3 ms·

You write that you currently work full time at Microsoft, a company with a large developer tools division that actively develops several language compilers. Hav

by dpe82 4y ago

You write that you currently work full time at Microsoft, a company with a large developer tools division that actively develops several language compilers. Have you reached out to managers in those groups to learn if they have (or could create) opportunities that match your interests?

wwwigham 4y ago
This tbh. If the compiler the Microsoft team maintains is open source (which most of the ones people have heard of are), having involvement in that open source community would probably also be a plus - it helps show the practical part of practical compiler development. Anyways, many public-facing compilers (C++, C#, VB, F#, the .NET runtime as a whole, TypeScript) are in the devdiv org - if you look up Julia Liuson in the org chart and explore down from there, you can probably get a good idea of who you most want to grab coffee with (or whatever the remote work equivalent of that is now). Outside of devdiv, there's also some esoteric c++ compilers, PowerShell, and SQL compilers housed in the windows and azure orgs, plus iirc there are some people who work on v8 fulltime around the edge team now, too. Point is that you've got much more direct access to those teams and opportunities than most people already, being only an internal transfer away - hopefully you can make use of that.
- rl3 4y ago
  Don't forget Microsoft Research. I mean, OP has been working on their PhD for four years now (albeit part-time).
- pm215 4y ago
  Great point -- if you work for a large company, an internal transfer can be a great way to switch career specialties. Because the company already knows you well they're often willing to consider you even if you don't yet have much in-specialty experience in the new role. I got my start doing full time open source work by making an internal transfer (not in MS, different firm).
- bmitc 4y ago
  It is my understanding that the language teams of C# and especially F# are actually quite small, and I imagine competitive. I would wager that there's more compiler work to be done in Microsoft Research. This is a hunch based on things I have read.
  - eru 4y ago
    Yes, but can't hurt to reach out in any case.
    - bmitc 4y ago
      Oh for sure. Microsoft seems like a good place to work anyway, with a ton of stuff going on.
mcv 4y ago
Exactly what I thought. Microsoft is probably one of the most appropriate companies to work for if you want to work on compilers. If Microsoft is not working out, I guess Apple would be a great alternative.
- shagie 4y ago
  Or other companies that have systems with custom built languages. I'm thinking in particular https://careers.hpe.com/us/en/job/HPE1US1125114EXTERNALENUS/Software-Engineer-for-Chapel-Team https://careers.hpe.com/us/en/job/HPE1US1125114EXTERNALENUS/... though there's also https://careers.hpe.com/us/en/job/HPE1US1131683EXTERNALENUS/C-and-C-Compiler-Developer https://careers.hpe.com/us/en/job/HPE1US1131683EXTERNALENUS/...
google234123 4y ago
I really don’t get this post. They are working on a phd in compilers and work at one of the best software companies in the world. Why can’t they just try and transfer?
- ShamelessC 4y ago
  Yeah they are basically overqualified.
  - simonh 4y ago
    In something as super specialised as compiler engineering there's no such thing a over-qualified.
jll29 4y ago
You could switch to academia if your Ph.D. period generated some good publications. This means a downround in terms of salary, but trading that cash against freedom to pursue your own ideas. If you are already teaching voluntarily on the side, that is a signal that it could be the career for you. If you are open to working with grammars & parsing algorithms also in non- deterministic ways, you could consider a research career in NLP. Finally, you could apply to work for a specialist compiler company (JetBrains, Green Hills Software etc.).

by dpe82 4y ago

wwwigham 4y ago

This tbh. If the compiler the Microsoft team maintains is open source (which most of the ones people have heard of are), having involvement in that open source community would probably also be a plus - it helps show the practical part of practical compiler development. Anyways, many public-facing compilers (C++, C#, VB, F#, the .NET runtime as a whole, TypeScript) are in the devdiv org - if you look up Julia Liuson in the org chart and explore down from there, you can probably get a good idea of who you most want to grab coffee with (or whatever the remote work equivalent of that is now). Outside of devdiv, there's also some esoteric c++ compilers, PowerShell, and SQL compilers housed in the windows and azure orgs, plus iirc there are some people who work on v8 fulltime around the edge team now, too. Point is that you've got much more direct access to those teams and opportunities than most people already, being only an internal transfer away - hopefully you can make use of that.

rl3 4y ago
Don't forget Microsoft Research. I mean, OP has been working on their PhD for four years now (albeit part-time).
pm215 4y ago
Great point -- if you work for a large company, an internal transfer can be a great way to switch career specialties. Because the company already knows you well they're often willing to consider you even if you don't yet have much in-specialty experience in the new role. I got my start doing full time open source work by making an internal transfer (not in MS, different firm).
bmitc 4y ago
It is my understanding that the language teams of C# and especially F# are actually quite small, and I imagine competitive. I would wager that there's more compiler work to be done in Microsoft Research. This is a hunch based on things I have read.
- eru 4y ago
  Yes, but can't hurt to reach out in any case.
  - bmitc 4y ago
    Oh for sure. Microsoft seems like a good place to work anyway, with a ton of stuff going on.

mcv 4y ago

Exactly what I thought. Microsoft is probably one of the most appropriate companies to work for if you want to work on compilers. If Microsoft is not working out, I guess Apple would be a great alternative.

shagie 4y ago
Or other companies that have systems with custom built languages. I'm thinking in particular https://careers.hpe.com/us/en/job/HPE1US1125114EXTERNALENUS/Software-Engineer-for-Chapel-Team https://careers.hpe.com/us/en/job/HPE1US1125114EXTERNALENUS/... though there's also https://careers.hpe.com/us/en/job/HPE1US1131683EXTERNALENUS/C-and-C-Compiler-Developer https://careers.hpe.com/us/en/job/HPE1US1131683EXTERNALENUS/...

google234123 4y ago

I really don’t get this post. They are working on a phd in compilers and work at one of the best software companies in the world. Why can’t they just try and transfer?

ShamelessC 4y ago
Yeah they are basically overqualified.
- simonh 4y ago
  In something as super specialised as compiler engineering there's no such thing a over-qualified.

jll29 4y ago

You could switch to academia if your Ph.D. period generated some good publications. This means a downround in terms of salary, but trading that cash against freedom to pursue your own ideas. If you are already teaching voluntarily on the side, that is a signal that it could be the career for you. If you are open to working with grammars & parsing algorithms also in non- deterministic ways, you could consider a research career in NLP. Finally, you could apply to work for a specialist compiler company (JetBrains, Green Hills Software etc.).