December 5, 2025
From flame graphs to flame wars
Leaving Intel
Star engineer exits Intel; fans mourn, nitpickers spot an extra slash
TLDR: Brendan Gregg, a famed performance expert, left Intel after 3.5 years and a big push for AI flame graphs and a 33-step cloud plan. Commenters mourn a talent exit, joke about a cassette deck, nitpick a broken link, and worry it signals more brain drain at the chip giant.
Brendan Gregg — the performance guru behind those colorful “flame graphs” that show what’s slowing your computer — just said goodbye to Intel, and the comments lit up like, well, flame graphs. The loudest take: “Terrible news from Intel,” with fans calling him “the best performance engineer on the planet.” Others cheered a respectful send-off — “Hats off to Brendan!” — but the mood tilted toward worry that Intel’s brain drain is accelerating.
People gawked at his résumé: keynotes, steering committees, and a push for AI flame graphs on graphics chips, plus a 33-step plan to help Intel win back the cloud. He worked on eBPF (a tech for peeking into computers to monitor and secure them), and even met tech legends like Linus Torvalds and Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger. But the thread’s favorite subplot? A desk photo featuring a mysterious cassette deck — cue the meme brigade wondering if yelling at it unlocks secret performance powers.
Then there’s delicious internet pedantry: one user spotted an extra slash in the URL, because of course they did. The consensus drama: Is this a classy exit or a warning sign? Intel, the crowd says, better hit play on his 33-track plan.
Key Points
- •The author resigned from Intel after 3.5 years and accepted a new opportunity.
- •Contributions included a GPU subsecond-offset heatmap, enabling Linux stack walking, eBPF leadership, co-chairing USENIX SREcon APAC 2023, and six keynotes.
- •AI flame graphs for GPUs are early in adoption; the open-source version is currently Intel-only, with expected need increasing as GPU complexity grows.
- •Supported cloud efforts through 110 customer meetings and a 33-recommendation strategy mapping 19 teams across six organizations (internal slide deck).
- •Future execution of the strategy requires change, ELT/CEO approval, and multi-quarter investment; materials are shared internally for others to continue.