One of the things I’m most proud of during my career is creating and running UW-Madison’s Computer Sciences Capstone course (CS 620). Every semester, hundreds of computer science Seniors work in teams of four to six on real software projects for real organizations, using agile development practices. They ship actual code and present to professional stakeholders, while receiving continual feedback from mentors who work in the field.
And every semester, I need great partner organizations to make it happen. Last year, we had 27 amazing partners and we’re looking to grow quite a bit to accommodate 40% more students for the 2026-2027 school year.
Over the summer is our main recruiting time for partners, and I’d love to tell you what that looks like and why, if you work at a company, research lab, startup, or nonprofit that has a software or data challenge to solve, this might be exactly what you’ve been looking for.
What Is the CS Capstone?
UW-Madison’s Computer Sciences Capstone (CS 620) offers undergraduates real-world, hands-on experience while learning and using best practice software development techniques and agile principles. A capstone project leverages a student’s classroom experience and enables them to put classroom lessons into real-world practice, designed to launch them into successful careers in the private and public sectors.
Our partners range from large companies like Capital One, Amazon/Shopbop, and Google, to startups like Holos and nonprofits like PBS Wisconsin. The diversity of the partner roster is one of the things that makes the course so rich.
Next semester, we’ll have around 250 students taking the course. A recent student put it well: “With a class like this, you know right from the get-go this is how companies do it. And I’m hearing from people in the field that I should know this in the future.”
A new opinion piece just published on the CS department website, Capstone Course Prepared Me for a Career in Tech, is worth a read if you want a student’s perspective on what this experience actually means for career preparation.
What’s In It for Partners
Organizations participate for a wide variety of reasons:
Meet and recruit future employees. The capstone is a semester-long interview. You get to see how students think, how they handle ambiguity, how they collaborate under pressure, and whether they’d be a great fit for your team, before you ever post a job listing.
Solve a real technical challenge. Students bring fresh perspectives and up-to-date skills to actual problems your organization is facing. This isn’t theoretical work, it’s production-quality software development and many companies are using the course as a way to explore new AI-based solutions.
Form close connections with UW-Madison faculty and students. Partners become part of the UW-Madison CS ecosystem, with opportunities for ongoing relationships well beyond a single semester.
Network with other project sponsors. Our partner cohort is a community of organizations that care about building the next generation of tech talent. The connections partners make with each other are an underrated benefit of the program.
Help shape the future of technology education. Partnering on CS 620 is a direct investment in building the Wisconsin tech pipeline and in influencing what the next generation of developers knows how to do when they enter the workforce.
As one partner CEO put it: “Partnering on UW-Madison’s Computer Sciences Capstone has been a rewarding experience. It’s a wonderful way to engage with bright young minds, offering them real-world experience while giving us fresh perspectives and innovative thinking.”
What Makes a Good Capstone Project
The best projects are ones that have a clear problem to solve, a defined scope that can be meaningfully advanced over a semester, and someone at your organization who is genuinely excited to mentor a team of sharp students.
Projects have included web applications, data analysis tools, mobile apps, dashboards, research software, automation pipelines, and more. If your organization has a software or data challenge and you’d like some motivated, talented Senior CS students working on it under real agile practices, it’s worth a conversation.
I’ve written more about what the capstone looks like from the inside and how we’ve grown the program in this post on my blog, if you’d like more context before reaching out.
How to Get Involved
If you’re interested in becoming a partner, the best first step is to reach out to Justin Hines, Director of Corporate Relations to discuss the opportunity. You can also submit a project idea directly using the form on the CS 620 partner page.
And of course, feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions. I love talking about this program and would be happy to walk you through what a great partnership looks like.
The students in this course are remarkable. If you give them a real problem and genuine mentorship, they will surprise you every time.
CS 620 is offered every fall and spring semester at UW-Madison. Partner project submissions are welcome at any time. Learn more at cs.wisc.edu/computer-sciences-capstone-course.
