September 28, 2011

Graphics Engines in Firefox

One of the key goals for the Firefox Layout & Rendering team is to improve performance for web applications. Web apps nowadays push the graphics rendering stack in ways that rival console games. To that end, our existing rasterizer was hitting its limits in terms of the sheer volume of data we now push through it on a a regular basis. Switching out a shipping application’s raster engine is a big deal that requires a lot of scaffolding.

September 27, 2011

Shipping already? I just got here!

Firefox 7.0 shipped today. While I can’t take any credit for any of it, my team deserves all the praise. They’ve been hard at work on reducing memory all over the product. I’ve had a few people complain to me about “pork” in Firefox and we’re making some big changes to cut the fat. It’s interesting how getting a new job just means new complaints from the same cadre of “stakeholders.

September 24, 2011

Interviewing in Silicon Valley

I spent a fair amount of time interviewing for jobs before landing the one I have now. Sitting in the interviewee chair was a learning experience after many years at the same company—it had been a long time since I was an external candidate. This post might help others sitting on either side of a Silicon Valley interview. I’m a Software Developer who manages other Software Developers. This is an important point because I was interviewing for management and non-management roles at the companies I visited.