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This context comes from the book "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell.

If you're too old in nineteen seventy-five, then you'd already have a job at IBM out of college, and once people started at IBM, they had a real hard time making the transition to the new world.

The same usage appears just a paragraph later:

If you were more than a few years out of college in 1975, then you belonged to the old paradigm.

(Wiktionary)

out (adverb):

(informal) Away, or at a distance, in time (relative to, and usually after, the present or a stated event) (often preceded by a stated time period and followed by "from")
Five years out from the passing of the law, nothing had actually changed.
The election is a long way out. (a long way in the future)

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    This question is similar to: "From 4 years out" meaning. If you believe it’s different, please edit the question, make it clear how it’s different and/or how the answers on that question are not helpful for your problem. From the answer there: Using 'out' as a direction from a central location has been common for a long time, e.g. 'We live five miles out of town'. In recent years a similar use has been made of 'out' with respect to time.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 8 at 0:26

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In your first example, there's no time period, so it's not a distance in time. In this case, it's a preposition simply meaning the opposite of "in". When you're in a state "out of college" it means immediately (or shortly) after leaving college, analogous to going out a door.

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