As employers across industries seek workers who can apply artificial intelligence to real business problems, a partnership between Outamation, an AI-native mortgage operations technology company, and Extern, a platform connecting students with work experience, has provided 4,046 students with hands-on AI training through two externship programs. The programs, announced on October 13, 2026, were designed to close the gap between learning about AI and actually using it on the job.
Instead of studying AI in theory, students applied it to 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-designed the curriculum, with Outamation’s mortgage domain experts and AI engineers creating the material. 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 of learning: 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. 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.
“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.”
“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 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.
The initiative drew participants from 934 schools and 59 countries, providing open access regardless of location or background. For employers facing a shortage of AI-ready talent, the program offers a model for building practical skills at scale. Outamation, which debuted on the Inc. 5000 at No. 133, holds ISO/IEC 42001, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 Type II certifications. Extern, backed by Y Combinator, Foundation Capital, and Eric Ries, reports that 74% of its externs land a job or internship within 12 months. Students interested in future programs can learn more at www.extern.com. Building on these results, the two organizations will collaborate on a new program designed to evolve with AI advances. For more information about Outamation, visit outamation.com.
