Meet Ali Mustafa Zaidi, Principal Computer Architect

What inspired you to pursue a career in this field?

Several fantastic teachers at my undergraduate university sparked my interest in the field of Computer Architecture - their enthusiasm for this area was infectious! Ever since then, I have been striving to make my way in this field.

Sadly, there was no industry for computer architects to work in in my home town, so most aspiring architects ended up teaching. Thankfully, I had the privilege of choice to?go with my drive & passion - I was able to find my way to Cambridge University in the UK, where I was able to specialize in this area, and then found relevant opportunities in industry.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

1. Solving intricate and challenging problems to push the limits of achievable performance from processors and accelerators, while also balancing against efficiency and usability.
2. Doing this effectively requires a 'holistic' understanding of not just what you're designing, but also the physical implementation layer below, as well as the tooling & compiler layer above. It is also essential to keep a firm eye on the end-user and their applications, algorithms and use-cases, as that is ultimately what we're solving for. Keeping track of all of this feels like playing multi-dimensional chess - the journey is both challenging and thrilling, and making impactful progress is incredibly rewarding!
3. Last?but not least, getting to work with the giants of this field! Tenstorrent has managed to attract phenomenal architects and technical leaders who are indisputably?the best in the industry. Having this opportunity to work with this team is a tremendous honor, and feels like the realization of dreams I'd have as an undergrad Computer Engineering student (so many eons ago!).

What are some of the proudest accomplishments in your career so far?

1. I managed to complete a PhD at the University of Cambridge in Computer Architecture, working with some of the best academic researchers in the field.
2. At Arm Research (my prior employer), I was leading a Compiler+ISA co-design project - one that should?have a substantial impact on future Arm architecture (and hopefully soon!).

What do you think sets Tenstorrent apart from others in the industry?

Tenstorrent has managed to attract not only the best technical leaders and architects from across the industry,?but also a stellar executive & leadership team. This collective experience delivering real products is now combined with a start-up's freedom to dream big, and the ambition to deliver disruptive innovation.?

We're at the dawn of a new AI centric era of computing, and all of this positions us very strongly to?radically reshape the future of the computing industry over the coming years. It is an exciting time to be at Tenstorrent!

How do you stay motivated and productive at work?

I work remotely from the UK, while most of my teammates are based on the?US West Coast. Though full-time WFH, plus the time-zone difference has been a challenge and an adjustment,?I find that keeping in-touch with my teammates and colleagues really helps me?stay motivated. In addition to the regularly scheduled group meetings, I often schedule 1:1 calls with colleagues to ensure we're aligned on what needs to be delivered and how tasks ought to be prioritized. Then of course, the actual execution of tasks, and seeing the day-to-day progress also helps maintain engagement and motivation.

Staying productive when working from home full-time, and across such disparate time-zones requires a lot of flexibility and careful planning (especially during my kids' summer holidays!). I start work early in the day here, where I can typically find a solid stretch of relatively quiet hours from around 9AM to 2PM with minimal distractions. I'm usually away from my desk from 2-4PM, taking a break to go outside (e.g. the school run, during term time) or get some exercise. Then it is back to work from 4PM onwards, as folks on the West Coast start coming into the office.

What hobbies or interests do you have outside of work?

I have recently rediscovered my passion for traveling - for the past couple of years, I've tried to take trips around the UK with my family at least twice a year. Plus, as my kids' constrained school schedules permit, I try to take them on international holidays. Most recently we had a fantastic week on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.