In high school, Alexander Elguezabal ’25 didn’t plan on enrolling in college. He was well versed in computer programming at the time – as a teen, he created and sold modifications for the video game, “Minecraft.” From there, he taught himself how to code websites, robots, servers and cloud computing.
“I’ve known since I was younger that programming was my thing,” he said. “It’s the way I like to solve problems.”
He believed he could leverage his coding experience into an internship position and potentially a full-time job, sidestepping higher education entirely. It wasn’t until his friends and family intervened and advised him to at least check out some schools, including Merrimack.
“I toured the school and it really felt homey,” he said. “There was an obvious community even during the COVID pandemic that I didn’t feel at other schools. It was one of the reasons why I ultimately chose Merrimack.”
As a Merrimack senior, Elguezabal said he made the right decision to enroll in higher education.
“You possibly could have gotten into tech without a four-year degree in 2020, but that’s not the case anymore,” he said. “It’s way too competitive now, so I’m happy that I went to college.”
What drew Elguezabal to Merrimack was its small class sizes and the strong relationships professors form with their students.
“Merrimack is a top player in computer science,” he said. “We have amazing professors in the computer and data science programs that truly care about the students. They will sit down and talk through problems with every single student. I’m very thankful for that.”
Not only that, Elguezabal found his higher education experience offered much more than what he initially expected.
“Half of college is academics,” he explained. “The other half is social – making friends, networking, talking with professors, connecting with industry professionals. I grew my social side most during my time in college.”
Elguezabal landed internships at Visibility Corporation in North Andover and Oracle, one of the most profitable software engineering and IT companies in the nation. Last summer, he completed an internship with Microsoft in Redmond, Washington working to protect and improve government cloud servers. He was offered a job at the company proceeding his internship in August of 2024.
“I have a lot of friends that I made over the last summer who I’ll either room with or get to see again,” he said. “I’m more excited for my senior year of college, though. I’m looking forward to my classes and spending time with the friends that I’ve built over the past four years.”
