As employers increasingly seek AI-ready talent, Outamation, an AI-native mortgage operations technology company, and Extern, a platform connecting students with real-world work experience, have completed two externship programs that provided 4,046 students with hands-on experience building artificial intelligence tools for the mortgage industry. The programs were designed to close the gap between learning about AI in theory and applying it to real business problems, a distinction that matters as companies across finance, real estate, and other sectors race to integrate AI into their operations.
Students in the programs worked with sample mortgage documents created for training, using AI to recognize common document types and writing Python code to extract key information automatically. The Foundational externship spanned seven weeks and introduced participants to AI, natural language processing, and computer vision. The Advanced program, five weeks long, had students fine-tune their own AI models and build multi-step AI agents to automate document workflows. Advanced participants presented their recommendations to Outamation stakeholders, comparing AI models on accuracy, cost, and ease of use—an experience that mirrors how professional technology teams evaluate and defend their choices.
The scale of participation underscores the demand for such practical opportunities: students from 934 schools and 59 countries took part, regardless of location or background. "Every student today will build a career alongside AI. The question is whether they learn it by doing real work or by watching from the sidelines," said Lisa Guadagno, Chief People Officer of Outamation. "4,046 students chose to do the work. Our job as employers is to give the next generation the tools and the opportunity to succeed."
For employers, the initiative signals a potential solution to the AI talent shortage. "AI skills on their own are not enough. Students learn the most when they solve real business problems with people who know the industry and people who know the technology," said Sapan Bafna, Founder & CEO of Outamation. "Our mortgage experts and AI engineers designed this curriculum together. Students learned to use AI the way it is used on the job." The curriculum was developed by Outamation's mortgage domain experts and AI engineers, with Nirmal Patel, Outamation's Chief AI Officer, leading program design and Devang Kamdar, Co-Founder and CTO, providing leadership and support. Mike Eng, Head of Partnerships, led the effort for Extern.
The collaboration also delivered value to Outamation. "Most companies stay out of this because they picture a program they would have to build and staff. Taking that burden on is what Extern is for. Outamation handed students a real problem and got independent evaluations of the AI tools their own team is weighing in return. Having to make a recommendation and defend it to the people who will act on it is the part no course can simulate," said Matt Wilkerson, CEO at Extern. That reciprocal benefit—students gaining experience while companies receive fresh perspectives on their AI strategies—could encourage more employers to consider similar programs.
Building on these results, Outamation and Extern will work together on a new program designed to evolve alongside advances in AI, so students continue learning the skills employers will need next. Students interested in future programs can learn more at www.extern.com. For Outamation, which became the first U.S. mortgage technology company to achieve ISO/IEC 42001 certification and debuted on the Inc. 5000 at No. 133, the externships reinforce its position at the intersection of AI innovation and workforce development. More information about the company is available at outamation.com.
