datameta

  Location: Brooklyn, NY
  Remote: Yes (US), Hybrid (NYC)
  Willing to relocate: No
  Availability: Full-time / contract
  Technologies:
    Languages:  C/C++, Python, TypeScript, Kotlin, Java, VHDL, SystemVerilog
    Embedded:   STM32, ESP32, PowerPC, ARM, iCE40UP5k, Artix 7
    ML/AI:      TFLM, PyTorch, LiteRT, ExecuTorch, ONNX, OpenCV
    Wireless:   BLE, WiFi, LoRa, MQTT
    Agentic:    LangGraph, CrewAI, RAG, MCP, A2A
    PCB:        Mixed-signal, RF
  Resume: https://datameta.info/Daniel_Melnikov_Resume.pdf
  Portfolio: https://datameta.info
  Email: [email protected]

Hi, I'm Daniel, R&D engineer at the physical/sensing/compute/inference boundaries. Freelance since Jan 2025: most recently an agentic pipeline for a healthcare startup that adheres to HIPAA and is deterministically prevented from accessing restricted data.

Sole inventor on a pending patent for an indoor localization system with SoTA estimation accuracy in GPS-denied and off-grid environments, where nothing is sent to the cloud.

Before that, IBM: memory controller firmware for POWER servers, and chip-op firmware and bringup/test software for the Z17 mainframe processor. That included a chip-op that cut scanchain verification time by 17% in AWAN simulation. Earlier: a Python computer vision backend for shelf sensors, live at the CVS Manhattan flagship in 2019/2020, and an embedded C++ environmental sensor package still running in several NJ warehouses since 2017.

Personal project: Movement Voltage turns hand pose into control voltage. Stereo camera tracks a hand, an RPi4 turns the landmarks into distances, and 0-5V comes out through an I2C->DAC->jacks board I designed and soldered, into a eurorack synth. Full writeup and photo on the portfolio.

I wonder how different the outcome would be if the idiom used was not help but "instructions", as in, what portion of users did not want to admit they needed assistance?

I'm not refuting the fact that people seldom read, but this seems like an interesting additional vector to explore.

Right, and often the tested depth isnt maximum. So you slowly acclimate to worse and worse code practices if the effort needed to undo it is the same as doing.

If Russia's economy is kept afloat after 4 years of full-scale war... Why would one year of Trump 2.0 do us in? Don't get me wrong, a whole lot of problematic actions have been taken in that time-frame but that pales in comparison to 1.25 million casualties and about the same number having left the country (and our population is almost triple theirs) on top of infrastructure destruction.

We're not trying to characterize typical use, but rather pathological levels of supplemental hormone

I was never in webdev, per se. I switched from "fullstack" (which included backend+frontend as well as mobile/firmware/ML) to hardware eng at IBM, and then widened back out again to R&D Engineering at a startup to work on a patent. I had always wanted to be closer to hardware/embedded and anything that involves sensor-laden and/or RF-enabled systems so it was a natural progression for me.

USA REMOTE | NYC HYBRID

  Languages: C/C++, Python, JavaScript, Kotlin, VHDL, SystemVerilog
  Hardware: PowerPC, ESP32, STM32, iCE40, ECP5
  ML: TFLite Micro, PyTorch, ONNX, OpenCV
  IoT: BLE, WiFi

  Resume: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18mjB1tIH5s-ZmiET_smUxbMo3FaiC637aW_us8P0U5I/edit?usp=drivesdk
  Email: [email protected]

Hi, I'm an embedded systems engineer/architect bridging the full compute spectrum of ultra-low power IoT, edge systems, and HPC.

My latest projects have been in full-stack edge ML R&D, memory controller firmware dev for POWER servers, and chip bringup/testing for Z mainframes.

I'm passionate about modular synthesis and tinkering with all sorts of analog circuits and DSP. Currently upskilling in analog PCB design and refining my abilities in FPGA development. Also WIP on a 3D-printed robot arm to practice control systems and actuation.

I was a proponent initially of CLI when Claude integration with VSCode required a WSL instance, but now that it is integrated directly into VSCode I feel one grouping of tooling hiccups is now ruled out in my workflow. The only (major) nitpick I have is that it wont let you finish typing and cuts you off when asking whether/how to proceed.

Oh how I wish we could know what Iain M. Banks thinks of the LLM revolution...

Maybe it even is happening but will never reach us from their local observable sphere.

Accurate. Systemic perturbations are typically bad for most "old money".

"Protect and Serve" (the State)

So, to make sure I understand what you are saying - any person whose life is gripped by intense interest in something and simultaneously they are irreligious is lesser or on the wrong path?

Personally, I learned on lead-free solder and the rosin core is almost always enough flux for me aside from rework. Always use an extractor/filter either way.