Manish Bhatia from Karsun Solutions Cloud Practice joins two communities affiliated with the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC.) A non-profit organization, ACT-IAC connects the IT industry with government leaders. Bhatia will join ACT-IAC’s Intelligent Automation Working Group and the Igniting Innovation selection committee.
Bhatia joined the Intelligent Automation Working Group. The group is part of ACT-IAC’s Emerging Technology Community of Interest. Group members are charged with assessing the current state of innovation then creating industry recommendations.
Bhatia was also recently selected to evaluate the nominations for ACT-IAC’s annual Igniting Innovation Conference and Awards. The 2019 conference will be held May 23 at the Renaissance Washington, DC and feature keynotes, panels and talks by senior government leaders. Exhibitors are competitively selected by this committee. The 40 exhibitors represent cutting-edge public sector IT innovations.
Bhatia represents Karsun’s collaborative spirit within the IT contracting industry. Karsun routinely participates in ACT-IAC’s fellowship and professional development programs, both as mentee and mentor. Sudhir Duggineni is a member of the 2019 Voyager Class and Shaunak Ashtaputre was recently selected for the 2019 Partner Class. Additionally, Karsun Chief Operating Officer Terry Miller is the industry chair for ACT-IAC’s Partner Program.
The federal IT modernization experts, Karsun Solutions enables enterprise transformation for its government customers. Premier customers include the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and General Services Administration. An innovation-based and performance-driven culture, Karsun Solutions delivers extraordinary outcomes for their customers. Karsun Solutions is an established firm, with a DCAA Approved Accounting System, CMMI Level 5 – DEV appraisal, and ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certifications. Partnering with Karsun Solutions ensures the nimbleness, agility, and access to decision makers of a small business without sacrificing the scalability, capabilities, and experience in modern software development, cloud solutions and advanced analytics of a large firm.
The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) announced Karsun Solutions Director Shaunak Ashtaputre will join their 2019 Partners Program. The Partners and Voyagers programs connect industry leadership with their public sector counterparts. Beginning in 2010 Karsun Solutions leadership prioritized participation in these professional development programs. Director Chae Song (2018) is the most recent graduate, with six additional leadership members counting themselves among the ACT-IAC fellowship program alumni. Sudhir Duggineni is currently a member of the 2019 Voyagers Class.
About Shaunak Ashtaputre
Shaunak Ashtaputre serves as the Director of the Data Analytics Practice. He is an accomplished Data and Solutions Architect, with over 27 years in developing and delivering solutions to modernize enterprise data platforms helping customers maximize the value of their data. Shaunak holds a Master’s degree in Manufacturing Systems and has international experience in leading business intelligence and data practices. He brings sharp focus and drive in enhancing capabilities and creating innovative solutions for streaming data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Shaunak is a recognized data warehousing, big data, and analytics expert. In July 2018 Karsun Solutions announced the launch of the organization’s Karsun Innovation Center Data & Analytics Practice and Shaunak was selected to lead this innovation oriented extension of the firm. He also regularly speaks at industry events.
About Karsun Solutions
The federal IT modernization experts, Karsun Solutions enables enterprise transformation for its government customers including Modern Software Development, Cloud, and Advanced Analytics solutions. The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and General Services Administration are among the firm’s current customers. They are an established firm, with a DCAA Approved Accounting System and CMMI Level 5 – DEV appraisal, as well as ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certifications.
30 March 2019 – University of Southampton
The Karsun Solutions Data and Analytics practice announces Making Sense of Government Data, an analytics hackathon co-sponsored with the University of Southampton. During the event, students will engage with US Spend Data, in either visualization or predictive analytics challenges. The data, hosted at USASpending.gov, is provided by the United State government to improve transparency for citizens and taxpayers. Spanning agencies across the federal government, these analytics challenges help students learn how to make sense out of large and complex data sets.
Jason Marceau, a Director at Karsun Solutions, returns to the University of Southampton to lead the challenge on campus on 30 March 2019. Jason is University of Southampton Alumnus having studied MSc in Business Analytics & Management Science (BAMS) at Southampton Business School 2015/16, gaining a Distinction. In October 2018, Jason visited Southampton and gave a highly successful practitioner talk to the current student cohort about his role at Karsun and how to leverage internship experience in academic and professional settings.
Bringing the hackathon to the University of Southampton is Dr. Cristian Bravo, Associate Professor in Business Analytics, Programme Leader for Business Analytics and Finance (BAF) and Fellow of the Turing Institute www.turing.ac.uk. The event is a partnership between Karsun Solutions and the University’s Centre for Operational Research, Management Science and Information Systems (CORMSIS) www.southampton.ac.uk/cormsis/.
CORMSIS is one of the largest Operational Research/Management Science groups in the United Kingdom. The University of Southampton is ranked in the Top 50 in the World for Operational Research and Statistics, and ranked 7th in the UK (source QS World Rankings 2019). CORMSIS helps people and organizations make better decisions through advanced mathematical and analytical modelling. CORMSIS connects MSc students with practitioners, alumni, and high-profile employers, including governmental and third sector organizations, in the UK and beyond.
The federal IT modernization experts, Karsun Solutions enables enterprise transformation for its government customers including the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and General Services Administration. An innovation-based and performance-driven culture, Karsun Solutions delivers extraordinary outcomes for their customers. Karsun Solutions is an established firm, with a DCAA Approved Accounting System, CMMI Level 5 – DEV appraisal, and ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certifications. Partnering with Karsun Solutions ensures the nimbleness, agility, and access to decision makers of a small business without sacrificing the scalability, capabilities, and experience in modern software development, cloud solutions, and data and advanced analytics of a large firm.
For more details about CORMSIS email cormsis@soton.ac.uk
HERNDON, Virginia —Karsun Solutions Software Development Practice announced that it has been appraised at Level 5 of the CMMI Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)®. The appraisal was performed by Maverick Quality Advisory Services (MQAS). CMMI® is a capability improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance.
An appraisal at maturity level 5 indicates that the organization is performing at an “optimizing” level. At this level, an organization continually improves its processes based on a quantitative understanding of its business objectives and performance needs. The organization uses a quantitative approach to understand the variation inherent in the process and the causes of process outcomes.
“With this appraisal, we will now be recognized by our customers and the market as a high maturity organization,” said Sundar Vaidyanathan. “Holding our Software Development Practice to this standard emphasizes our commitment to excellence as a core value.”
The federal IT modernization experts, Karsun Solutions enables enterprise transformation for its government customers including Modern Software Development, Cloud Solutions, and Advanced Analytics. The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and General Services Administration are among their current customers. They are an established firm, with a DCAA Approved Accounting System and CMMI Level 5 – DEV appraisal, and ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certifications. At the time of the software development unit’s appraisal, fewer than 50 organizations in the United States were rated CMMI Level 5 DEV.
Karsun Solutions Software Development Practice delivers a full suite of services using its quantitatively based GoLean methodology. The GoLean.io lean management toolkit gathers data and events across the development lifecycle. Process visualizations are used to monitor and guide transformation efforts.
“Karsun Solutions is committed to a robust, performance-driven approach to agile development,” Badri Sriraman, Vice President Karsun Innovation Center, said. “Through GoLean we empower a continuous learning culture focused on delivering exemplary customer outcomes.”
The CMMI® Institute (CMMIInstitute.com) is the global leader in the advancement of best practices in people process, and technology. CMMI Institute’s promise is to inspire cultures of continuous improvement that elevate performance and create sustainable competitive advantage.
CMMI Institute offers market-driven solutions that provide insights for baselining and optimizing key organizational capabilities, cybermaturity, and data assets to elevate business performance. For over 25 years, thousands of high-performing organizations in a variety of industries, including aerospace, finance, healthcare, information technology, software, defense, transportation, and telecommunications, have achieved sustainable business success through adopting the CMMI and proved they are capable business partners and suppliers. To learn more about how CMMI can help your organization elevate performance, visit CMMIInstitute.com.
HERNDON, VA – As the 2019 government shutdown continues, Karsun Solutions LLC, an IT modernization contractor for the government, encouraged its employees to hit the books. Offering class as an alternative to absences, employees strengthened their skills supporting Karsun Solutions’ software development, cloud solutions, and advanced analytics practices. The option to pursue professional development and continuing education classes was offered through the company’s Karsun Academy program.
Karsun Academy, initially created to ensure team members earned industry certifications in emerging technology, has grown alongside Karsun Solutions. With a growing headcount, the company was already adding partner-led training to its catalog of classes. During the shutdown, academy participants accessed the extensive menu of certification programs and partner-led training sessions. The company also expanded their offerings adding classes in topics including Angular, Java, C#, PowerShell and Azure. New competencies were reinforced with coursework on Microservices, Domain Driven Design, Web Application Security and Testing Automation.
“Karsun Solutions hires employees for the journey, not the program.” said Karsun Solutions Chief Architect Kartik Mecheri adding “We consider ourselves the Enterprise Modernization Experts. Using this opportunity to deepen employee expertise is part of our commitment to establishing an enterprise-wide culture of innovation.”
David Eden, a Karsun Solutions employee participating in training in Oklahoma City added, “Despite the shutdown, we are making the most of our time away from our normal duties by training on technologies that will help us better serve the Federal government and the American public once we return to our work. Examples are web application security, cloud technologies, and automating the build and deploy processes so we can provide secure, stable, and scalable solutions more quickly, securely and reliably than ever before.”
Team members have access to company thought leaders throughout the year. The organization encourages employee knowledge sharing through its weekly brown bag program. The Karsun Innovation Center, an in-house research and development unit established early in the company’s founding, offers numerous opportunities for employee advancement. Team members may cycle in, receive additional training through one of the organization’s centers of excellence or challenge teams, then return to their teams as embedded experts.
Karsun Solutions is also preparing for more growth in the coming year. Even as the shutdown continues, the talent team is actively hiring. They are prepared to hire in the Greater Washington D.C. and Oklahoma City regions. Bolstered by Karsun Academy, the team feels confident in their ability to rapidly onboard the next generation of team members.
For more information on joining the Karsun Solutions team visit the Karsun Careers Page at karsun-llc.com/careers.
About Karsun Solutions
Karsun Solutions is a fast-growing, innovative enterprise modernization firm. Recently awarded Best Company Culture by Comparably.com, its teams deliver modern software development, cloud, and data solutions to customers at government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration and General Services Administration. Leveraging GoLean, Karsun teams drive digital transformation and help its government customers Do Extraordinary. Learn more at Karsun-LLC.com.
Terry Miller, Chief Operating Officer at Karsun Solutions, will serve as Industry Chair of the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s (ACT-IAC) 2019 Partners Program. ACT-IAC is a non-profit educational organization created to encourage collaboration between industry and government. In its 22nd year, the Partners Program pairs leaders from both government and industry. Participants are selected among rising senior executives. The program is one of three fellowship programs from ACT-IAC.
Support for ACT-IAC’s professional development programs has long been a component of Karsun Solution’s support for the federal IT contracting community. Terry is a graduate of the 2010 Partners Program and was the Chair of ACT-IAC’s Management of Change (MOC) event in 2013. Graduates of the program automatically become ACT-IAC Fellows. Additional Karsun Solutions ACT-IAC Fellows include CEO Sundar Vaidyanathan (2010), Badri Sriraman (2015), Rajaji Bellamkonda (2016), Juan Robles (2017), Jay Kondapalli (2017) and Chae Song (2018). Sudhir Duggineni is a current member of the 2019 ACT-IAC Voyagers Program.
About Terry Miller
Terry is the Chief Operating Officer of Karsun Solutions. Terry works with the operations, business development, and technology teams to prepare Karsun for customer delivery excellence. Prior to joining Karsun, Terry served as the Public Sector COO for Visionary Integration Professionals. He also held various leadership positions at CSC and Harris Corporation. Prior to joining private industry, Terry served as the Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at The White House. In this capacity, he was the liaison between the President and state and local government elected officials.
About Karsun Solutions
The federal IT modernization experts, Karsun Solutions enables enterprise transformation for its government customers. Premier customers include the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and General Services Administration. An innovation-based and performance-driven culture, Karsun Solutions delivers extraordinary outcomes for their customers. Team members are empowered by Autonomy, Accountability, and Advancement. Karsun Solutions is an established firm, with a DCAA Approved Accounting System, CMMI Level 3 – DEV appraisal, and ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certifications. Partnering with Karsun Solutions ensures the nimbleness, agility, and access to decision makers of a small business without sacrificing the scalability, capabilities, and experience in modern software development, cloud solutions and advanced analytics of a large firm.
At Karsun Solutions we encourage our teams to Do Extraordinary! Our teams took that message to heart this year. Join us as we look back at some of Team Karsun’s biggest accomplishments in 2018! For the latest Team Karsun news follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube!
In January, Jyothi Salibindla, a Senior Software Engineer at Karsun Solutions, started the year presenting on microservices implementation in Modern Software Development. As knowledge sharing is built into Karsun’s culture, Jyothi ended the month talking to employees at a microservices brown bag session.
Karsun Solutions leadership celebrated our growing FAA Program at All Hands events in Virginia and Oklahoma. In August of 2017 Karsun Solutions was awarded the five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a $145 million ceiling value. By the end of August 2018 the FAA program would add over 150 people.
Karsun Solutions Co-Founder Kartik Mecheri joins Red Hat’s IT Modernization Roundtable in March 2018. This expert panel discussed DevOps, cloud migration, and microservices architecture at scale. Learn more about Karsun’s approach to DevOps, loosely coupled architecture and CI/CD.
The General Services Administration awarded Alliant Solutions Partner (ASP) the Database and Middleware Systems (DMS) Task Order under the Alliant Small Business contract vehicle. Karsun Solutions is the managing partner of this Joint Venture, and will be the only JV member executing on this contract. This is a single-award contract with a ceiling value of $35 million that spans more than five years. Under this contract, Karsun will be supporting the General Services Administration (GSA) Office of the Chief Information Officer (GSA IT) by providing IT services to manage, support, and modernize its database and application middleware server infrastructure.
Our Virginia Talent Team wrapped up the first part of their Spring Job Fair circuit. Online we launched our virtual talent events including our weekly Thursday chats. Each month we release upcoming fair appearances, featured jobs and employee stories in our Extraordinary Life newsletter.
In the Spring, Karsun Solutions hosted our annual Take Your Child to Work event. This year children were challenged to budget, schedule and plan a vacation. Meanwhile, Team Karsun led sessions on travel related modernization work.
Our Talent Team reached out to graduating seniors at local universities. Karsun Solutions CEO Sundar Vaidyanathan spoke to students at the University of Maryland. Team leads joined George Mason University’s Just in Time hiring event.
Karsun Solutions was named a Finalist for the 2018 Moxie Award. The program recognizes innovative companies in the DC Metro area. Innovation is a core component of Karsun culture. The Karsun Innovation Center, launched early in the organization’s founding, prototypes solutions and forms partnerships with 
emerging technology vendors.
Karsun celebrated families at our annual company picnics in Oklahoma and Virginia. Families in Oklahoma took in an Oklahoma City Dodgers game. In Virginia, families traversed a challenge course at an adventure park.
That summer, we welcomed Karsun’s 2018 Intern Class. These students worked directly with our Innovation Center and Program Teams. Like other members of Team Karsun they were tasked with understanding a difficult customer problem and working with their teams to prototype and implement a solution. Karsun Director Jason Marceau summarized the best way to get value from these summer projects here.
Karsun Solutions joins the Inc. 5000 for the fourth year in a row. Only one in six companies make the list four times. Firms are ranked in the Inc. 5000 based on their growth over the past three years. Ranking four times in a row represents a remarkable seven years of growth.
The Karsun Executive Team join host Jason Miller on Federal News Radio’s Views from the Corner Office. The interview is an opportunity to share Karsun’s innovative approach to enterprise IT 
modernization.
In the Fall of 2018, Karsun Solutions is awarded its first full and open contract. The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded Karsun Solutions, LLC the Federal Emergency Management Agency Grants Management Modernization (FEMA GMM) Program contract. This is a five-year single award BPA with a ceiling value of $80 million.
Karsun SDET Aditi Mulay speaks at SeConfChicago. Her talk explores balancing UI testing with API and unit tests. The event is the official Selenium conference for test automation professionals.
The Securities and Exchange Commission awards the SEC One OIT contract vehicle to several small businesses including KHS Solutions. An SBA approved mentor-protege 8(a) JV, KHS Solutions is a partnership with Karsun Solutions serving as the mentor and MindCubed serving as the protégé. An indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of $2.5 billion, the six information technology channels served under the vehicle are Platform and Application Development, Operations and Maintenance, Business Solutions Delivery, Information Security, Data Management and Analysis, IT Governance, and Technology Business Management. Visit our Contract Vehicles section for a complete list of all vehicles.
Karsun Academy finishes the year with presentations from our partner organizations. This training program is one of several professional development opportunities Karsun offered to employees.
Team Karsun finished the year with their annual Holiday Potlucks. With almost 300 employees these were exciting opportunities to celebrate Karsun’s continued growth.
Join us as we look back at some of our biggest corporate accomplishments in our Karsun Solutions 2018 in Review.
In January, Innov8tiv Magazine named Jyothi Salibindla, a Senior Software Engineer at Karsun Solutions, one of their Top 50 Women in Tech. She also started the year presenting on microservices implementation in Modern Software Development at both Wonder Women Tech and IEEE’s Women in Engineering Technical Talks. These events connected presenters with executives, innovators and thought leaders.
Karsun Solutions leadership also celebrated our growing FAA Program at All Hands events in Virginia and Oklahoma. In August of 2017 Karsun Solutions was awarded the five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a $145 million ceiling value. By the end of August 2018 the program would add over 150 people.
In February 2018, Chae Song, Director at Karsun Solutions joined the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s (ACT-IAC) Partner Program. Members of this 21st class of ACT-IAC fellows are senior executives rising within their respective organizations. Chae would complete the program and graduate in October 2018.
Karsun Solutions Co-Founder Kartik Mecheri joins Red Hat’s IT Modernization Roundtable in March. This expert panel discussed DevOps, cloud migration, and microservices architecture at scale. Learn more about our approach to DevOps, loosely coupled architecture and CI/CD.
Later that month, the General Services Administration awarded Alliant Solutions Partner (ASP) the Database and Middleware Systems (DMS) Task Order under the Alliant Small Business contract vehicle. Karsun Solutions is the managing partner of this Joint Venture and will be the only JV member executing on this contract. This is a single-award contract with a ceiling value of $35 million that spans more than five years. Under this contract, Karsun will be supporting the General Services Administration (GSA) Office of the Chief Information Officer (GSA IT) by providing IT services to manage, support, and modernize its database and application middleware server infrastructure.
We offer a portfolio of enterprise IT modernization solutions across our development, cloud and analytics practices. As an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, Karsun spotlighted this valuable partnership within our Cloud Solutions practice in April 2018. Learn how we Do Extraordinary, Defy Assumptions and deliver customer value with Amazon Web Services.
In May, Sundar Vaidyanathan, Co-Founder and CEO of Karsun Solutions, was elected as a Vice Chair for Finance to the Industry Advisory Council (IAC). The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) is a non-profit educational organization established to improve government’s service delivery and operational performance through the effective and innovative application of technology. More one ACT-IAC can be found at www.actiac.org.
Karsun Solutions was named a Finalist for the 2018 Moxie Award. The program recognizes innovative companies in the DC Metro area. Innovation is a core component of Karsun culture. The Karsun Innovation Center, launched early in the organization’s founding, prototypes solutions and forms partnerships with emerging technology vendors.
Shan Palanivelu and Badri Sriraman, both part of the Karsun Innovation Center, presented at DevFestDC in June. The event brings together innovative developers from across the DC region. They spoke on their experience building data pipelines in Kubernetes using scalable microservices with architectural patterns like Event Sourcing and Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS).
That month, Karsun also announced the launch of their Data Modernization Center of Excellence. The new COE comes as the organization adds a Data Practice to the Karsun Innovation Center. Shaunak Ashtaputre was announced as the new Director of the practice and COE.
Karsun joins the Inc. 5000 for the fourth year in a row in August 2018. Only one in six companies make the list four times. Firms are ranked in the Inc. 5000 based on their growth over the past three years. Ranking four times in a row represents a remarkable seven years of growth.
In September, the Karsun Executive Team join host Jason Miller on Federal New Radio’s Views from the Corner Office. The trio shares their thoughts on the new capabilities oriented proposal climate. Listen in and learn about Karsun’s disruptive approach to government IT modernization.
In the Fall of 2018, Karsun is awarded its first full and open contract. The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded Karsun Solutions, LLC the Federal Emergency Management Agency Grants Management Modernization (FEMA GMM) Program contract. This is a five-year single award BPA with a ceiling value of $80 million.
Karsun Solutions LLC also completed a novation for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading-Edge Solutions (EAGLE II) Functional Category 1 (FC1) Unrestricted Vehicle. The organization recently acquired the DHS Software Development Business Unit from EPS Corporation. With this acquisition and the completion of the novation, Karsun is now a prime contractor on the EAGLE II vehicle.
The Securities and Exchange Commission awards the SEC One OIT contract vehicle to several small businesses including KHS Solutions. An SBA approved mentor-protege 8(a) JV, KHS Solutions is a partnership with Karsun Solutions serving as the mentor and MindCubed serving as the protégé. An indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of $2.5 billion, the six information technology channels served under the vehicle are Platform and Application Development, Operations and Maintenance, Business Solutions Delivery, Information Security, Data Management and Analysis, IT Governance, and Technology Business Management. Visit our Contract Vehicles section for a complete list of all vehicles.
In October 2018, Karsun Solutions SDET Aditi Mulay speaks at SeConfChicago. Her talk explores balancing UI testing with API and unit tests. The event is the official Selenium conference for test automation professionals.
The Karsun Innovation Center establishes partnerships with key IT vendors. As part of that relationship, Karsun Academy brings in partners to educate Karsun teams on up and coming technology. The KIC finished the year with a series of workshops and brown bag sessions.
BE GREATER is the challenge we give to all employees at Karsun Solutions. Professional development is one of our core values. We offer the Karsun Academy program as part of our commitment to nurturing enterprise modernization expertise among team members. Karsun offers multiple avenues for in-demand IT skills development through this program.
Workshops from the Karsun Innovation Center
Participation in innovation is a pillar of Karsun culture. The Karsun Innovation Center (KIC) is Karsun’s in-house research and development team. KIC team members act as expert resources for teams at Karsun. As part of that mission, team members establish industry partnerships. Innovation partners include AWS, Appian, Microsoft, and Red Hat. KIC also brings in partner experts to host workshops on topics like DevSecOps and data streams in Internet of Things implementations.
Employee Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge sharing is an extension of our continuous learning culture and GoLean methodology. As part of that philosophy, Karsun also hosts a recurring brown bag series. Teams share insights and learning with their peers across the enterprise. Karsun employees are encouraged to participate in local industry groups. Employees are also encouraged to share their findings through outside organizations. Recent presenters are also invited to present internally at Karsun. Employees were recently treated to talks on microservices and serverless architecture.
Certification Programs
Karsun Solutions’ AWS certification classes are one of the earliest manifestations of the Karsun Academy program. Today Karsun employees have the opportunity to receive training and support for either their AWS Associate or Professional Certifications. They may also work with their supervisor to seek out IT skills certification opportunities in any of our three practice areas: Modern Software Development, Cloud Solutions, or Advanced Analytics.
We are rapidly growing and looking for team members excited to grow with us. Apply through our careers page to join us in Oklahoma, Virginia or Washington, DC. To learn more about professional development at Karsun, speak directly with one of our recruiters during our weekly Talent Thursdays chats. For the latest job openings and Karsun news follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube.
2025 Update: This blog post was originally published in 2018. Ready to start your journey with the Enterprise Modernization Experts? Find Your Next and learn how you can grow with our professional development programs. If you are a Karsun employee seeking Karsun Academy resources please visit our Employee Resources Page.
Jason Marceau is a Director at Karsun Solutions. He holds a Master’s of Science in Business Analytics and Management Science from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. Recently he returned to the University of Southampton to share his summer project experience with aspiring students and reveals how the program continues to inspire his work within Karsun’s Advanced Analytics practice. This post first appeared on LinkedIn.
Graduate summer projects are an excellent opportunity to work directly with practitioners in students’ chosen field of study. Programs pair advanced students with employers, where they research real-world challenges and prototype solutions. Summer projects act as an extension of coursework building toward students’ capstones or dissertations. Karsun Solutions engages with students locally on such projects and as part of my dissertation at the University of Southampton I participated in such a project, an experience that informs my work today.
Below I share my summer project journey for those that were not able to attend the CORMSIS (Center for Operations Research, Management Science, & Information Systems) lecture at The University of Southampton, UK. These are helpful insights for any student that may have the opportunity to participate in an in-depth summer project with their advanced or graduate studies. I summarize the high points related to leveraging the value of these projects. Though to hear my stories of the great adventure and experience you’ll have to find me at my next engagement at the University of Southampton.
While my lecture focused on CORMIS and its analytics projects, a summer project supporting any advanced studies or dissertation allows you to apply academic knowledge, build your network, prepares you for progressive hiring processes, and builds your personal story.
Apply Academic Knowledge
A summer project brings the academic knowledge to life and allows for an understanding of the practical application. However, the value goes much deeper. Embrace every moment you have within the project and company to learn. You will learn far beyond the academic application here if you seek it out. Also, many will encounter challenges along the way. If in fact those that do will be better served by the experience. It will force you to learn to adapt, have alternatives, and overcome obstacles for success. This is a key element that you can speak to when interviewing with companies. This will make you stand out as a problem solver and someone who can overcome adversity.
Build your Network
Building your network can perhaps be one of the most powerful things you do during the summer project. You see I am not really that smart, I just know a lot of smart people. The point being no one has all the answers, but the power of a network often does and it can open many doors not seen by others.
Prepare for Interviews
Many progressive companies have changed their hiring process from interviews to technical challenges first. This weeds out those that only understand the academic. In fact, the company I work for Karsun Solutions does exactly this in many cases. It takes the risk out of knowing if someone can interview well but can’t do the job.
Build your Personal Story
Seek out the greatest experience and if it scares you then it is the probably the right answer. The culmination of academic, practical, relationships, experiences, challenges, failures, and successes all develop your personal story. A good story will often make your stand out when seeking an opportunity, it will keep you hungry for more, and it is fun to tell.