Miguel De La Sota
Software Engineer at Buf
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolMiguel De La Sota is a software engineer and engineering leader with 12 years of experience specializing in compilers, optimization, and systems-level tooling, currently at Buf after senior compiler work at SambaNova and Google. He combines rigorous mathematical training from MIT with hands-on systems programming—contributing to high-profile open-source projects like OpenTitan and protobuf—where his work spans test infrastructure, Rust backend refactors, and memory-safety fixes. Passionate about making low-level systems accessible, he mentors and builds developer-facing tools that meet users where they are, blending pedagogy with pragmatic engineering. Notably, his contributions range from FPGA/verilator integration tests for a silicon root of trust to implementing a Lisp-like interpreter in a general-purpose JS library, reflecting both deep systems expertise and playful curiosity.
12 years of coding experience
5 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science - BS, Mathematics, Bachelor of Science - BS, Mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stackoverflow
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Github Skills (36)
javascript10
lib10
pytest10
protocol-buffers10
risc-v10
data-serialization10
cortex-m10
code-library10
system-testing10
c1110
microcontroller10
serialization10
c1710
embedded10
rust10
Programming languages (17)
Github contributions (5)
lowRISC/opentitan
Oct 2019 - May 2022
OpenTitan: Open source silicon root of trust
Role in this project:
Software Engineer / Test Automation Engineer
Software Engineer / Test Automation EngineerContributions:1292 reviews, 304 commits, 365 PRs in 2 years 7 months
Contributions summary:Miguel primarily contributed to the development of system tests for OpenTitan, a project focused on open-source silicon root of trust. Their work involved adding new test cases for the Verilator and FPGA platforms, including a functional verilator test and a test executor for FPGA binaries. The commits demonstrate a focus on the integration testing and functional verification of hardware components, specifically through the creation and maintenance of test infrastructure.
root-of-trustrootsilicontrust
protocolbuffers/protobuf
Sep 2022 - Sep 2022
Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:26 reviews, 5 commits, 5 PRs in 7 days
Contributions summary:Miguel primarily contributed to the backend of the protobuf project. Their work included fixing a potential use-after-free (UAF) vulnerability in the descriptor code and refactoring parts of the Rust backend. These changes focused on improving code quality and maintainability, specifically optimizing the code generation process for the Rust backend. Furthermore, the user made substantial changes including introducing proper RAII for protobuf_upb::Arena and refactoring message handling.
protocol-buffersrpcgoogle-protocol-buffersinterchange-formatmarshalling
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