Richard Barton: ARM graduate
Employer: ARM Limited
University: University of Cambridge
Subject: BA computer science
I did an internship with my employer during the summer of my second year. I enjoyed the work and it really set me up for my graduate job. My interviewer was able to talk to the people I had worked with during my internship, which gave me a head start. While I had other job interviews, I was most attracted to the work I could do here.
My job
My employer’s main business is designing microprocessors. We don’t make or sell physical products, instead the designs are licensed to manufacturers to use in their products – we have a large market in the mobile device sector.
Every microchip architecture is controlled by a particular assembly code. A compiler is a translation tool that turns high-level language code like C into assembly code that the microchip understands. Software engineers use compilers heavily. My job is to re-engineer the compiler as a microchip’s architecture evolves, to fix bugs as they arise and to improve the compiler’s performance and the quality of code that it generates. It’s quite an art. I am often unravelling code that has been written over a number of years by different people. We also work to improve the compiler when generating code to run under an operating system, for example Linux.
As well as working to a release schedule to launch new versions of the compiler, I also respond to more immediate requests from software engineers to fix bugs or make small enhancements to the current version. It’s a nice mix of short- and long-term work.
There are 15 people in my group and we’ve got our own big room. It’s a relaxed environment that encourages good thinking, and being able to work flexi-time around core hours means that I can choose a work pattern that suits me best.
Daily puzzles to solve
I like my work because it challenges my mind and makes me use my brain. I really couldn’t do something that was repetitive and mundane. When I come into work each day I know that I’m going to be presented with a new puzzle to solve.