Jim Keller to Depart Intel • Hacker News Board

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#21

Post by znpy » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:38 PM UTC

skummetmaelk wrote: post #18

walrus01 wrote: post #15

Resigned effective immediately, announced the same day due to "personal reasons" is not a good look. Anyone who's spent a sufficient amount of time reading $BIGCORP press releases immediately sees how it stands out from the usual PR fluff. In situations where I have seen that in the past, the person was caught in grievously bad, unambiguous case of sexual harassment, racism or something equally socially despised. If…

Or they find out they have an aggressive terminal illness.

That would be a reasonable explanation... But let's hope it's not that.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#22

Post by data_spy » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:39 PM UTC

gyre007 wrote: post #14

seebetter wrote: post #6

Jim’s talk with Lex Friedman was quite amazing. Highly recommend listening- https://youtu.be/Nb2tebYAaOA

I love all of Lex's podcasts. They've been truly mind-expanding for me personally.

Lex is a bit quirky, but I like that.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#23

Post by nickysielicki » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:41 PM UTC

gigatexal wrote: post #11

jaas wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It says "for personal reasons," which is not text I would expect if he was just going to another company.

He could have had a falling out with Intel losing their edge

These things are in development for many years before they hit silicon, I don't think his time at intel has been long enough for that to be true. More likely, IMO, is that the same bureaucracy that lead to intel falling behind drives people like Keller away.

If scaling pipelines is hard, scaling pipeline pipelines is harder.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#24

Post by ksec » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:41 PM UTC

klohto wrote: post #16

If Jim is going back to Apple or AMD then the Intel struggle won’t stop anytime soon. As much as I like Apple, I hope his choice will be AMD.

Every time I criticise Intel, Or more like pointing out facts , supporters will always use Jim Keller as the excuse, as if he was the silver bullet.

Intel's struggle has nothing to do with is processors' design. Sunny Cove and Willow Cove ( aka Icelake and TigerLake ) were close to design complete before Jim Keller joined. Intel's problem is with their manufacturing, both technical and economical. And Jim Keller is not a Fab guy, nothing he could do to fix this.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#25

Post by data_spy » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:43 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #19

walrus01 wrote: post #15

Resigned effective immediately, announced the same day due to "personal reasons" is not a good look. Anyone who's spent a sufficient amount of time reading $BIGCORP press releases immediately sees how it stands out from the usual PR fluff. In situations where I have seen that in the past, the person was caught in grievously bad, unambiguous case of sexual harassment, racism or something equally socially despised. If…

Your throwing of shade is unwarranted: > Intel is pleased to announce, however, that Mr. Keller has agreed to serve as a consultant for six months to assist with the transition.

I agree with the shade bit, however, I've personally seen several high visibility execs 'fired' with this exact line about staying on for 6 months for the transition. I've never seen anyone stay longer than 4 weeks.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#26

Post by nickysielicki » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:45 PM UTC

seebetter wrote: post #6

Jim’s talk with Lex Friedman was quite amazing. Highly recommend listening- https://youtu.be/Nb2tebYAaOA

I wish that the interviewer had more background in computer architecture. A lot of these questions wouldn't be asked if he took an architecture class in school.

Keller says a lot of interesting things in this interview that aren't followed up on. He calls for more substantial changes and architectural changes, I wonder what he thinks of spatial architectures.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#27

Post by close04 » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:48 PM UTC

gigatexal wrote: post #11

jaas wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It says "for personal reasons," which is not text I would expect if he was just going to another company.

He could have had a falling out with Intel losing their edge

He was probably there specifically to help Intel regain that edge. But he may not have received enough support to implement his vision, or simply he had a personal reason to leave.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#28

Post by eatbitseveryday » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:48 PM UTC

My guesses to this are either 1) leaving due to not a good culture fit or 2) literally a personal reason (e.g., health).

Intel has a culture which isn't exactly amenable to working flexibly, or to someone coming in and making lots of changes to the culture itself.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#29

Post by walrus01 » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #19

walrus01 wrote: post #15

Resigned effective immediately, announced the same day due to "personal reasons" is not a good look. Anyone who's spent a sufficient amount of time reading $BIGCORP press releases immediately sees how it stands out from the usual PR fluff. In situations where I have seen that in the past, the person was caught in grievously bad, unambiguous case of sexual harassment, racism or something equally socially despised. If…

Your throwing of shade is unwarranted: > Intel is pleased to announce, however, that Mr. Keller has agreed to serve as a consultant for six months to assist with the transition.

If I'm being critical of anyone, it's the person who wrote the press release and decided on the "effective immediately" and same date, not Keller. They have to be aware of the optics of it.

Re: Jim Keller to Depart Intel

#30

Post by fizixer » Thu, Jun 11, 2020, 10:06 PM UTC

Best guess: Jim Keller came in with guns blazing about how Moore's law is not dead and if you believe so you're stupid.

He was a comp-architecture guy counting on the device/physics folks to deliver. They didn't, while Jim put his reputation on the line. He probably resigned in disappointment and/or protest.

- Moore's law is dead at the physics level.

- Exponential tech progress doesn't stop but it won't be in the form of Si FETs, at least not in the foreseeable future.

- There is plenty of opportunity at the higher layers of abstraction though.

- Fortunately the AGI problem has escaped Moore's law (AGI can happen with existing node technology). And in my opinion that's all that matters for the next 10 years.