Our Karsun Innovation Center hosts future technology experts every summer for our annual internship program. Computational Modeling and Data Analytics student Namrata Hari joined this year’s class to advance her data science skills while diving into complex, innovative projects. In this interview, she shares her experience in the Innovation Center environment, contributing to center projects and uncovering her path to finding her next. 

Finding Her Next: Data Science to Social Impact

First please tell us about yourself. Where are you going to school? What are you studying? What do you like to do in your free time?
Namrata: Hi, I am Namrata! I am a rising sophomore studying Computational Modeling and Data Analytics at Virginia Tech, with a minor in Computer Science and Mathematics. During my free time, I enjoy dancing, singing, and watching movies.

What do you want to do after this internship? What are your career goals? 

Namrata: After completing this internship, I aim to participate in professional events and conferences to enhance and sustain my networking skills. My career aspiration is to become a data scientist focusing on complex data projects that extract valuable insights and foster social impact.

Building the Future of AI Accelerated Modernization

In addition to researching and developing solutions with emerging technologies, the Karsun Innovation Center builds toolkits for our teams using these evolving solutions, industry best practices and under guidance from industry experts. One of these toolkits is ReDuX AI, a set of tools and practices for AI accelerated modernization. As part of her internship, Namrata worked with the team developing future enhancements to this toolkit.  

Could you share a little bit about the project you worked on as part of this internship? What challenge does it solve? What technologies and tools are you using?
Namrata: Throughout the initial weeks of the internship, I focused on developing a task management application using Java Spring Boot and React. This project has been valuable in preparing us for upcoming tasks.

Namrata: The primary focus of my work during this internship has been testing ReDuX AI. Working within teams, we were assigned stories to complete through the use of AppPilot. During this project, we utilized Nx, Spring Boot, Postgres, Flyway, Podman, React, Comet, and Jest. Throughout this process, we were able to assess the memory, user interface, and overall user experience of the AI bot. Upon completing this project, we began addressing the defects we had previously identified.

The Innovation Center Environment

What is your favorite part about working with the Karsun Innovation Center? Is there a weekly meeting or ritual you enjoy? The opportunity to learn more or get a new certification?
Namrata: My favorite part about working with KIC is the supportive environment that I am constantly surrounded by. I enjoy seeing the work done on the projects I always hear about during our daily stand-up meetings in Show Don’t Tell. The questions asked during Show Don’t Tell helped me learn and develop my skills by showing me what questions should be asked and how to answer them. I appreciate being in an environment where I can always learn something new, no matter what.

What is your biggest takeaway from your experience as an intern at Karsun?

Namrata: My biggest takeaway from my experience at Karsun is understanding industry dynamics.  I had the opportunity to gain first-hand exposure to the inner workings of the field, including observing how various challenges are tackled and identifying best practices. This experience has been instrumental in expanding my knowledge and expertise in the industry and has significantly contributed to my professional growth and development.

Namrata worked alongside Karsun Innovation Center experts throughout her internship program. Discover how Karsun experts are modernizing for every next in our Innovation Center, among our data solutions teams, and as they use our ReDuX AI toolkit.

Recording live from the AWS Summit Washington, D.C., Karsun’s Badri Sriraman sits down with John Gilroy and the Federal Tech Podcast to discuss all things AI, accelerating legacy systems modernization and hyperlocal contextualization. Badri is the Vice President of the Karsun Innovation Center. Here, teams work to eliminate or reduce friction for the agencies modernizing their legacy systems. As part of that work, they developed ReDuX AI, a toolkit using AI resources to address common issues related to modernizing these older, more complex legacy systems. Throughout the interview, Badri and John discuss the costs and security risks associated with staying on current systems and the opportunity for AI to provide insight through hyperlocal contextualization to tackle these challenges.

Addressing the O&M Problem

The interview begins by acknowledging the drag aging infrastructure has on these agencies’ enterprise systems. The issue becomes intractable when operations and maintenance (O&M) costs become so high they take up the budget that would otherwise be used for modernization and systems enhancements. A 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report examined the 10 critical systems it identified most in need of modernization. Some of those systems were over 50 years old and, in total, cost the government upwards of $337 million annually to operate and maintain. 

In addition to the O&M costs, complex relationships between different systems components, older programming languages like COBOL, and outdated documentation all contribute to the difficulty of modernizing mission-critical legacy systems like those studied. As Badri reveals in the interview, artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to address many of those concerns. Moreover, those same AI tools may accelerate the transition, further reducing O&M costs as agencies move away from these legacy systems.

Eating the Elephant

In the interview, Badri shares a key component of Karsun’s AI-accelerated modernization methodology, hyperlocal contextualization. In a traditional modernization project, teams typically take an incremental approach. To “eat the elephant,” teams go one step at a time, optimizing as they modernize to reduce costs. The analysis required to peel away each part of the legacy system could slow down modernization to a yearslong process in highly complex systems. Throughout the process, these teams must untangle how different parts of the system integrate and work together. 

Alternatively, using AI teams still move incrementally, avoiding the pitfalls of Big Bang Modernization. However, they also use AI to identify and map these relationships within legacy systems. This AI assistance helps those teams move at a rapid pace. Working together with the human team and stakeholders, the AI can quickly create a fuller understanding of the system, its impact on the mission and provide new insights into optimization opportunities during the modernization process. This analysis is the first step in using AI for hyperlocal contextualization.

The Security Imperative

An equally pressing concern is rising security threats. The 2023 GAO report found among the chief concerns for these aging systems were outdated hardware and security vulnerabilities. The same processes that help modernization teams optimize to reduce O&M costs can also be used to move from less secure systems to more secure systems based on industry standards and best practices.

Jumping in with Hyperlocal Contextualization

With more advanced large language models (LLMs), AI tools cannot only write the code but also review, debug, and make recommendations. Powered by AWS Bedrock, ReDuX AI not only takes the insights from its eat the elephant analysis but also makes recommendations to Karsun developers using the context generated from those insights. Plus it can then incorporate best practices and security policies into those recommendations. Using a tool like ReDuX AI, the security optimization recommendations are customized to the complexities found in that legacy system, resulting in a modernization process designed to optimize costs and security. Badri discusses this hyperlocal contextualization in greater depth in the interview. 

The future is bright. In a 2019 report, the GAO shared agencies provided 94 examples of successful modernization initiatives over the five years studied. While some of the most challenging projects remain, AI tools, like those used by ReDuX, create a future where the remaining mission-critical systems modernize a possibility. Check out the full interview at www.theoakmontgroupllc.com/ep-161-how-to-overcome-the-challenge-of-legacy-systems/ or visit GoRedux.AI to learn more.

Kartik Mecheri joins GovLoop’s Featured Contributor program to share his insights on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), modern software development, architecting for cloud-native environments, data solutions, and enterprise modernization for the public sector. The co-founder and Chief Architect of Karsun Solutions, Kartik’s achievements include spearheading large-scale digital transformation projects. His expertise ensures that Karsun delivers cutting-edge services to its customers while enhancing their customers’ internal processes. He has earned industry recognition for excellence in technology solutions, keeping Karsun at the forefront of technological advancements and customer satisfaction.

GovLoop’s core mission is to help government employees to do their jobs better. It provides free resources, blogs, online training, in-person training, and online courses on topics relevant to anyone working in public service. This new series is an extension of Kartik’s position as a trusted advisor to senior government executives on the latest technologies. 

Throughout his featured contributor series, Kartik will combine Karsun’s experience modernizing complex legacy systems for federal government agencies with emerging technology research from by the Karsun Innovation Center. In addition to its research and development unit, the center also builds resource toolkits to assist Karsun’s modernization teams. As part of his column, Kartik will share Karsun’s experience using these tools to accelerate modernization.  

This includes sharing Karsun’s experience implementing its ReDuX AI toolkit. This toolkit uses AI to address the challenges associated with migrating complex legacy systems. Its AI tools analyze legacy systems built on older coding languages, such as COBOL. Next, it produces visualizations and other information on the structure of the legacy system. With this enhanced insight into the complex relationship between system components, teams can effectively plan incremental modernization of the system without disrupting the current mission-critical parts of the application.  Next, the toolkit resources use the information from the system analysis to make recommendations, enabling teams to generate code more efficiently and securely than code generated by human teams without access to those resources. More information on ReDuX is available at GoRedux.AI.

In his first post examining AI-assisted modernization, Kartik delves into the challenges and opportunities presented by the use of AI for code generation. Here, he discusses the evolving software development space as teams use AI to analyze codebases, security and regulatory compliance, and increased efficiency for mundane development tasks.  For more from Kartik, follow his Featured Contributor series at https://www.govloop.com/author/kmecheri/. 

Every summer, we welcome interns to the Karsun Innovation Center for our annual internship program. These innovators are embedded in our research and development teams, contributing to projects led by center experts. In this interview, Manjodeep Dakavaram, a computer science master’s student, shares his experience using his software engineering and full-stack development skills to enhance the experience of Karsun team members accessing training, toolkits, and other resources.

Finding His Next: From Computer Science Student to Future Startup Founder

First, please tell us about yourself. Where are you going to school? What are you studying? What do you like to do in your free time?

Manojdeep: This is Manojdeep Dakavaram, and I am currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. In my free time, I enjoy working on personal projects, particularly those involving full-stack development and machine learning. Apart from that, I enjoy cooking, watching anime, and strength training.

What do you want to do after this internship? What are your career goals?

Manojdeep: After this internship, I aim to complete my master’s degree and, further develop my skills, and gain more experience in software engineering and full-stack development. My immediate goal is to secure a full-time role where I can work on challenging projects, especially those involving AI, machine learning, and cloud technologies. 

Manojdeep: In the long term, my ultimate goal is to start my own startup and eventually grow it into a successful enterprise. I am passionate about leveraging technology to create innovative solutions that address real-world problems. By gaining diverse experiences and building a strong foundation in various technologies, I aim to be well-prepared to launch and scale my own venture.

Making an Impact with Enhanced User Experience 

Over the course of his internship, Manojdeep contributed to four projects in the Karsun Innovation Center. Through automation, centralization, bug fixes, and other enhancements, his development work and problem-solving improved the user experience of tools used by Karsun teams. As part of its mission, the center uses its research into emerging technologies to build toolkits and resource libraries to support the work of Karsun’s customer-facing teams. Interns, including Manojdeep, support the ongoing development of these resources. That includes maintaining toolkits such as ReDuX AI. These resources assist teams as they analyze, migrate, and modernize complex legacy systems. One component of that toolkit is AppPilot, which uses AI code generation capabilities to accelerate certain parts of the modernization process.  Manojdeep applied his React frontend skills to address bug fixes and provide enhancements to this toolkit. 

In addition to its toolkits, the Innovation Center provides both virtual and in-person professional development training resources as part of its Karsun Academy program. As part of his internship, Manojdeep enhanced user experience by automating user access to Karsun’s O’Reilly virtual training library. 

Could you share a little bit about the project you worked on as part of this internship? What challenge does it solve? What technologies and tools are you using?

Manojdeep: During my internship at Karsun, I had the opportunity to work on several impactful projects:

1. Task Manager Application:
   • Challenge: The Task Manager Application addresses the need for a centralized and user-friendly task management system, helping users stay organized and improving productivity through real-time updates and team collaboration.
   • Technologies and Tools Used: React JS, SpringBoot, PostgreSQL, JUnit, Podman, Git, REST API
2. Automation of O’Reilly Platform User Management:
   • Challenge: The manual process of managing user access to the O’Reilly platform was time-consuming and prone to errors.
   • Technologies and Tools Used: Google App Sheets, Google App Script, Postman, Rest API, Google Sheets.
3. Document Service:
   • Challenge: There was a need for an efficient and secure document management service.
   • Technologies and Tools Used: React JS, SpringBoot, PostgreSQL, Amazon S3, LocalStack, JUnit, Podman, Git, Jest, REST API
4. React Frontend Bugs for App Pilot:
   • Challenge: App Pilot, a Karsun product, required bug fixes and enhancements in its React frontend to ensure a smooth user experience.
   • Solution: I am currently working on identifying and resolving these frontend bugs, improving the overall functionality and user experience of the application.

Manojdeep: These projects have allowed me to apply my skills in full-stack development, enhance my problem-solving abilities, and gain hands-on experience with a variety of tools and technologies.

Collaboration, Experimentation and Camaraderie

What is your favorite part about working with the Karsun Innovation Center? Is there a weekly meeting or ritual you enjoy? The opportunity to learn more or get a new certification?

Manojdeep: My favorite part about working with the Karsun Innovation Center is the collaborative and innovative environment that encourages continuous learning and growth. Here are a few specific aspects I particularly enjoy:

1. Collaborative Environment: Working with talented and experienced professionals who are always willing to share their knowledge and provide guidance has been incredibly rewarding. The collaborative culture fosters creativity and innovation, making it an exciting place to work.
2. Bi-Weekly KIC Show Don’t Tell Meetings: I enjoy our biweekly Show Don’t Tell meetings where the team gathers to discuss and demonstrate ongoing projects, share updates, and brainstorm solutions to any challenges we face. These meetings keep everyone aligned and provide a platform for sharing insights and learning from each other.
3. Innovation and Experimentation: The freedom to experiment with new technologies and approaches is another highlight. I am encouraged to explore innovative solutions and think outside the box, which enhances my problem-solving skills and keeps my work engaging.
4. Playing Table Tennis: I also enjoy playing table tennis with my colleagues. It’s a great way to unwind, build camaraderie, and foster a positive work-life balance.

Manojdeep: Overall, the combination of a supportive team, regular interactions, and enjoyable activities makes my experience at the Karsun Innovation Center both enjoyable and fulfilling.

What is your biggest takeaway from your experience as an intern at Karsun?

Manojdeep: From my internship at Karsun Solutions, my biggest takeaway has been the immense value of hands-on experience in a real-world environment. I’ve been able to apply a wide range of skills, from developing full-stack applications and automating processes to debugging complex products. This practical experience has really solidified my understanding and proficiency in these areas.

Manojdeep: I’ve also had the chance to work with various technologies and tools, such as React, Spring Boot, Google Appsheets, and Amazon S3. This exposure has broadened my technical toolkit and made me more versatile as a developer.

Manojdeep: Tackling bugs and working on products like App Pilot has shown me the real-world challenges of maintaining and improving live systems, which goes beyond theoretical knowledge. Additionally, automating processes, like user access management for the O’Reilly platform, has demonstrated how impactful automation can be for efficiency and productivity.

Manojdeep: Finally, working in a team has helped me enhance my collaboration and communication skills, which I know are crucial for any tech career. Overall, this internship has been incredibly valuable in preparing me for future roles and challenges.

Manojdeep participated in Karsun’s 2024 internship program as a member of the Karsun Innovation Center. Head over to our KIC page to learn more about our in-house research and development unit, Karsun Academy, our modernization toolkits, and ReDuX AI.

Like many organizations, Karsun transitioned to a remote workforce in 2020. Beginning with that transition and throughout the last three years, it has won new awards for culture, diversity, benefits and more. Most recently, it picked up its first-ever Top Workplaces Culture award for Work-Life Flexibility. Karsun received this award in addition to repeat Technology Industry Top Workplaces and Oklahoman Top Workplaces awards. 2023 was also Karsun’s first year receiving a Comparably Best Company Career Growth award. Both Top Workplaces and Comparably are based on independent third assessments of Karsun culture based on feedback from current employees.

Chae Song, the program manager for Karsun’s GSA Fleet Program, received a FORUM IMPACT award from the industry news sites FORUM/g2xchange. This award recognized exceptional women technology leaders from government and industry. Karsun continued to be recognized as a local industry leader, receiving a ranking for the fifth year in a row on the Northern Virginia Technology Council Tech 100. 

In addition to industry award recognition, Karsun experts and executives appeared as thought leaders in white papers, panel discussions and industry podcasts. Notably, Karsun released our Design for Every Next white paper detailing our strategy for delivering high-quality UI/UX initiatives on a massive scale and in highly complex systems. Karsun President, Terry Miller appeared on the Federal Tech Podcast to share insights from this new paper. 

Finally, Karsun graduated its eleventh fellow from an American Council on Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) professional development program. Anu Pajjur, a Portfolio Lead for Karsun’s FAA portfolio, completed ACT-IAC’s Voyagers Program in May 2023. This program pairs up-and-coming leaders from industry and government in an intensive one-year program.

From work-life balance to elevating industry leaders, culture shines here. The Karsun team continues its commitment to an employee-centered culture where everyone can learn and grow. And there are new opportunities to grow as a Karsun expert. We are hiring for remote roles nationwide. To join our team and Find Your Next visit KarsunCareers.com.  

Karsun has an employee-centered workplace that places flexibility, innovation and collaboration at the heart of our business. For most of our team members, that means they work remotely. And while that is the preferred style of work for many, we also know connecting in person is important to many of our team members. That is why we brought back some of our most popular in-person events this year. These included family picnics, team celebrations and community events. The result was new opportunities for team Karsun to connect with each other, within their communities and with our core values. 

One of those core values is fun, and this year marked the return of many of Karsun’s in-person social events. These were opportunities for Karsun families, teams and partners to meet face-to-face while enjoying ice cream socials, farm days and other activities. Additionally, we shared team accomplishments, presented innovative creations and recognized extraordinary work in monthly and quarterly remote events. Nearly 90 people received one of our quarterly employee awards this year alone. While many of these awards celebrated performance, several team members each quarter were awarded for embodying Karsun’s core values. 

For our Northern Virginia team members, this resulted in teams reconnecting with their community. The neighborhood clean-up team resumed their Adopt-a-Highway project, focusing on a new area near Karsun’s headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. The Wellness Team also led a Fit for Fall Challenge culminating in Run on the Rocks. This event, sponsored by Karsun, benefits Team AIMS, an organization supporting our local Washington, D.C., region and global communities.

The Wellness Team also ensured that our team had the resources to spend their time away from work in the way that best supports their needs. For that reason, we announced several new benefits this year. These updated benefits added parental leave, enhanced paid time off and new employee perks and discounts in addition to the award-winning benefits already enjoyed by Karsun team members. We were honored to receive our first Top Workplaces Culture award for Work-Life Flexibility. These awards came as we renewed our commitment to an open, transparent, employee-centered culture.  

As we prepare for 2024, we are excited to watch our team grow and thrive together. That includes new opportunities to connect and collaborate. We are actively hiring for remote roles nationwide. If you are ready to join us in the new year, check out our open positions and Find Your Next as part of team Karsun.

Big Bang or waterfall development has long been the standard approach to legacy modernization projects. However, government agencies are increasingly turning away from this approach, finding an incremental, agile approach to suit their missions and goals better. For instance, agencies such as Veterans Affairs stating they are moving away from Big Bang projects.

Issues with the Big Bang

In the Big Bang approach, agencies spent years gathering requirements and awarded projects to a single contractor. The contract was then delivered based on these requirements, leaving little room to adapt to changing requirements and needs. Further, since this frequently tied agencies to a single, large systems integrator, there was little opportunity to introduce small and emerging contractors with specialized expertise. The result was delayed, over budget, and underperforming modernizations. 

Taking an Incremental Approach

Agencies are shifting from Big Bang modernization to agile, incremental, or bit-by-bit approaches. In this approach, they identify a minimal viable product (MVP), ensuring the solution first meets the minimum needs of its users. Then, its agile development teams add enhancements to the solution incrementally. This allows agencies to scale up and down, add new programs and features, and adapt to change requirements.

Modernization to Meet the Mission

The result is modernization that meets the agency’s mission. There are additional strategies teams can employ to ensure mission-oriented development. When experts modernize alongside domain experts, that collaboration supports an MVP that will meet the needs of its users. At Karsun, we use processes like event storming, human-centered design, and others to ensure we receive this feedback throughout our engagement. Moreover, working with a partner experienced in combining public sector experience with modern methodologies and tools enhances this synergy further. 

The Karsun Approach

At Karsun, we take this approach to our modernization projects from the beginning. Critically, we also look beyond to understand the application’s purpose and its users’ needs after our departure from the project. This product mindset, which we call Modernization for Every Next, is an incremental approach that allows us to focus on meeting agency missions, introduce emerging solutions at the appropriate time, build secure architecture meant to last, and accelerate transformation with fit-to-purpose toolkits. Learn more about our modernization successes in the Acquisitions, Aviation, Fleet, and Grants industries.

Large-scale, complex transformation projects can be daunting for any enterprise, doubly so for government agencies. At Karsun, we recognize the mission comes first. We consider the technical requirements of our current modernization efforts and the goals and objectives of our agency customers. That includes envisioning every modernization effort as a product, acknowledging the product’s purpose now and its intended use in the future. We call this Modernization for Every Next. 

Modernization for Every Next includes enhancing our customers’ capabilities throughout our engagement. Our toolkits play a crucial role in that process. These toolkits provide valuable insights into the modernization process, scale to support new objectives, and prepare the way for future initiatives. They ensure our subject matter experts can access the resources they need to introduce best practices and accelerate transformation. Managed and maintained by the Karsun Innovation Center, dedicated practice advocates within the Center ensure toolkits incorporate emerging trends and technologies, utilize proven approaches, and follow industry best practices.

GoLean for Greater Insights

Some Karsun toolkits build comprehensive insights around the development and transformation process itself. As part of a broader change management process, this enables Karsun and its customers to focus on the best practices and approaches for them. It provides a benchmark for future process improvements.

Imagine if you had a dashboard that could tell you if a particular type of testing was more effective, demonstrate the return on investment for implementing a new DevSecOps practice, or simply reveal your team was completing its work faster than ever before. This is the purpose of Karsun’s GoLean platform. This agile platform combines diagnostic and prescriptive metrics with automations proven to accelerate development, testing, and DevSecOps practices. 

We are so confident in this approach that we use this toolkit in-house to identify opportunities to improve our practice. As a result, our software development process was appraised at CMMI v2.0 Level 5 (DEV). At this assessment tier, organizations use data-driven insights to drive their process improvement strategy. Less than a hundred government systems integrators nationwide received appraisal at this level.

Accelerate Migration with Cloud Runways

Another one of our toolkits, Cloud Runways, combines in-depth assessment with repeatable playbooks to accelerate certain migration projects. We begin with an assessment. This includes identifying target applications, determining dependencies, and analyzing available technology. This also includes future state analysis, ensuring the proposed solution can scale with you. Next, we build a “runway” for the project. Each runway uses proven playbooks, tasks, and resources.

We have migrated 40+ applications using these runways. These migrations span use cases from low-code/no-code refactoring to container rehosting. As part of our Modernization for Every Next mindset, we offer runways that help you optimize and build new capabilities as you migrate. For instance, our CI/CD for Windows Apps Runway adds DevOps automations when we migrate Windows apps into AWS ECS or Redhat OpenShift. 

While we offer vendor-agnostic solutions, we are also backed by three AWS competencies. To earn these competencies, Karsun proved the expertise of our migration teams through certifications. We also consistently delivered cloud solutions using AWS best practices for government, migration, and DevOps. 

Design for Every Next

Karsun’s Digital Transformation toolkits are among the most recent additions to our toolkit library. Included in this set of toolkits are our UI/UX toolkits. This pairs our human centered design process with a component library to quickly identify and develop user interfaces as part of transformation efforts.

Building on the lived experiences of application users, we apply a domain driven design approach to UI/UX. That includes engaging technical and domain experts in collaboration from the start. We also build in feedback loops throughout application development. This way, domain driven design allows us to model and identify specific aspects of complex systems. For instance, using domain driven design with one grants management customer, we identified opportunities to build eligibility evaluation, fund distribution and reporting as sub-parts of the grants platform. In the next domain driven design step, we take the model one step further. Each of the platform subparts is comprised of the modular building blocks. These include the user interfaces. 

We can then apply resources from our extensive component library to each of these UI building blocks. The resources in this library utilize proven REACT, Angular and other frameworks to quickly create new interfaces. Additionally, a modularized approach lets our teams extend or enhance capabilities as we receive feedback from users as part of the human centered design process. Throughout the design process we are Modernizing for Every Next.

We found using our toolkits dramatically accelerates the digital transformation process. Our experienced technical teams start engagements with proven tools, playbooks and resources. Our data driven processes further empower these teams to receive feedback, adapt and elevate capabilities as they build. Dive into our Innovation Center toolkits to discover how this process gives your agency the power to Modernize for Every Next. 

Karsun was named by employee rating site Comparably among the Best Companies for Career Growth. Key to our commitment to growth is Karsun Academy, our professional development program run through the Karsun Innovation Center (KIC). The Karsun Academy team ensures people of all experience levels, from interns to subject matter leaders, can learn and advance their skills at Karsun.

Growing from the Start

Karsun’s extensive internship program combines codeathons, research, and real-world problem-solving. Likewise, Karsun employees of any tenure can work with the KIC research and development team. Anyone may submit a suggestion for an improved process, new tool or application, or extraordinary idea through the Innovation Radar. Experts in the Innovation Center select submissions each month, work with the submitting teams, and showcase prototypes and their implementation at monthly town hall meetings.

Interested Karsun team members may also participate in different coding challenges, such as those held during Innovation Weeks. Here, they apply emerging technologies to known industry problems. Some Innovation Weeks pair expert panels and certification tracks during these weeklong events.

Growing as Experts

With the many opportunities to experience new technologies, approaches, and tools, Karsun also ensures every team member has the opportunity to earn the professional certifications relevant to them. Karsun hosts various training workshops every month. A combination of external industry experts and Karsun subject matter experts teach these. After training, Karsun employees are eligible for subsidized certification fees. 

Additionally, while many training workshops are taught in a remote-hybrid arrangement, Karsun Academy also provides a virtual training library. These include industry-standard training for key certifications such as the AWS Associate and Professional Certifications. 

Growing as Champions

Karsun team members who are confident in their expertise may also improve their instructional, people leader, and collaboration skills. Weekly brown bags feature employee-to-employee sharing on both technology skills and professional development. Topics range from writing and speaking to emerging AI trends. For team members passionate about a particular discipline, Karsun Practice Areas empower advocates to build resource libraries, connect with technology partners, and introduce industry experts to their teams.

Career Pathing tools transparently reveal the technical and managerial skills required to advance at Karsun. For new and growing supervisors, managers, and team champions, Karsun offers resources and an expanding training library. It also invests in forums, like Brunch Leadership, to receive employee feedback in this career stage.

From early career through established professionals, Karsun has a growth program designed to support their skill development. Each team member has multiple avenues to grow their career through Karsun Academy, the Innovation Center, and other resources. An ongoing commitment to this growth is how every team member can Find Your Next at Karsun.

To learn more about opportunities to grow at Karsun, visit KarsunCareers.com/jobs.

We recently completed one of our favorite annual traditions at Karsun, our intern presentations and celebration. Our onsite interns joined our local Washington, D.C., area employees for an ice cream social this year. We concluded the day with project presentations to our executive and leadership team. Working inside our Karsun Innovation Center, we are constantly inspired by the new approaches to government technology our interns develop. 

Presenting, demoing, and describing their work is crucial to the Karsun internship experience. Our interns presented to their Innovation Center colleagues twice a month during our “Show Don’t Tell” meeting. In addition to contributing to Innovation Center projects, each intern completed a specialized learning path and received mentorship from an Innovation Center leader. As part of their learning path, each intern worked toward a professional certification related to their internship project. 

This information technology internship cohort covered topics ranging from AI/ML and data driven decision-making to driving engagement through well-designed applications. We covered these projects in our blog over the past month. If you missed it, we summarized their incredible work below.

Applications That Drive Engagement

Mithran Mohanraj strengthened his UI/UX skills, built prototype applications, and experimented with approaches to improve engagement with those apps. As part of his internship, he adapted to changing requirements while training alongside design experts in the Innovation Center. In the question and answer portion of his final presentation, Mithran revealed his internship allowed him to experiment with human centered design principles like incremental changes to form designs based on ongoing user feedback. Learn how his experience helped him develop Applications That Drive Engagement.

Building Better with Business Automation

Sinduja Sankar, a computer science graduate student, explored automating dynamic workflows for her internship. Working with experts in the fast-paced Innovation Center, she built a proof of concept using the open source business automation platform Kogito. As she researched the implementation of this tool, she also engaged in bi-weekly Innovation Center “Show, Don’t Tell” sessions. She not only received recognition for her work, she learned from the work performed by other experts and innovators at Karsun. Learn how Sinduja was Building Better with Business Automation.

Exploring Code Generation for Contracts Management

Luca Moukheiber was part of a team developing an AI-assisted contracts management proof of concept. Using a Large Language Model (LLM) to generate code, he built custom interfaces for reporting. In this immersive experience, as Luca studied prompt engineering, he worked closely with teams using AI-assisted development methodologies. Learn more about Luca’s project, Exploring Code Generation for Contracts Management.

Leveraging Data for Agile Decision-Making

Soumya Nambi Ganesh worked with our Innovation Center team to develop a dashboard for executive reporting. The dashboard will ultimately be used for strategic decision-making. She assessed business needs and objectives while participating in every step of the process as part of this project. That included gathering requirements, building data pipelines, transforming the data, and constructing visualizations. She also deepened her understanding of Python as part of her learning path. Read her project and profile to discover how Soumya explored Leveraging Data for Agile Decision-Making.

Applying DevOps Skills to Real-Life Problems

Our final internship project spotlight is Nikhil Davangere Basavaraj’s application of DevOps to a platform developed by the Karsun Innovation Center. As part of this project, he leveraged tools like Terraform to enhance application logging and improve threat detection. While learning real-world security strategies, Nikhil worked with his mentor and prepared for his AWS certifications. Join Nikhil on his cloud journey and learn about his internship experience Applying DevOps Skills to Real-Life Problems.

Each summer, Karsun hosts an internship cohort. Once applications are open, they are listed on our career site, KarsunCareers.com. We hope you join us and Find Your Next in our Innovation Center next year.