Northeastern University’s campus has changed vastly in the 25 years since alumni Liz and Steve Magoun studied here. The couple met as students at Northeastern in the 1980s when Krentzman Quadrangle didn’t have a name and the student athletic center was just outdoor basketball courts. The pair studied together, had classes together, and went to lunch together while they were on co-op in downtown Boston. They are now married and have a son who is interested in Northeastern.

“In my eye, she was the only girl in the class,” said Steve Magoun of his wife Liz.

When the Magouns returned to Northeastern University after over two decades, they said that they noticed how much CCIS changed and how much the campus expanded. Excited to reminisce over the times they spent at Northeastern, the Magouns and their son Tyler said that they enjoyed speaking with members of CCIS and hearing all of the current student accomplishments.

Steve Magoun graduated in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a minor in business. He worked for Boston’s City Hall for his co-op and was integrated into multiple departments.

He discovered that there were problems with the Boston Police Department’s system for tracking employee sick days. The department was overpaying for employee sick days because they were documented on index cards and not automated in a centralized system. Steve saw an opportunity to help the Police Department by creating a computer automated system that would save them money and keep them organized.

“I had to go in and understand the business. I had to understand the pieces and write the code,” Steve said, “I was successful at listening to what [the Boston Police Department] needed and translating it into an automated process. The environment at Northeastern fostered that kind of thinking because everything is not always laid out for you.”

A Boston Herald reporter wrote an article referring to Steve Magoun as the “whiz kid” after he wrote the program for the BPD. After his success, Steve Magoun decided that he could earn more money in the private sector – writing similar programs for other companies. For his second co-op, Magoun challenged Northeastern’s conventions by working for himself.

“He thought that he could help with other businesses, and he wanted to do the next co-op on his own,” Liz Magoun says. “Northeastern pushed back.”

Despite Northeastern’s disapproval, Magoun used the co-op program to start his own business.

“When I started SoftCode Inc., I was a jack of all trades and rode my bike to clients,” Magoun said. “I worked in the construction industry through connections at City Hall and developed relationships with most county sheriffs’ offices in Massachusetts. As the construction software market matured and became crowded, I began to focus on Civil Process Departments of the sheriffs’ offices.”

Magoun’s business, automated the systems by tracking civil cases through attorneys’ documents and financial transactions. Creating his own co-op helped Magoun create a path toward a successful company.

After graduating from CCIS, Magoun continued with SoftCode, Inc. while Liz Magoun worked in a traditional corporate setting with Digital Equipment Corporation, Polaroid, and a data warehousing company. Liz started working with Steve at SoftCode, Inc., organizing and structuring the company. The company was acquired by Tyler Technologies two years ago.

When Liz and Steve Magoun’s son Tyler toured Northeastern, the couple said that their son participated in a school tradition by visiting the husky mascot statue and rubbing its nose in hopes of getting accepted. He said that he enjoyed listening to current students in the College of Computer and Information Science discuss their research projects. Tyler Magoun appreciates how successful his parents became after having a hands on education through CCIS and on co-op, and said that he hopes to have similar experiences.

“If we went to a regular 4 year [college] it wouldn’t have been the same path, not a chance,” Steve said, “I don’t know if we’d be as successful as we are today.