More than 4,000 students have gained practical experience building artificial intelligence tools through two externship programs created by Outamation, a mortgage operations technology company, in partnership with Extern, a platform that connects students with real-world work experience. The programs aim to close the gap between learning about AI and actually applying it on the job.
Instead of studying AI in theory, students worked with sample mortgage documents created for training, built working tools, and delivered their findings directly to Outamation, mirroring how a professional technology team operates. Outamation and Extern co-developed the programs, with curriculum crafted by Outamation’s mortgage domain experts and AI engineers. Nirmal Patel, Outamation’s Chief AI Officer, led program design for Outamation, supported by Devang Kamdar, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer. Mike Eng, Head of Partnerships, led the effort for Extern.
The programs offered two levels: 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. Using sample files, students trained AI to recognize common mortgage document types and wrote Python code to extract key information automatically. Externs also built AI systems that answer questions about documents and tested open-source AI models, skills applicable across finance, real estate, and other industries.
Students compared AI models on accuracy, cost, and ease of use, and Advanced participants presented their recommendations to Outamation stakeholders. The programs were open access at scale, with participants from 934 schools and 59 countries taking 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. “More than 4,000 students chose to do the work. Our job as employers is to give the next generation the tools and the opportunity to succeed.”
“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.”
“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 open-source AI models 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.
Building on these results, Outamation and Extern will collaborate on a new program designed to evolve with advances in AI, ensuring students continue to learn the skills employers will need next. Students interested in future programs can learn more at www.extern.com.
