional development opportunities he experienced during his Northeastern journey and expose them to the variety of Northeastern graduates they could work with in the future.
“Because of co-op, you have opportunities from prior work experiences, and you’re potentially going to end up working with people that went through similar experiences you’re going through now,” he says. “I think that’s a huge advantage for job opportunities as you may be exposed to senior Northeastern graduates that went through the program like yourself.”