Guest Lecture: Bridging the Gap: From College to Industry - A Recent Grad's Perspective

Guest Speaker: Jack Long

Time: Tuesday, March 25, 2025. 1:15pm - 2:30pm Central.

Location: FGH 134

Abstract

There's often a noticeable gap between computer science education and industry practices - from tech stacks and problem-solving approaches to the nature of teamwork. The professional landscape also offers diverse paths for companies of different sizes - a day in the life of a big-tech engineer can be completely different than one working in a startup. Each opportunity can be exciting in its own way, but the number of factors at play are simply overwhelming: application processes, work-life balance, work styles, responsibilities, job security, company politics, and more. Many of you probably have questions about these aspects of professional life, and finding answers to all of them before making career decisions can seem impossible.

As a former Computer Science student at Vanderbilt, I shared these same questions when I was in your seats just a year ago. Through an internship at a big-tech company and working nearly a full year at a startup, I've gathered some insights that might help shed light on some of the key considerations when venturing into the professional world.

Join me on March 25th as I share my software engineering journey. I'll compare experiences at smaller and larger companies, discuss my current role at Phosphorus, reflect on how my Vanderbilt education prepared me for this career, and explore how AI is creating a subtle but significant paradigm shift across our industry.

About Jack Long

Jack Long is a Vanderbilt Computer Science graduate in the class of 2024. He was an international student from Shanghai, China and came to the US since high school. Currently, he is a software engineer on the infrastructure team at Phosphorus Cybersecurity, a Nashville-based startup specialized in IoT and OT Cybersecurity.

During his undergrad, Jack first interned at VU-ISIS for a year in the Multi-Channel Psych project, where he worked on building data automation pipelines. After departing the project, he accepted an internship at Palantir in their Seattle office working as part of their Production Infrastructure group. In senior year of college, Jack started interning part time with Phosphorus Cybersecurity and transitioned into a full-time role upon graduation. His work primarily focuses on cloud infrastructures and full-stack development.

At Vanderbilt, Jack was also part of the Sponsorship committee at VandyHacks, and also the TA for Database Management System (CS3265) and Distributed System (CS6381).