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 successfully concluded two externship programs that provided 4,046 students with hands-on experience building artificial intelligence tools. The programs were designed to bridge the gap between theoretical AI education and practical application in business settings.
Students applied AI to sample mortgage documents created for training, built working tools, and delivered their findings directly to Outamation, mirroring professional technology team workflows. The curriculum, designed by Outamation's mortgage domain experts and AI engineers, included a seven-week Foundational externship introducing AI, natural language processing, and computer vision, and a five-week Advanced program where students fine-tuned their own AI models and built multi-step AI agents to automate document workflows.
Participants trained AI to recognize common mortgage document types and wrote Python code to extract key information automatically. They also built AI systems that answer questions about documents and tested open-source AI models, skills applicable across finance, real estate, and other industries. Advanced participants compared AI models on accuracy, cost, and ease of use, and presented their recommendations to Outamation stakeholders.
The programs attracted students from 934 schools and 59 countries, ensuring open access at scale 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."
Sapan Bafna, Founder & CEO of Outamation, emphasized the importance of solving real business problems: "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. Our mortgage experts and AI engineers designed this curriculum together. Students learned to use AI the way it is used on the job."
Matt Wilkerson, CEO at Extern, highlighted the mutual benefit: "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."
Building on these results, Outamation and Extern plan to collaborate on a new program designed to evolve with advances in AI, ensuring students continue learning the skills employers will need next. Students interested in future programs can learn more at www.extern.com.
Outamation, an AI-native mortgage operations technology company, offers the Outamate product suite, which automates document generation, client communications, loss mitigation, lien release, quality control, and document AI for lenders and servicers. The company was the first U.S. mortgage technology company to achieve ISO/IEC 42001 certification and also holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II. It debuted on the Inc. 5000 at No. 133 and has more than 250 team members across Dallas, Miami, and India. More information is available at outamation.com.
Extern, backed by Y Combinator, Foundation Capital, and Eric Ries, hosts remote, part-time projects so students can build experience and receive dedicated mentorship for entry-level roles. 90,000 students from more than 150 countries have participated in externships with companies like TikTok, Amazon, and Pfizer, and 74% of externs have landed a job or internship within 12 months of completing their project.
The collaboration between Outamation and Extern demonstrates a proactive approach to workforce development in AI, providing students with practical skills that are in high demand. As AI continues to transform industries, such initiatives are crucial for preparing the next generation of workers and ensuring they can contribute effectively from day one. The success of these programs may encourage other companies to invest in similar experiential learning opportunities, ultimately strengthening the talent pipeline and driving innovation.
