Algorithms & Data Structures 2
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Knows basic algorithms and complexity concepts for compiler engineering and can apply them in common tasks. Uses standard tools and follows established team practices. Understands when and why this approach is used.
Confidently applies algorithms and complexity analysis for compiler engineering in non-standard tasks. Independently selects optimal approach and tools. Analyzes trade-offs and suggests improvements to existing solutions.
Establishes algorithms and complexity standards for the compiler engineering team and makes architectural decisions. Defines technical roadmap considering this skill. Mentors senior engineers and influences practices of adjacent teams.
Shapes algorithms and complexity strategy for compiler engineering at the organizational level. Defines best practices and influences technology choices beyond their own team. Is a recognized expert in this area.
Knows basic data structure concepts for compiler engineering and can apply them in common tasks. Uses standard tools and follows established team practices. Understands when and why this approach is used.
Confidently applies data structures for compiler engineering in non-standard tasks. Independently selects optimal approach and tools. Analyzes trade-offs and suggests improvements to existing solutions.
Establishes data structure standards for the compiler engineering team and makes architectural decisions. Defines technical roadmap considering this skill. Mentors senior engineers and influences practices of adjacent teams.
Shapes data structure strategy for compiler engineering at the organizational level. Defines best practices and influences technology choices beyond their own team. Is a recognized expert in this area.
Application Security 1
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Knows basic secure coding principles: input validation, error handling, avoiding buffer overflow. Applies basic practices when writing compiler components.
Writes secure compiler code: buffer overflow protection in the parser, safe memory handling in the optimizer, correct processing of untrusted source code.
Defines secure development standards for the compiler team: mandatory CI checks, security review processes, training the team on defensive programming practices.
Shapes compiler codebase security strategy at the organizational level: formal methods for verification, static analyzer integration, security champions program.
Caching 1
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Understands caching purpose and Redis operating principles. Knows how cache is used in compiler infrastructure for accelerating repeated builds and storing intermediate results.
Uses Redis for caching in compiler infrastructure: module parsing results, object file hashes, dependency status. Configures TTL and eviction policies.
Defines caching strategy for the compiler platform: multi-level cache architecture (local/Redis/S3), hit rate metrics, optimization for various build patterns.
Shapes distributed caching strategy for the compiler ecosystem: global shared cache, artifact deduplication, integration with cloud CDNs for distributed teams.
CI/CD 1
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Understands GitHub Actions workflow file structure. Can run basic pipelines for building and testing the compiler on each commit, reads logs for error diagnostics.
Configures CI pipelines for the compiler: platform matrix (Linux/macOS/Windows), dependency caching, parallel test suite execution. Uses artifacts for passing data between jobs.
Standardizes CI/CD processes for the compiler team: reusable workflows, merge policies, automated release pipelines. Introduces quality metrics and gates for each stage.
Defines CI/CD strategy for the compiler ecosystem at the organizational level. Designs self-hosted infrastructure for heavy builds and integration with internal release management systems.
Clean Code & Refactoring 1
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Knows basic code quality concepts for compiler engineering and can apply them in common tasks. Uses standard tools and follows established team practices. Understands when and why this approach is used.
Confidently applies code quality practices for compiler engineering in non-standard tasks. Independently selects optimal approach and tools. Analyzes trade-offs and suggests improvements to existing solutions.
Establishes code quality standards for the compiler engineering team and makes architectural decisions. Defines technical roadmap considering this skill. Mentors senior engineers and influences practices of adjacent teams.
Shapes code quality strategy for compiler engineering at the organizational level. Defines best practices and influences technology choices beyond their own team. Is a recognized expert in this area.
Cloud Providers 1
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Knows core AWS services: EC2, S3, IAM. Understands how cloud infrastructure is used for hosting compiler CI/CD pipelines and storing build artifacts.
Uses AWS for compiler infrastructure: EC2 Spot for parallel builds, S3 for artifact storage, CodeBuild for CI. Configures IAM policies for secure resource access.
Defines cloud strategy for compiler infrastructure: cost optimization through Reserved/Spot instances, multi-region deployment, disaster recovery architecture for critical services.
Shapes multi-cloud strategy for the organization's compiler ecosystem. Designs hybrid solutions for sensitive builds and defines financial model for cloud spending.
Code Review 1
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Knows basic code review concepts for compiler engineering and can apply them in common tasks. Uses standard tools and follows established team practices. Understands when and why this approach is used.
Confidently applies code review skills for compiler engineering in non-standard tasks. Independently selects optimal approach and tools. Analyzes trade-offs and suggests improvements to existing solutions.
Establishes code review standards for the compiler engineering team and makes architectural decisions. Defines technical roadmap considering this skill. Mentors senior engineers and influences practices of adjacent teams.
Shapes code review strategy for compiler engineering at the organizational level. Defines best practices and influences technology choices beyond their own team. Is a recognized expert in this area.
Compiler Theory 4
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Understands Abstract Syntax Tree structure and can recursively traverse trees. Applies visitor pattern for simple transformations. Knows main AST node types for popular languages.
Implements complex AST transformations: constant folding, dead code elimination, inlining. Uses babel/typescript compiler API for code transformation. Writes plugins for ESLint and TSC.
Architects AST transformation system for the compiler project. Makes decisions about IR representation and optimization passes. Introduces transformation testing.
Defines IR design strategy for the compiler platform. Researches new approaches to AST representation (algebraic effects, ANF, CPS transform). Influences compiler roadmap.
Knows classic compiler optimizations: constant folding, DCE, CSE. Understands when optimizations are correct and safe. Can read and compare optimized IR.
Implements optimization passes: function inlining, loop unrolling, vectorization hints. Uses dominators, loop analysis and alias analysis. Measures impact of passes on code size and performance.
Defines strategy and order of the optimization pipeline for the compiler. Manages balance between compilation time and code quality. Makes decisions about optimization aggressiveness.
Shapes optimization roadmap for the compiler platform. Researches ML application for compiler optimization (autotuning heuristics). Publishes on novel optimization techniques.
Knows lexical analysis basics: source code tokenization, regular grammars and finite automata. Can implement a simple lexer manually, understands the practical difference between lexer and parser.
Implements LL(k) and LR parsers, builds AST for programming languages. Uses parser generators (ANTLR, yacc/bison). Handles syntax errors with error recovery strategies.
Defines frontend architecture for a new language or dialect, makes grammar decisions. Establishes parser quality standards for the team, conducts code reviews focusing on correctness.
Shapes language frontend technical standards for the platform. Researches and introduces advanced parsing methods (Earley, PEG, GLL). Publishes open source solutions and influences the tooling ecosystem.
Understands basic type inference algorithms: unification, Hindley-Milner inference. Knows the difference between structural and nominal type systems. Can work with simple generics.
Implements bidirectional type checking for languages with type annotations. Understands constraint-based type inference. Writes a type checker for a language with generics and simple subtyping.
Architects type system evolution for the language with backward compatibility in mind. Makes decisions about breaking changes. Manages the type system engineering team.
Defines long-term type system strategy for the platform language. Researches dependent types, linear types, effect systems. Publishes academic papers on type systems.
Compiler Tools 3
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Understands what code generation is and the difference between native code, bytecode and interpretation. Knows basic concepts of register allocation and instruction selection. Can read x86/ARM assembly.
Implements code generation for stack-based or register-based bytecode. Uses LLVM or QBE for native code generation. Generates optimized code for function call patterns.
Architects compiler backend and codegen pipeline. Makes decisions about instruction scheduling and peephole optimization. Manages the backend engineering team.
Defines code generation strategy for new ISAs (RISC-V, WebAssembly). Researches superoptimization and stochastic codegen techniques. Participates in ABI standardization for the platform.
Understands the difference between AOT and JIT compilation and when to use each. Knows concepts of hot path, execution profiling, deoptimization. Has studied JIT in JVM (HotSpot) or V8.
Implements a baseline JIT compiler for a simple bytecode format. Understands tracing JIT vs method JIT architectures. Implements basic inline caches for dynamic method calls.
Architects JIT subsystem for the language runtime platform. Makes decisions about compilation strategy, tiering policy and JIT code memory management. Manages the JIT engineering team.
Defines runtime compilation strategy for the platform over multiple years. Researches advanced techniques: YJIT, Cranelift, copy-and-patch compilation. Publishes JIT research.
Knows LLVM architecture: frontend, IR, backend, and the role of each component. Understands LLVM IR structure and basic instructions. Can compile C through clang and study generated IR.
Writes LLVM Analysis and Transform passes using C++ API. Generates LLVM IR programmatically for simple constructs. Uses opt and llvm-dis for pipeline analysis and debugging.
Leads LLVM integration in the team's compiler project. Makes architectural decisions about LLVM version and custom passes strategy. Evaluates trade-offs of LLVM vs QBE vs MLIR.
Defines LLVM/MLIR usage strategy for the entire compiler platform. Coordinates contributions to upstream LLVM community. Researches MLIR application for domain-specific optimizations.
Concurrency & Parallelism 1
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Understands async programming concepts: callbacks, promises, futures. Uses basic async patterns when writing tests and utilities for the compiler.
Applies async patterns for parallel file processing in the compiler pipeline. Implements non-blocking I/O for reading source code and writing build artifacts.
Defines architectural patterns for async processing in the compiler: concurrency models for compilation phases, load balancing strategies between threads. Reviews solutions for thread safety.
Shapes parallel compilation strategy at the architecture level: actor models, work-stealing schedulers, lock-free data structures for maximum multi-core system utilization.
DSL & Interpreters 1
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Understands the difference between a compiler and an interpreter, knows the tree-walking interpreter pattern. Implements a simple interpreter for arithmetic expressions with variables.
Implements bytecode compiler + VM interpreter for a simple language. Understands dispatch techniques: switch dispatch, threaded code. Optimizes the main interpreter loop.
Architects interpreter as part of a complete language runtime. Makes decisions about interpreter/JIT balance. Manages execution strategy evolution.
Defines execution engine strategy for the platform. Researches copy-and-patch compilation and direct threading. Influences interpreter performance standards in the industry.
Kubernetes & Orchestration 1
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Understands core Kubernetes concepts: pods, services, deployments. Knows how compiler infrastructure can run in a cluster for scalable builds.
Configures Kubernetes for compiler infrastructure: deploying build agents, setting resource limits, managing storage for compilation artifact cache.
Defines orchestration strategy for the compiler platform: multi-cluster architecture, resource policies, integration with cloud-native tools. Mentors the team on Kubernetes practices.
Shapes container orchestration strategy for the compiler ecosystem: cluster federation, cost optimization, architecture for globally distributed build farms.
Logging 1
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Understands the difference between regular and structured logging. Adds basic log entries to compiler components for tracking compilation stages and error diagnostics.
Implements structured logging in the compiler: JSON format, severity levels, contextual fields (file, phase, time). Configures log filtering for debugging specific compiler passes.
Standardizes logging practices for the compiler team: unified formats, mandatory fields, rotation policies. Defines verbosity levels for various debugging and profiling scenarios.
Shapes observability strategy for the compiler ecosystem: unified telemetry, correlation across toolchain components, usage analytics for optimization prioritization.
Networking 1
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Understands basic networking concepts: TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP. Knows how network protocols are used for compiler interaction with remote repositories and build servers.
Applies networking knowledge to compiler infrastructure: proxy configuration for dependency downloads, diagnosing network issues in CI, optimizing artifact transfer between nodes.
Defines network architecture for the compiler platform: connectivity topology between build nodes, load balancing strategies, network security for distributed builds.
Shapes networking strategy for global compiler infrastructure: latency optimization between datacenters, BGP routing for build farms, integration with edge computing.
Prompt Engineering 1
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Understands basic LLM principles: query formulation, few-shot examples. Uses AI assistants for generating test cases and documentation for compiler components.
Applies prompt engineering for compiler tasks: generating test programs for fuzzing, automating IR refactoring, creating documentation for optimization passes.
Defines AI application strategy in compiler development: LLM integration in code review, automated test generation, AI-assisted performance regression analysis.
Shapes the vision of AI-augmented compiler engineering: ML-driven optimizations, automated compiler pass generation, integration of neural network models into the compilation pipeline.
Relational Databases 1
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Knows relational database and SQL basics. Can run simple queries against compiler metadata databases: configurations, test results, build information.
Uses PostgreSQL for storing compiler metadata: benchmark results, pass statistics, dependency graph. Designs table schemas and writes optimized queries.
Defines data storage architecture for the compiler platform: replication strategies, backup policies, schema migrations. Optimizes query performance for analytical workloads.
Shapes data management strategy for the compiler ecosystem: database selection for different workloads, data governance, integration with analytics platforms for decision making.