Eric Z.
About Eric Z.
Eric Z. is a Founding Engineer at Modal Labs, where he has significantly contributed to scaling the platform and improving system reliability. He has a strong background in computer science, with experience at prestigious institutions like Harvard University and various technology companies.
Work at Modal Labs
Eric Z. serves as a Founding Engineer at Modal Labs since 2022. In this role, he has significantly contributed to the scalability of Modal's platform, increasing its capacity from 50 CPUs and 2 GPUs to 100,000 CPUs and 5,000 GPUs. He has also reduced end-to-end server latency by three times. Eric introduced Rust and Svelte to the organization, leading to the rewriting of at least four systems in Rust, enhancing their robustness and reliability. Additionally, he designed and implemented the first version of Modal's container runtime in Rust and created the company's design system and frontend, which includes user dashboards and a unified documentation site.
Education and Expertise
Eric Z. holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from Harvard University, which he completed from 2022 to 2023. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and Mathematics from Harvard University, studying from 2019 to 2023. His academic background provides him with a strong foundation in programming languages and software engineering principles, which he applies in his professional roles.
Background
Eric Z. has a diverse background in engineering and research. He worked as a Research Assistant in the Programming Languages Group at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences for three months in 2020. Additionally, he served as an Undergraduate Researcher at Harvard Medical School for six months from 2019 to 2020. His experience also includes roles at NVIDIA as an Architecture Intern and at Jump Trading LLC as a Quantitative Research Intern.
Mentorship and Collaboration
At Modal Labs, Eric Z. has taken on a mentorship role, guiding coworkers in web development. His collaborative approach fosters a supportive learning environment, enabling team members to enhance their skills and contribute effectively to projects.
Previous Work Experience
Eric Z. has held various positions in the tech industry, including a Software Engineer at Convex for four months in 2021 and a Software Engineering Intern at Scale AI for one month in 2020. He also worked as a Contractor at Prosper Robotics for one month in 2022. His experiences across different organizations have equipped him with a broad skill set in software development and engineering.