I have just graduated and would like to get into the Compiler Engineering field.
Is the field still in demand? Are there any opportunities? What will I be working on? What tips can you give me?
Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
1–10 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#2mostly i see people working in probabilistic programming languages and formal methods
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#3Mostly semiconductor companies.
Compiler engineers do work for CPU/GPU/FPGA/AI chipsets.
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#4There’s a lot of compiler work in query processors for analytical systems. High-level languages compiling down to machines at different levels of abstraction, LLVM being the lowest and database operator libraries a bit higher. I’d like to find someone interested in pursuing that direction.
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#5What qualifies someone to be a Compiler Engineer?
Compsci degree? Working compilers? Opensource commits? Github repo full of parsers?
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#6Intel, IBM, Nvidia, Google, Red Hat, and MSFT are all currently hiring complier engineers. Experience with LLVM is probably useful for many of those opportunities.
https://us-redhat.icims.com/jobs/75775/software-engineer---l...
https://nvidia.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/NVIDIAExternalCareerSit...
https://careers.ibm.com/ShowJob/Id/764855/Software-Developer...
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#7Julia computing hires compiler talent
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#8IMO, you should forget about compiler engineering as working on the backend of, say, gcc, or llvm. Yes, there are such positions (e.g., intel needs people adapting compilers to new processor instruction sets) but they are few and very specialized.
Instead, think about languages in general. There is a myriad of opportunities between the js eco system, JVM and .NET, things like Rust and even low-level languages like LLVM. It should be straightforward to pick features from one eco system and port them to another. Say linear types from Rust to the JVM. Pick one or two such features, port them to your favorite eco system and provide a prototype compiler/macro library on github. With that kind of experience under your belt, you should be the goto guy for any software company that does tooling in that ecosystem. From that vantage point you could start looking for ever more interesting work.
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#9There has been a resurgence due to the proliferation of more special-purpose processors, like Google TPU or Tesla FSD. I anticipate this trend to continue due to Moore's Law slowdown. However, if you're not really into this, there's no reason to not pursue some other subset as on a relative basis, higher levels of the stack likely will have many more opportunities than infrastructure.
Re: Ask HN: Are compiler engineers still in demand, and what do they work on?
#10IMO, you should forget about compiler engineering as working on the backend of, say, gcc, or llvm. Yes, there are such positions (e.g., intel needs people adapting compilers to new processor instruction sets) but they are few and very specialized. Instead, think about languages in general. There is a myriad of opportunities between the js eco system, JVM and .NET, things like Rust and even low-level languages like LL…
I wonder if the growth of "low-code" will lead to many more well designed domain specific languages.
LookML in Looker is one example I can think of - imo it has enabled Looker to solve the self-service data issue much better via a low-code approach than Tableau and Qlikview (both "no-code").