Ari(7) - a social gearhead

NAME

Ari (Hamid) Zare - a social gearhead

SYNOPSIS

Ari [--engineer] [--developer] [--diy-hacker] [--developer] [--other]

DESCRIPTION

Senior software engineer with a masters in computer science with a demonstrated history of machine learning infrastructure work and 7+ years of experience.
Feel free to contact me if you'd like to connect. Email: [email protected]

Disclaimer: Due to budget cuts this man page might be out of date. Please refer to the PDF version here.

OPTIONS

--languages

Go, Python, Bash, SQL, TypeScript, JavaScript, C, Elm

--frameworks-and-libraries

PyTorch, Keras

--technologies-and-tools

Docker, Kubernetes (K8s), Git, PostgreSQL, Linux, Ansible

--cloud-platforms

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

--diy-hacker

If it ain't broke, I'll fix it. See projects section.

--keyword-soup

Distributed Systems Design and Development, Kubernetes and Container Orchestration, API Design and Implementation, CI/CD Pipeline Development and Optimization, Fault Tolerance and System Reliability, MLOps, DevOps, Backend Development, Computer Networks, Mentorship and Technical Leadership, Project Management, Engineering Design, Team Leadership

History/Experience

Senior Software Engineer at HPE (AI Solutions) via Determined AI Acquisition June 2021 - Present

I contributed in various capacities most recently in the resource management team, and our GenAI product. I also took on roles to design and collaborate in launching three greenfield projects in new deep learning SaaS and Generative AI.

Leadership and Mentorship: I introduced and revised engineering processes in various teams. I mentored 10 new hires, conducted over 70 interviews, contributed to customer and product meetings, and consistently put team success over individual recognition.

Some projects:

Led a project to support multi-cluster, multi-resource manager Kubernetes using gateway proxies for Determined tasks, which also led to the development of an additional K8s developer tool.
Architected and implemented enhancements to our job scheduler, adding visibility and control which exposed its decision-making process and uncovered obscure bugs, resulting in higher GPU utilization and a 40% reduction in job churn rate.
Overhauled our metrics capturing and reporting system for increased performance and flexibility, utilizing database technologies such as PostgreSQL partitioned tables. This necessitated large-scale migration, performance testing, and optimization.
Led platform integration with the PyTorch Lightning, resulting in 40% fewer lines of code (LOC), fewer user errors, and faster porting time for those models.
Improved fault tolerance in HPC environments with faulty GPUs and hardware by implementing node and slot taints, enabling faster job recovery.
Reduced CLI startup time by 80% through dependency tree analysis and lazy imports.

API: Designed and delivered various public and internal APIs based on standards such as OpenAPI, protobuf, gRPC, and WebSockets. Advocated for and developed various in-house code generators, which enabled many engineering workflows.

Tooling, CI/CD, and Testing: Identified and eliminated technical and process inefficiencies, achieving multiple 10x improvements in PR turnaround time. Initiated and delivered testing and CI infrastructure for various teams.

Software Engineer at Determined AI Aug 2019 - Present

Developing an end-to-end deep learning pipeline to enable automation of model selection and hyperparameter tuning. Distributed Deep Learning; Horovad; PyTorch; PyTorch Lightning; experiment tracking; hyperparameter search; Domain-aware scheduling; REST, GRPC, and Python API design

Built an open-source end-to-end deep learning pipeline to enable automation of model selection, tracking, and hyperparameter tuning that was acquired by HPE high-performance computing unit in 2021. Read more above.
Joined as engineer #14 and helped build the team and wore many hats based on changing needs of the early-stage startup.

News: Acquired by HPE in 2021 . Link to the press release by HPE

Software Engineer (Intern) at Real-Time Innovations (RTI) Summer 2019

Research and development as part of the core team, working on two projects for the next release of Connext DDS. \textit{C, C++, Java}.
Designed and implemented APIs to expose information about the type system for customers. \textit{C, C++}
Evaluate, research, and develop a pluggable lossless compression solution for real-time, peer to peer communication of user data. Targeting use-cases for autonomous vehicles: sensor sweeps and camera feeds.

Software Engineer (RA) at Institute for Software Integrated Systems 2017 - 2019

Developing our open source, web-based visual programming environment, NetsBlox introducing distributed programming concepts like message passing and remote procedure calls to block based languages.

Standardized a base class for developing RPCs, improving performance and reducing lines of code by up to 70%
Performance optimizations: Improved messaging throughput by up to 24x under load. Selective caching, through a layer positioned close to the networking module, in conjunction with smart cache busting enabled the router to avoid stale routing information and provide verifiable socket information for clients at a much higher rate than before.
Developed a parser for dynamic creation of documentations for service APIs currently covering 130 modules and counting
Redesigned user-facing services and RPCS to guarantee type safety in Javascript removing the burden from the developers.
Reduced production client bugs by 20% through automating browsers tests, a chaos monkey and Travis CI.

[Part-time research assistant]

Teaching Assistant at Vanderbilt University Spring 2017

Assisted with Program Design and Data Structures course taught in C++. Helped students understand different data structures and algorithms, design modular programs, use best practices, edge case testing and safety checks.

Software Engineer at TebSoft May 2015 - Dec 2016

Reduced peak load on internal servers serving data distribution within in-network hospitals using a forward proxy by up to 40\%.
Optimized the routine backup process by implementing a differential backup strategy.
Started as an intern and quickly took on more responsibility as a full-time engineer.

Software Engineer Intern at Tosan Summer 2014

Developed a csv parser and multi-part loader for legacy data sheets saving data entry time while reducing error rate.

History/Education

Ph.D. in Computer Science at Vanderbilt University 2017 - Dec 2020

Advisor: Prof. Ákos Lédeczi.

I decided to drop out of the Ph.D. program end of 2020 to pursue a career in industry.

M.Sc. in Computer Science at Vanderbilt University 2017 - 2019

Advisor: Prof. Ákos Lédeczi.

Researching the intersection of Computer Science education, Networks, Distributed Systems, and Robotics in Vanderbilt's cyber physical systems lab, Institute for Software Integrated Systems.

Coursework: Machine Learning; Modeling & Simulation; Deep Learning; Advanced Algorithms; Distributed Systems; Web-based System Architecture; Concurrent Java Programming; Reinforcement Learning; Cloud Computing

B.Sc. in IT Engineering at Tehran Azad University 2011 - 2015

Coursework included: Data Structures; Software Engineering; Databases; Artificial Intelligence; Computer Networks; Operating Systems; Programming Languages; Statistics & Probability; Operational Research;
* Top Student: Engineering department, junior and senior years.

Examples/SideProjects

gmenu (GoMenu) - cross platform dynamic menu (2023)

gmenu is a cross-platform lightweight dynamic GUI menu inspired by suckless dmenu. Go Lang

Combo Switcher - window switcher, application launcher and spotlight replacement (2023)

Inspired by Rofi on Linux, addressing limitations with Alfred, browser integration, and improvements on spotlight. Go Lang

Webcam Mods (WFH) (2020)

Linux 1st face tracking, background removal/blur, crop, zoom, record/replay. Zoom did not have support for virtual backgrounds on Linux for a long time so I made my own. A quick demo of my webcam mods. Python, TensorFlow, Linux

Decision Tree to Explain X (2021)

Write a decision tree in YAML and get a link to provide a visual step-by-step explanation of the process with someone. With support for loops and conditional branches. See how my dog reacts to any object here

Roboscape Device Provisioning (2018)

A set of solution for batch provisioning of heterogeneous robots used for provisioning Roboscape robots. C, JS, Vue.js

Visual Machine Learning (2018)

Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning abstractions for Snap visual programming environment. JavaScript, Tensorflow.js

Fog Alert (2018)

A 3-component fog based, intrusion detection system with basic threat detection mechanisms. Using a Raspberry Pi Zero, a beefy RPi 3, and NodeMCU modules Python, C

Roboscape (2018)

Educational robotics platform for teaching fundamental cybersecurity concepts using robots and NetsBlox C, JavaScript

Generalizable QLearning Framework (2018)

A simplified deep Q learning framework with examples Python, JS

NetsBlox Player (2018)

A mobile app to run networked, user-created, NetsBlox projects on IOS and Android. JS, Cordova, Ionic

Falcon9 Simulation (2018)

Numerical simulation and feasibility analysis of a reusable rocket Python, Matlab

Sketch Adventures (2018)

A game made for Global Game Jam 2018 to learn Rust. It is a game that allows users to move with the arrow keys and draw with the mouse. User drawings are classified and come to life with different behaviors to help pass the levels. Watch our demo here. Rust, Python

Teachable Robots (2017)

Accessible RPI powered robotics for the classroom (CTE paper) JS, Python

Next Block Prediction (2017)

Predicting and suggesting next blocks in block programming languages given the current flow of student's project using N-grams, Word2Vec and RNNs. Python, Tensorflow

Distributed PubSub Broker (2017)

Led a team of three to design and implement three different architectures of a resilient PubSub broker with QoS using ZeroMQ, CHORD, and Zookeeper from scratch.

Palantiri Gazing App (2017)

A toy app to demonstrate and exercises different concurrent programming paradigms and frameworks in Java. Java, Android, Concurrent Programming

Smart Home Automations w/ RPI & ESP (2016-P)

A collection of DIY smart home projects. TODO list and expand: hot-word detection, re-purposed Google assistant, Kodi voice control, smart blinds, sound reactive led lights, sensor node Python, C, Bash

UniDB (2016)

University Database is a crowdsourced database of universities and colleges in the states. In need of an accurate, comprehensive, and free source of information, I developed and published the platform as I was going through the graduate school application process. RoR, Ruby

Additional Training

Ruby on Rails; Android Programming; Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) I & II; CentOS System Administration; Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA); Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Routing & Switching; Soft Skills; UI/UX;

Selected Publications

H.Zare, M.Mar'oti, A.Ledeczi "Educational Robotics with a Twist", Blocks+ - 2018

A.Ledeczi, H.Zare, G.Stein "NetsBlox and Wireless Robots Make Cybersecurity Fun", SIGCSE - 2019 - ACM

A.Ledeczi, M.Mar'oti, P.Volgyesi, B.Broll, H.Zare "Teaching Cybersecurity with Networked Robots", SIGCSE - 2019 - ACM

B.Broll, ́A.Ledeczi, H.Zare, D.Do, J.Sallai, P.Volgyesi "A Visual Programming Environment for Introducing Distributed Computing to Secondary Education", Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing - 2017 - Elsevier

B.Broll, H.Zare, A.Ledeczi. "Creating engaging science projects with Netsblox", Block & Beyond - 2017 - IEEE

B.Broll, H.Zare, D.Do, M.Misra, A.Ledeczi. "You can teach computer networking in high school", 2017 - IEEE

N.Hutchins, T.Darrah, H.Zare, H.Biswas. "A DSML for a Robotics Environment to Support Synergistic Learning of CT and Geometry. 2018 - CT in Education

Professional Activities

* Mentored at Vandy Hacks
* Presentations TODO
* Conferences TODO

Honors & Awards

* Awarded full scholarship by Vanderbilt University's graduate school. 2017-2019.
* Top Student: Engineering department, third and fourth year of undergraduate. 2014, 2015
* Ranked in the top 1% in the Iranian National Universities Entrance Exam. Sep 2011

Author

* Email: [email protected]
* Address: San Francisco Bay Area, CA