Becoming a compiler engineer

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

LLMs, Languages, and the Future of Compilers

  • One view: LLMs will make it easier for more companies to maintain compilers; they can help find bugs when experts are unavailable, but “compiler gurus” will still be needed.
  • Counterview: LLMs will reduce the number of compilers by reinforcing a few mainstream languages and shrinking niches.
  • Others argue LLMs can work with bespoke DSLs if given good specs and compiler feedback loops, potentially weakening the “ecosystem advantage” of big languages.
  • Multiple commenters report that current LLMs perform much worse in less-popular languages (F#, C#, etc.) than in Python/JS, undermining some of the optimism.
  • Big disagreement over “LLMs and correctness”: some say compilers demand hard guarantees and LLMs can’t be trusted; others say agent-style systems can check correctness empirically, but not formally prove it.

Career Path, Hiring, and Market Size

  • Compiler engineering is viewed as a small, niche field with relatively few openings compared to web/backend roles.
  • Many positions are reported to be LLVM “glue code” or maintenance of large, aging codebases rather than greenfield language design.
  • Typical employers mentioned: large CPU/GPU vendors, big tech, financial firms with proprietary languages, DB/query engines, accelerator/AI toolchains, DSP and semiconductor companies, and some crypto/VM projects.
  • Several note that roles skew senior and favor people with real-world systems experience. PhDs or visible OSS contributions (LLVM, GCC, Rust, Swift, GHC, etc.) are seen as strong entry paths.

Learning and Getting Started

  • Commenters recommend classic texts (Appel’s books, the Dragon Book), interpreter/compiler books, and a few LLVM-focused resources, while noting many are theory-heavy rather than practical.
  • Strong emphasis on open-source contributions and working on real compilers/toolchains as the best signal and learning path. Toy languages alone are seen as weak evidence.
  • Advice: do “meaningful things” (OSS, meetups, blogs, possibly videos) rather than just mass-apply and grind interviews.

Reception of the Article and Meta-Topics

  • Mixed reaction: some find the article encouraging and informative about a hard-to-enter niche; others criticize it as vague, self-promotional, or light on technical detail.
  • Several lament the state of the job market if even a strong academic profile struggles to land such roles.
  • Thread also detours into debates on whether software development is “engineering” and into naming famous “compiler rockstars.”

Author’s Past Controversy

  • A sizable subthread revisits prior plagiarism allegations against the author, including a publisher’s public statement and disputed evidence documents.
  • Some see this as clear, damning; others find the examples ambiguous or akin to shared tropes among similar writers. The ultimate assessment is left unresolved in the discussion.