How an Internship Led Patrick O’Neill Back to Rivos

Some people know exactly where their careers are headed. Others, like Patrick O’Neill, discover their path by following curiosity and embracing new challenges. 

Patrick’s journey with Rivos began in early 2022, when he joined as an intern while finishing up his computer science degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Despite specializing in AI/Information in his degree, Patrick’s internship at Rivos sparked his interest in compilers and the RISC-V toolchain. His internship focused on GCC work related to atomics and improvements to the RISC-V assembler/linker.

After his internship at Rivos, Patrick interned at Amazon in Seattle over the summer. After graduating, Patrick was faced with a choice: return to tech giant Amazon or early-stage startup Rivos? He considered his offers and ultimately decided to join Rivos. In addition to the type of work at Rivos, the company’s culture was a highlight. “What stood out to me about Rivos is the level of trust and freedom I have,” he shared. “I’m able to notice what needs to be done and have the opportunity to work on those issues directly.”

At Rivos, Patrick continued his work on the RISC-V toolchain where he helped improve compiler testing via fuzzing (generating random programs to catch issues in the compiler) and worked closely with Edwin Lu to create CI for RISC-V GCC. Now he works on a functional simulator for the GPGPU team, where he translates low level instructions into something that can be run quickly on a CPU. His work on compilers helps improve the RISC-V toolchain so it’s ready for customers to run their workloads on, and his work on the functional simulator ensures that Rivos’ software is ready for the chip.

 “I get to work on really interesting problems,” he said. “With a small team, there’s a lot of clarity about what we’re working toward.” Patrick describes the Rivos team as collaborative, focused, and full of people who are excellent at what they do. 

Outside of work, Patrick stays active and connected. He enjoys swimming, playing in the company volleyball league that he formed, and playing on a Minecraft server that comes alive every Monday night with other co-workers.