> No university class teaches modern compilers Yeah... hence why you need a PhD. 90% of domain knowledge in this field isn't even written down - you have to si

> No university class teaches modern compilers Yeah... hence why you need a PhD. 90% of domain knowledge in this field isn't even written down - you have to sit down with a wide range of people to learn from them - which you get to do on a PhD. > Many major companies that maintain programming languages do not require PhDs in order to work on their compiler teams They don't require it... but look at who's actually there and how many of them in practice have a PhD. > if you are biased towards people with PhDs and preexisting experience for junior hires As I've said elsewhere I've taken on people with no high-school diploma and zero experience in the past - I'm not personally gatekeeping.