Minnesota State Mankato Signs 5-year, $2.88 Million Contract with Maverick Software Consulting
University continues 13-year partnership that supports students majoring in technology.
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Mankato, Minn. – Minnesota State University, Mankato has signed a five-year, $2.88 million contract with Maverick Software Consulting that provides students in the University’s Department of Computer Information Science part-time employment and real-world experience in software development (programming) skills.
The new contract extends a University partnership that has employed 142 Minnesota State Mankato students to work on Maverick Software Consulting’s “Project Maverick” since the company started in 2006.
All 142 of those students received full-time employment upon graduation, with 72 hired by Thomson Reuters, which supplies the software development and software testing tasks that students work on while continuing their academic progress, said Michael Wells, a professor in Minnesota State Mankato’s Department of Computer Information Science.
“We are very proud to say that 100 percent of our students who have completed the Project Maverick program have received full-time employment upon graduation,” said Wells. “It is rare to find a partnership where students, industry, faculty and the University all receive such dramatic benefits.”
Wells said students who work a full schedule during the academic year and summer can make enough money to cover their college expenses, including room, board and tuition. He said that many students enter the industry with the equivalent of two years of full-time experience and receive employment offers with salaries in the range of $70,000 annually to start.
Students employed in the Project Maverick program learn about Agile software development methodology, many different programming languages and technologies, how to work remotely, develop their written and oral communication skills and how to act in a professional environment. Work schedules are flexible, and priority is given to student class schedules.
For more information on Project Maverick, contact Wells by phone at 507-389-6659 or by email at michael.wells@mnsu.edu.
According to a description on its website, Maverick Software Consulting is a “first-of-its kind program connecting top computer science students with companies seeking software development testing talent in the United States.”
Minnesota State Mankato’s Department of Computer Information Science is part of the University’s College of Science, Engineering & Technology.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 14,227 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 30 colleges and seven universities.
