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Welcome Chris Lattner

tesla.com

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Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#41

Post by revelation »

freshyill wrote: post #7

Well, mystery solved. Now, the new mystery: What does this mean for Apple's car project? Yes, I realize he probably didn't have much (or anything) to do with it (whatever it really even is). There are going to be some batshit crazy theories though, and I can't wait to see how this affects Apple's stock price.

Why discuss the imaginary car project that has stealth launched, stealth stopped, stealth started and who can even keep track instead of the company delivering cars now?

This has gotten so much coverage on the back of ... nothing really.

Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#42

Post by pseudometa »

_1 wrote: post #31
Etzos wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you explain why you think there will be a cultural conflict? Do Tesla engineers typically act in ways counter to being nice and humble?

It's more like the person above than the people below.

Chris did work under the leadership of Steve Jobs for 5 years.

Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#43

Post by ianai »

draw_down wrote: post #25
chimeracoder wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wow, that was unexpected. Great poach by Tesla. Tangential, but I really hate the term "poach" when referring to recruiting employees. We shouldn't think of hiring people as "poaching", because employees are not property. You can't "poach" an employee because there's no ownership, and employees should be free to make their own decisions regarding their employment opportunities.

I agree, it's a distasteful term. People choose jobs according to what's best for them and "poaching" implies the employer's interests should matter more than that.

i.e. it's an business management term.

Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#44

Post by n00b101 »

gtrubetskoy wrote: post #23

There's got to be more to this story. You don't spend years developing a language (Swift) as culmination of previous work (LLVM) and then abandon it for a job in a relatively new and different discipline. It doesn't make much sense to me.

My guess is that the Tesla Autopilot Software team is working on language/compiler abstractions to reduce their dependency on semiconductor hardware manufacturers, particularly NVIDIA [1]. NVIDIA hardware has been Tesla cars for many years, and they have a dominating position in both embedded and data center hardware for self-driving AI, and they are not afraid to partner with Tesla's competitors [2]. This whole ecosystem is based on CUDA toolchain, which is built atop LLVM [3]. And Chris Lattner is the original developer of LLVM.

[1] https://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-and-nvidia.html [2] https://www.nvidia.com/object/audi-and-nvidia.html [3] http://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/nvvm-ir-spec/#axzz4VMqXIKfo

Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#45

Post by teacup50 »

gtrubetskoy wrote: post #23

There's got to be more to this story. You don't spend years developing a language (Swift) as culmination of previous work (LLVM) and then abandon it for a job in a relatively new and different discipline. It doesn't make much sense to me.

It's not a positive indicator of the health of Apple's engineering and business/engineering management that they couldn't keep someone in an extremely key technology position.

I'm reminded of their loss of both Avie Tevanian and Bertrand Serlet.

Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#46

Post by aschampion »

Angostura wrote: post #29
chimeracoder wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wow, that was unexpected. Great poach by Tesla. Tangential, but I really hate the term "poach" when referring to recruiting employees. We shouldn't think of hiring people as "poaching", because employees are not property. You can't "poach" an employee because there's no ownership, and employees should be free to make their own decisions regarding their employment opportunities.

I hope you similarly dislike the term 'head-hunt' on the grounds that no-one's head is severed. 'Poach' is a useful metaphor that suggests that one company actively tried to lure an employee from another. It is a metaphor, it doesn't imply that the employee is a chattel. I think one can get a bit too precious about these things.

Language shapes perception shapes language, so it's absolutely worthwhile to be vigilant and critical about the idioms we endorse by adopting, especially for engineered phrases (e.g., "right to work").

Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#47

Post by eugeniub »

Angostura wrote: post #29
chimeracoder wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wow, that was unexpected. Great poach by Tesla. Tangential, but I really hate the term "poach" when referring to recruiting employees. We shouldn't think of hiring people as "poaching", because employees are not property. You can't "poach" an employee because there's no ownership, and employees should be free to make their own decisions regarding their employment opportunities.

I hope you similarly dislike the term 'head-hunt' on the grounds that no-one's head is severed. 'Poach' is a useful metaphor that suggests that one company actively tried to lure an employee from another. It is a metaphor, it doesn't imply that the employee is a chattel. I think one can get a bit too precious about these things.

Yeah, they both sound kind of annoying.

Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#48

Post by vehementi »

bredren wrote: post #18
freshyill wrote: post #7

Well, mystery solved. Now, the new mystery: What does this mean for Apple's car project? Yes, I realize he probably didn't have much (or anything) to do with it (whatever it really even is). There are going to be some batshit crazy theories though, and I can't wait to see how this affects Apple's stock price.

Car is clearly a bet-the-company level product for Apple. Tesla looking more and more like a bet-the-company acquisition.

How many billions does it cost to experiment with Car? How many billions does apple have sitting in cash?

Re: Welcome Chris Lattner

#49

Post by elastic_church »

chimeracoder wrote: post #17
carlosdp wrote: post #6

Wow, that was unexpected. Great hire by Tesla. Interesting move from compiler development to driving AI, though I guess for the VP position, his experience in managing those teams is much more important.

> Wow, that was unexpected. Great poach by Tesla. Tangential, but I really hate the term "poach" when referring to recruiting employees. We shouldn't think of hiring people as "poaching", because employees are not property. You can't "poach" an employee because there's no ownership, and employees should be free to make their own decisions regarding their employment opportunities.

Pedantic, triggered by semantics, username checks out.

Well to play the game, your definition and distinction about property isn't the definition of poaching that the slang was based on. Its more about the one where they steal game (the employees') from another's domain. So the company's are the property and the employees are in the bay area wilderness in and around those companies.

A wild VP appeared! Tesla used money, its super effective!

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