When: Monday, September 21, 2026
Time: 3:00 - 3:50 pm
Where: RB353
Coding Is No Longer the Hard Part—So What Matters? Let’s Talk About Software Engineering and Your Career in the AI Age
Yufei Yan – Workday (Evisort) and
BSU CS Industry Advisory Board
Abstract: Software engineering is changing quickly, and some of the most fundamental shifts are already reshaping engineers’ day-to-day development work. In this talk, the speaker will share recent experiences from practical software development, especially around how engineers write, review, and think about code in the AI age, and discuss what these changes may mean for CS students preparing for their careers. The talk will cover which computer science fundamentals are becoming more important, which skills may matter less than before, and how students can build practical experience, prepare for interviews, and become more competitive in a changing job market. Rather than trying to predict the future, the talk will offer a practical perspective on how software engineering is evolving and how students can prepare for what comes next.
Bio: Yufei Yan is a software engineer at Workday. He joined Workday through its acquisition of Evisort, an AI-powered contract intelligence startup, in 2024. From 2012 to 2014, he worked as a software engineer at Huawei Technology, developing embedded systems for mobile broadband devices.
Yufei participated in the Sino-American 1+2+1 Dual-Degree Program and earned bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science from Ball State University and Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2012. After several years in industry, he joined the Ph.D. program in Computer Science at Auburn University in 2015, where he conducted research in the Mobile Computing Lab. He later earned his master’s degree in Computer Science from Auburn University in 2022 and returned to industry by joining Evisort.