Zack Dell

Apr 2022 – May 2025

Lead Code Coach

The Coder School · Mission Viejo, CA

• Designed curriculum and led programming camps for 30+ students annually (ages 7–18) covering Scratch, Python, Java, C++, COBOL, and introductory OpenGL graphics programming
• Provided advanced 1:1 tutoring ranging from foundational Python to building real-time 3D rendering engines using OpenGL 3.3+ pipeline features
• Adapted instruction style across broad age ranges and skill levels, from complete beginners to students pursuing advanced systems programming

Jun 2022 – Present

Administrator & Field Helper

Vertical Transport · Mission Viejo, CA

• Filed and maintained state compliance documentation, regulatory filings, and internal recordkeeping for field operations and safety programs
• Led internal compliance programs for PCI-DSS payment security standards and OSHA workplace safety requirements
• Diagnosed and resolved internal IT infrastructure issues, maintaining uptime for business systems
• Coordinated scheduling and logistics for truck fleet and heavy equipment across multiple concurrent job sites

Aug 2022 – May 2024

ORB-SLAM 3 deterministic optimization for embedded drone hardware

Undergraduate Student Researcher · Chapman University · Advisor: Prof. Emad Arasteh

• Researched algorithmic optimization of ORB-SLAM 3 toward deterministic execution on embedded drone hardware
• Investigated data optimization and computational reduction strategies to reduce memory bandwidth and cycle count while preserving algorithmic correctness
• Established reproducible runtime and test environments supporting systematic benchmarking
• Authored technical documentation including environment setup guides, methodology notes, and optimization proposals

2026

Gravity Dropper

Software Engineer

• 2D gravity simulation in C++ with SFML2; per-blob mass, radius, and color configured in a left-panel UI before placement
• Sits on top of a portable project-tools build system using Conan2 and GNU Make with named cross-compilation profiles
• The real focus is the build system: this project exists as a practical testbed for iterating on C++ project configuration and tooling

2026

CM5 Custom Embedded Device Board

Hardware & Firmware Engineer

• Custom CM5 carrier with battery management, power-path charging via BQ25975, and hot-swap protection for mobile and field-deployed test rigs
• Multi-layer PCB layout with schematic capture, component selection, and DFM review
• Firmware handles power state transitions, battery level monitoring, and safe shutdown sequences
• eSIM and RFID modules extend connectivity for field deployments requiring SIM-based networking or RFID asset tracking without external adapters

2026

Torchform

Lead Developer

• Smithay-based Wayland compositor managing two independent DSI outputs: upper display (1440p) for apps and overlays, lower (480p) for status and virtual keyboard
• Slint UI shell with a radial menu, command palette, and app switcher as composable overlay components, compiled from .slint source at build time
• Input daemon (torchform-inputd) reads a Cirque SPI trackpad via spidev and a USB HID gamepad via gilrs, emits a uinput virtual device, and publishes decoded ShellAction variants over a Unix socket
• Keybind abstraction layer: RawInput to ShellAction mapping is TOML-driven with built-in defaults, so no button names appear in shell logic
• 11-crate workspace with strict dependency isolation: shared libs (torchform-actions, torchform-config) carry zero Slint dependency so input and config logic compile without the UI stack
• Dual-screen emulator crate (minerva-emulator) renders both displays inside a single hardware-frame window for desktop development without physical hardware

2025

Vive Wireless Linux Driver

Kernel Developer

• Out-of-tree Linux kernel module targeting the Vive Wireless Adapter's PCIe radio card and USB companion interface, registering both with the appropriate kernel subsystems
• 60 GHz WiGig (IEEE 802.11ad) link initialization: channel selection, beamforming sector sweep, and association against the adapter's firmware command interface
• Initialization sequence, firmware command encoding, and stream framing reconstructed from Windows driver USB capture and PCIe register access patterns; no vendor documentation exists for Linux
• WiGig interface registered with cfg80211, visible as a managed wireless device to standard Linux wireless tooling
• Streaming path minimizes interrupt coalescing on the PCIe RX path, sizes DMA descriptors for single-frame transfers, and schedules outgoing packets against a deadline from the headset's display refresh
• Character device node exposes the stream interface to userspace (SteamVR, OpenVR) via read/write on pre-allocated DMA-coherent buffers; no copy on the data path

2024

Automated Drink Maker

Embedded Systems Engineer

• Stepper-driven peristaltic pumps deliver precise, repeatable volume per dispense; flow and temperature sensors provide closed-loop correction against recipe targets
• Safety interlock system prevents operation outside defined parameters; web interface handles recipe programming and real-time monitoring without touching the hardware
• Targeted the same recipe management pattern used in industrial dispensing systems: program once, run repeatedly with consistent output

2024

Multithreaded Job System

Engine Programmer

• Lock-free job queue on a fixed-size ring buffer with atomic head/tail pointers; no mutex on the hot dispatch path
• Thread pool runs N-1 worker threads pinned to physical cores; work-stealing fallback keeps queues from draining unevenly
• Simulation phases (province economics, AI evaluation, event processing) run as parallel batches; happens-before edges between phases are enforced via atomic completion counters
• Province data in SoA layout, partitioned into cache-aligned chunks; each worker owns its chunk with no shared writes, then a reduce pass merges aggregates
• Render-prep batch fires the moment the final simulation phase counter hits zero, with no blocking between the render and simulation threads
• Determinism for lockstep multiplayer is preserved by running reduce merges in a fixed canonical order and enforcing strict IEEE 754 semantics across all worker paths

2024

The Long Century

Lead Programmer

• Custom C++ game engine architecture designed around a complex simulation workload, built from scratch
• OpenGL rendering pipeline with scene graph management and performance-aware draw call batching
• Deterministic lockstep multiplayer: every client runs the same simulation from the same inputs, no server-side state
• Economic and political simulation driven by a modular, data-driven rules engine with scenario scripting for map authors

2024

AngelScript Rules Engine

Engine Programmer

• AngelScript bytecode VM embedded into the engine; core simulation types (provinces, nations, trade routes, ledger entries) registered as first-class script objects
• The entire economics model lives in script: tax rates, production modifiers, trade flow calculations, and deficit resolution are AngelScript functions called by the engine each tick
• Nation AI wired to registered callback functions; strategy tuning is a script edit, not a recompile
• Event system built on script blocks: trigger condition and outcome action functions evaluated by the VM each tick; designers write branching event chains without C++ knowledge
• Bytecode caching: scripts compile once on load, serialize to disk; subsequent launches skip the parse and compile step
• Sandboxed module system with explicit import declarations; one mod's globals cannot silently alias another's

2023

SPOT Robot Dog Action Wrapper

Software Engineer

• Network bridge routes SPOT commands from a control device across isolated network segments to SPOT's dedicated subnet
• Wraps the SPOT Python SDK into a cleaner, device-agnostic control interface for easier remote operation and demo setup
• Latency, routing jitter, and command synchronization were the primary constraints; the bridge stays transparent to the control interface

2023

Vulkan Compute Accelerator

Compute Systems Engineer

• Vulkan 1.2 compute pipeline orchestrator using a flowgraph model: nodes are shader dispatches, edges are data dependencies, the scheduler resolves execution order and resource hazards automatically
• Multi-queue dispatch with batching optimization and sparse memory management for large intermediate buffers
• Synchronization on Vulkan timeline semaphores for fine-grained pipeline dependencies without over-synchronization; complex multi-stage workloads need no manual barrier insertion per shader

2022

Basalt VR/XR Engine

Graphics & Engine Engineer

• Multi-backend rendering engine targeting Vulkan, OpenGL, and OpenVR from a shared codebase; scene and object code stays backend-agnostic behind a unified renderer interface
• 3D scene rendering pipeline with VR support via OpenVR integration for stereoscopic output on PC headsets
• Ported the rendering backend to Nintendo Switch, adapting it to the hardware's constrained GPU and memory model

2021

3DS Portable C++ Build System

Systems Engineer

• Portable build system for cross-compiling C++ projects to the Nintendo 3DS target; droppable into an existing project with minimal configuration
• Handles devkitARM toolchain setup, 3DS-specific linker flags, and output packaging into runnable homebrew format
• Abstracts away the difference between native and cross-compilation targets behind a single Make interface

Aug 2022 – Jun 2025

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science

Chapman University · Orange, CA · Minor: Economics

• Data Structures & Algorithms
• Embedded Systems
• Operating Systems
• Database Systems
• Programming Languages

OSHA 10 General Industry

OSHA / IACET · Certified

Jan 2024 – May 2024

Lead Developer

Code The Change

• Led development for a nonprofit-focused software project

Aug 2023 – May 2025

Member

Computer Science Club, Chapman University

Aug 2023 – May 2025

President

Chapman Galactic Empire