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.

Our people at Karsun Solutions, power possible for government agencies. That includes our modernization experts currently building new solutions for complex systems. It also consists of the people that lead and champion their efforts. At Karsun, whether you are building solutions or cheering on our teams, we empower you to Find Your Next.

In this final post in our series on how problem solvers grow while supporting our customers’ missions, we share the experience of team champions and leaders at Karsun. Our team champions are an integral part of our collaborative, problem-solving-oriented culture. That includes providing the resources and tools they need to grow in their practice. Our Karsun Innovation Center has a Lean Practice Area dedicated to this mission. Like the toolkits and other resources provided by our other Practice Areas, this team advocates for project management, process improvement, and operational excellence.

Champions Grow With Karsun

We also support the growth and ongoing professional development of our champions. Every Karsun employee has access to paid training and subsidized professional certifications. We also host people leader workshops and workshops important to emerging leaders. For example, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) scrum master, product owner/product manager and agilist are among our most popular training options for growing leaders.

Karsun sponsors senior team leaders for industry fellowships and mentorship programs as well. We are a longtime supporter of the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) professional development programs. Eleven Karsun leaders are ACT-IAC fellows and several have returned to their programs as leaders and advisors. 

ACT-IAC is a premier forum for collaboration between the government and the technology community. Each of our industry fellows partnered with a government fellow as part of their professional development program. Supporting our team champions’ engagement in organizations like ACT-IAC is how we ensure your growth is part of our commitment to serving our agency customers’ mission. 
As our leaders cheer on their teams, we cheer on their growth at Karsun. Our teams grow together, serving the government and building new, exciting technology solutions. Whether you are one of these champions or someone looking to experiment and build with us, Find Your Next at KarsunCareers.com/jobs. 

This blog is our fourth and final our series our how problem solvers grow at Karsun. Check out our previous posts and discover where we find our next, we experiment for mission success and how our teams collaborate with toolkits.

Last June MeriTalk released its Modernization Hits and Misses: Lessons from Federal Digital Service Innovation report. Among the report’s findings, 99 percent of the federal information technology leaders surveyed said that IT modernization has changed the citizen experience. And you can be part of this government-wide effort to improve government for citizens.

Karsun Solutions’ technology modernization work helps agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency enhance their infrastructure and applications. When you join Team Karsun, you join a group of people inspired to solve problems to help the government serve its citizens better.  Along the way, you will work inside our collaborative culture, access proven toolkits and playbooks, and receive the support to champion your team’s goals. 

Collaborate, Innovate, Champion, and Grow

From collaborators to innovators to team champions, Karsun has opportunities for every problem solver looking to build their career. You can do this as part of a team of experts that puts our customers’ missions at the forefront of our work. Elevate our government agency customers’ capabilities and build exciting solutions when you Find Your Next at Karsun. 

For those who build by innovating and experimenting, the Karsun Innovation Center (KIC) has a wealth of resources to support your career journey. Our in-house research and development team works with innovative teams to take solutions from prototype to production. Our Practice Areas ensure everyone can access mature solutions using emerging technologies. Whether at the forefront of solutioning with emerging technologies or using building blocks created by our experts, Karsun is where experimenters and innovators find their next opportunity to envision the future of government.

Our Karsun problem solvers and experts are also members of our collaborative community. The resources developed by our Innovation Center support collaboration at every stage of the transformation process. Our remote/flexible roles empower self guiding teams to work together in their best work environment. Backed by this collaborative spirit, our teams defy assumptions and deliver extraordinary customer results.

Finally, our team champions lead from the top. Their role is essential to the ideation and execution of complex modernization solutions. Like our problem solvers and builders, our champions have dedicated KIC resources and training opportunities. Moreover, this training integrates knowledge of federal skill sets. At Karsun, leaders growing and building in the public sector will Find Your Next.

At any stage in your career journey, those that use technology to build new tools and solve complex problems can Find Your Next at Karsun. We hope you join us over the next few weeks as we delve deeper into how experimenters, collaborators, and champions meet our customers’ mission while growing at Karsun. Follow along to learn more, or start your career journey now at KarsunCareers.com/jobs. 

Update August 2023: This blog was the first in this series. Check out our previous posts and discover where we experiment for mission success, how our teams collaborate with toolkits and how our team champions power possible.

The Great Resignation is out, and the Big Stay is in. At least according to a recent report from ADP, which observes many people are opting to stay in their current roles rather than risk an unsteady job market. However, at Karsun, we are still growing and want you to grow with us! 

Here growth is about more than moving up (though if that is important to you, we hope you do that too!). It is also about growing your expertise and technical skills in government technology projects. We are an information technology consulting company, but our teams exclusively serve the federal government. If you want to grow your career in public sector IT, there is no better place to be than Karsun. 

Grow to Serve the Mission

We support important missions at agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). We prioritize training to ensure our support of the mission continues. We proudly recall several examples when our teams persevered, despite external constraints. During the 2019 Government Shutdown, rather than send our teams home, we created a training program focused on developing the skills and tools that would best support our agency customers the moment the work stoppage lifted. Likewise, during the early days of the pandemic, one of our teams not only continued delivery on their current project but due to their expertise in enterprise modernization and grants management systems onboarded a new program to support first responders. 

Because our training programs anticipate the needs of our agency customers, we can ensure they meet their missions. And as our customer wins, our teams share in those successes while growing their experience in new technologies and tools. Our Innovation Center has dedicated technical practice areas and experts focused on modernizing Acquisition, Aviation, Grants, and Fleet management systems. These same practice leaders work with our Karsun Academy team to develop tailored training programs to support the needs of our customers and our teams serving them. 

Grow with our Industry

In addition to our in-house resources, we also proudly support local industry organizations like the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC).  In fact, eleven Karsun leaders are ACT-IAC fellows, graduating from one of its exclusive professional development cohorts. We also support organizations such as Women in Technology to ensure our region has diverse opportunities to grow and excel. 

Join our team and not only grow your technical skills but grow your knowledge and experience in public sector IT. In fact, you do not have to be based in the D.C. region to utilize our resources. Karsun hires remote roles nationwide, and all of our team members have access to Karsun Konnect, our virtual portal where they can access the same Innovation Center resources available to our local employees. Many of these tools and courses are designed for remote/asynchronous learning. Visit our Career Development page to learn more about growing with Karsun or apply today at KarsunCareers.com.

Anu Pajjur, a Portfolio Lead at Karsun Solutions, graduated from The American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) Voyagers Program this week. Voyagers is ACT-IAC’s professional development program for rising leaders in government and industry. Pairing government and industry leaders one-on-one, the program prepares mid-level leaders for future roles serving the nation.

Graduates of this professional development program become ACT-IAC Fellows. Karsun is an ongoing supporter of both the Voyagers and Partners programs. With participation in these programs spanning more than a decade, leaders across Karsun programs and portfolios are ACT-IAC fellows. Anu is the 11th fellow from Karsun. She joins a network of 1200+ leaders serving the federal government.

Graduation was held during ACT-IAC’s annual Emerging Technology and Innovation conference. One of ACT-IAC’s flagship conferences, this year’s event addressed trends such as artificial intelligence, Quantum Technology, smart city platforms, robotics and nanotechnology, intelligent automation and 5G. In addition to Anu, Karsun leaders joined conference attendees to collaborate, network and discover the future of government information technology. 

About Anu Pajjur

Anu is a Portfolio Lead at Karsun Solutions. She manages modernization projects from conception through implementation with a focus on building high-performance teams that deliver business solutions in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

A seasoned professional with 20 years of experience, her work spans the software development life cycle, including Project Management, Business Analysis, and Software Development. She has industry standard certifications, including SAFe Scrum Master (SSM) and Professional Scrum Master (PSM1), and is engaged in groups like ACT-IAC for continuous learning and sharing opportunities.

Anu is currently leading a multi-million dollar initiative supporting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Anu’s team began work on Karsun’s FAA Software Solution Delivery support services contract in 2017. The contract provides technical support services and assists in implementing and continuing support of enterprise-wide software application and database development. Under this contract, Karsun also performs maintenance and sustainment of existing systems.

digital architecture built to last. It is a proven modernization partner whose expertise elevates agency capabilities and ensures every next opportunity is within reach.

Karsun’s internship program returned this year, adding a second cohort for exceptional high school and early college STEM students. These two cohorts took the next steps in preparing for their future careers with this program that embeds interns inside the Karsun Innovation Center. The summer programs invited students to imagine the future of government, complete technical certifications, dive into AI/ML and collaborate with experts. 

Nurturing Future Technology Leaders

Here careers grow as Karsun grows. This year that included an expansion to our intern program, enabling that experience to start earlier for high school and college students in their freshman and sophomore years of college. These Student Interns also worked directly with the Karsun Innovation Center and were mentored by previous graduates of the intern program. 

A key focus of the program was imaging the future of technology in government. Working in pairs, our Student Interns picked project topics ranging from digital twins to robotic process automation (RPA). The interns researched these technologies throughout their ten-week program submitting a research paper and presentation at the end of the course.

The intern track for advanced college students, recent grads and graduate students also offered opportunities to work with mentors while building their technical skills. These interns were assigned mentors from one of the KIC Practice Areas. These experts from the Development, Lean, DevSecOps, Data and Solution Practices helped these interns assess and select programs from our Karsun Academy professional development courses. As a result, several members of the class ended their internship with AWS certifications and other credentials.   

“Karsun encourages and supports its workers in obtaining cloud certification in Amazon Web Services for the advancement of their careers is another thing I admire.” – Mayank Tamakuwala

Building with Karsun Innovators

In addition to their research projects, the Student Interns worked in teams on two challenge projects. In one project, they developed a prototype to solve a hypothetical challenge for federal government agencies. The second challenge was a code-a-thon designed to demonstrate the application of data science concepts. In this challenge, the teams applied a digital twin to determine if different images contained pictures of a collapsed lung.

The more experienced interns, worked on real projects under development in the Innovation Center’s R&D unit. Their data science project focused on building a synthetic data platform to improve the security of PII in data modeling. This project culminated with the synthetic data team presenting their findings at an organization-wide Innovation Townhall. 

Some members of the intern program also worked with Karsun’s internal digital workplace team. They assisted with the Karsun Kollaborate project. This initiative examines new ways Karsun team members can connect and collaborate outside of their current delivery teams. Some of these projects were also data focused, using tools like Google Data Studio to improve operational efficiency at Karsun. This was also an opportunity to try low-code/no-code development with to add enhancements to the digital workplace experience.

Collaborating and Presenting to Colleagues

They also participated in Show Don’t Tell sessions, a cornerstone of the internship program. In these weekly meetings, attended by Karsun team members throughout the innovation center, interns demoed and presented their accomplishments. This is also an opportunity to receive feedback from other units in the KIC outside of their practice mentors. At the final Show Don’t Tell event, both groups of interns demoed their projects and presented results from their government technology research projects to Karsun leaders.

“I always felt like my opinion was respected at meetings, even in a room full of people that were far more experienced than me. I also had a great time working with the team, everyone was so willing to help each other and it felt like a comfortable, collaborative environment.” – Akhilesh Varanasi

“I enjoyed the biweekly ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ meetings where I learned about other ongoing projects at KIC. I was introduced to new ideas and tools.” – Sanjana M Moodbagil

Our advanced Summer Interns earned professional certifications, imagined new uses for synthetic data and created tools by Karsun Teams. Meanwhile, our Student Interns experimented with the application of AI/ML, development and other technical concepts as they celebrated innovation while bringing visibility to these future leaders and experts. Through the Karsun Innovation Center, Karsun Academy and other resources, we empower our teams to find their next opportunity to grow at any stage in their education or career.

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.