Phil Christensen
SDET C Compiler Group at Microsoft
Kirkland, Washington, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top School
Top expert inModern C++ Development and Cross-Platform Computing
Phil Christensen is an experienced SDET and C++ engineer with over a decade building and testing compiler and toolchain components at Microsoft’s MSVC team. He combines deep C++ expertise with backend and build engineering skills, contributing to high-profile open source projects like ChakraCore and Microsoft’s vcpkg where he improved CI, build reliability, and port maintenance. Phil’s work spans debugging engine internals and strengthening CI/CD and failure diagnostics, showing a practical focus on reliability and developer productivity. Prior roles at L-3 Communications and FATPOT honed his systems-level software instincts across long-lived, safety- and performance-sensitive codebases. Based in Kirkland, WA, he pairs a formal computer science background with hands-on contributions that quietly keep large C++ ecosystems buildable and debuggable. An uncommon strength is his ability to move between low-level language conformance fixes and high-level build infrastructure improvements, making him effective across the toolchain.
10 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
Computer Science, Computer Science at Utah State University-College of Eastern UtahThe University of Utah
Github Skills (20)
dependency-management10
c-language10
package-management10
build-system10
cmake10
cicd10
javascript-engine10
build-automation10
package-manager10
cprogramming-language10
testing9
debug9
debugging9
c119
c179
Programming languages (12)
Github contributions (5)
microsoft/vcpkg
Nov 2018 - Feb 2020
C++ Library Manager for Windows, Linux, and MacOS
Role in this project:
Backend Developer & Build Engineer
Backend Developer & Build EngineerContributions:223 commits, 729 PRs, 744 pushes in 1 year 2 months
Contributions summary:Phil primarily contributed to the build and maintenance of the vcpkg package manager. They fixed a dependency issue for a package by modifying a CMake configuration file. The user also made several changes to various portfiles, including updates to build parameters, dependencies, and package metadata for various libraries managed by vcpkg, such as glad and libjpeg. Additional changes included adding and updating patches to resolve build issues within specific projects.
c-plus-plussetuptoolspackage-managermacoscplusplus
chakra-core/ChakraCore
Apr 2016 - Nov 2016
ChakraCore is an open source Javascript engine with a C API.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:7 commits, 2 PRs, 11 comments in 7 months
Contributions summary:Phil primarily contributes to the ChakraCore Javascript engine, focusing on C++ code modifications. Their work includes addressing C++ conformance issues related to strict string conversions, fully qualified inline declarations, and name lookup in dependent bases. Additionally, the user made changes to the debugging and error handling components within the engine, modifying code related to stack frame analysis and error instance creation. The user's work demonstrates proficiency in C++ and a good understanding of the Javascript engine's internal workings.
javascript-enginechakracoreruntimemicrosoftc-api
Find and Hire Top DevelopersWe’ve analyzed the programming source code of over 60 million software developers on GitHub and scored them by 50,000 skills. Sign-up on Prog,AI to search for software developers.