Swift creator seeks new job 6 months after swapping Apple for Tesla

By

Chris Lattner
Lattner was VP of Autopilot Software for just 6 months.
Photo: Chris Lattner

Chris Lattner, the man who helped create the Swift programming language before leaving Apple for Tesla, has departed his new role just six months later.

Lattner confirmed the move on Twitter, saying Tesla wasn’t “a good fit.” He’s now looking for new lead engineering roles.

Lattner joined Apple in 2005 to bring his LLVM compiler optimization structure to Apple products. During his 11-year stint, he brought new features to LLVM, and built a dedicated team of LLVM developers at Apple.

Lattner also began the Clang project and helped improve Xcode while in Cupertino. He led the team that created Swift, Apple’s open-source programming language introduced in 2014, which is a simpler, more efficient alternative to Objective-C.

Lattner departed Apple in January of this year to become VP of Autopilot Software for Tesla. It was reported that he made the move because Apple’s obsession over secrecy made him feel “constrained.”

But just six months later, Lattner’s career at Tesla is over. “Turns out that Tesla isn’t a good fit for me after all,” he tweeted Tuesday, without going into details. “I’m interested to hear about interesting roles for a seasoned engineering leader!”

Lattner boasts about having seven years of Swift experience, and says his resume is easy to find online. He doesn’t bother providing a link for potential employers, who will have to hunt it down themselves if they’re interested.

Tesla was relying on Lattner to create the software its vehicles needed for autonomous driving. The company already had the hardware, but Lattner’s expertise would have helped it create the missing puzzle piece. That will no longer be the case.

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