In the Computer Sciences Capstone, students can gain real-world experience — and launch their careers ahead of graduation.
By Taylor Wilmot x’26
As a senior triple majoring in computer, data, and information sciences, I’ve sampled my fair share of UW–Madison’s course catalogue. Some of my highlights (I’m looking at you, DANCE 101) might surprise you. But if I had to recommend one class, it would be CS 620, the Computer Sciences (CS) Capstone. In it, students work with industry partners on actual business problems. In exchange, we’re offered real-world, hands-on experience.
First launched in 2020 as a class of just 26 students by Program Director (and alumna) Amber Field ’05, the Capstone course has since expanded to serve hundreds of students. As of fall 2025, there’s a second section of the course taught by Professor of Practice Leah Ujda MA’07. Both instructors teach a human-centered approach to digital product development, with Ujda drawing on her extensive user experience (UX) industry experience. I’m a naturally creative person, so I jumped at the chance to be one of the first students to enroll in Ujda’s class.
Students solve open-ended problems
Over the course of the fall 2025 semester, my Capstone team and I partnered with KinCapsule, an AI-powered storytelling platform, to redesign their website and integrate new technical features for improved user experience. Through trial and error — and using the tools we learned in class — we embraced the challenge of finding solutions to open-ended problems.
The Capstone syllabus is organized around Agile, the iterative, team-based workflow used in software development and project management. In addition to reading about it in a textbook written by Field, students in the Capstone learn through immersion by running sprints, holding daily standups/Scrums, and managing Kanban boards. Don’t worry if those terms sound like jargon. By the time I completed the course, this rhythm was second nature.
Ujda, who previously led UX teams at Indeed, Grafana Labs, and Widen Enterprises, grounds her section in the fundamentals of user experience, offering experiential learning opportunities rooted in accessibility, usability, and industry best practices.
“Delivering a great user experience is everyone’s responsibility, not just the folks with ‘UX’ in their job title,” she explains. “Capstone students come out of class with exposure to visual design fundamentals, experience running accessibility audits, and practice collecting, analyzing, and applying user insights to development decisions.”
“The lines between roles are getting blurry”
Internships may feel increasingly hard to come by, but the Capstone offers undergrads like me an entry point to “the real world”:
- Rea Mammen ’24 took Field’s Capstone course in her final semester, during which she worked with Holos, a virtual reality startup. She impressed them so much that she was offered a full-time role. In 2025, she returned to the Capstone course as a speaker on a career panel.
- Allyssa Thao x’26 took on a UX role on her Capstone team supporting Wisconsin Public Media. The strong work she delivered became a highlight in her professional portfolio, and ended up landing her an internship with HNTB (an infrastructure design firm) the following semester.
- After Indigo Clark x’26 designed an impressive app for the Trempealeau County Parks & Recreation Department during the Capstone course, Ujda hired her as a studio assistant for LIS 470 (Interaction Design). Clark now teaches other students how to get started with Figma, a popular design tool used across industries.
For me, another benefit of the Capstone course was experience working in multidisciplinary teams. “The lines between roles are getting blurry,” says Ujda. “It’s no longer the case that you can ‘just’ be a software developer without thinking about customers or market viability.” The most competitive candidates in today’s job market aren’t just technically strong, she says. They’re cross-functional.
Learning to thrive in ambiguity
What makes the Capstone different from nearly every other course in the CS curriculum is what it doesn’t give you: a clear set of instructions. No one tells you exactly what to build, how to divide the work, or what the right answer looks like. You’re handed a problem, a team, a company partner, and the autonomy to figure it out together.
That uncertainty is the point. It mirrors the reality of working in tech, where requirements are incomplete, stakeholders disagree, and the roadmap changes without warning: “Learning to live in a bit of ambiguity is really beneficial for students,” Ujda continues. “In the Capstone course, students have to figure out how to do a good job without directions. It’s hard, but they get to do it in a very supportive environment.”
Speaking from my own experience, this builds resilience. Capstone graduates have an easier time acclimating to professional life. “In the middle of the semester, student feedback often sounds like, ‘I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing and I’m stressed,’” says Ujda. “But by the end of the course, there’s a shift to, ‘I feel empowered. I got to take charge of something, and this was really cool.’”
Beyond building my confidence, the Capstone course left me with invaluable interpersonal skills. While artificial intelligence might be helpful for vibe coding (if you’re into that), it can’t navigate difficult conversations, build consensus, or earn trust. I look forward to bringing that know-how to my post-graduation role as a CoreDx Cybersecurity Analyst in Abbott’s IT professional development program.
If you have the chance, enroll in the Capstone course. Your résumé will thank you.