Nathan Zook

Current

• Senior Developer at Touchtunes

Past

• Sr S & A Sofware Eng at AMD
• Staff Validation Software Engineer at IBM
• Microprocessor Software Validation Engineer at AMD

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Education

• The University of Texas at Austin
• University of Tennessee-Knoxville
• Kansas State University

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Recommended

4 people have recommended Nathan

Connections

93 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Nathan Zook’s Summary

Versatile Senior Programmer passionate about quality eager for tough challenges. Extensive experience in microprocessor validation, both x86 and PPC. Created tools needed to meet deadlines. Accelerated business process 6x. Became go-to guy for tool critical to Server and Technology Group at IBM. Readily extended Ruby on Rails framework to support local needs.

Nathan Zook’s Specialties:

Languages: Ruby, Assembly (PPC and x86), Perl, HTML, CSS, Javascript, C
Tools: Ruby on Rails, Ruby GTK, Subversion, Make, Capistrano
Methodologies: Test Driven Development, Team Programming, OO Programming, REST
Familiar: Python, MS SQL, MySQL, C++, Mathematica, Bash, Forth

Nathan Zook’s Experience

• Senior Developer

  Touchtunes

  (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

  October 2008 — Present (10 months)

  Develop and maintain internal ruby on rails application to manage customer relationships and custom media development. Aid development of ruby tools to manage client systems.

• Sr S & A Sofware Eng

  AMD

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AMD; Semiconductors industry)

  August 2006 — April 2008 (1 year 9 months)

  Pair programmed with owner of existing tool to shape and create next generation implementation. Developed tool to extract and display project status from existing database. Valued for ideas outside job scope.
  
  Aided in design and performed implementation of monitoring and display
  module for cross-platform system stress tool.
  Architected and implemented web-based tool to provide multi-level status
  reporting for global system test organization.
  Contributed to Ruby on Rails project (http://www.rubyonrails.com/)
  Contributed to Rspec project (http://rspec.info)

• Staff Validation Software Engineer

  IBM

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; IBM; Information Technology and Services industry)

  April 2000 — August 2006 (6 years 5 months)

  Developed generalized cache test program to reduce customer fails for the PPC750 program
  
  Developed a Makefile template to better support the specialized needs of validation
  
  Ported 64- and 32-bit versions of assembly test code to latest processors
  
  Updated test programs in support of tiger teams
  
  Developed code in support of debug of OS-only fail (Mac OS X)
  
  Developed programming tool to dramatically improve assembly-language coding productivity
  
  Lead small team in port of key random testbed facility to various processors
  Added support for multithreaded/multiprocessor environment
  Added support for multiple architectures, including varied pointer sizes
  Added support isolating data for multiple customers inside repository

• Microprocessor Software Validation Engineer

  AMD

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AMD; Semiconductors industry)

  January 1996 — April 2000 (4 years 4 months)

  Rewrote C++-based test suite for x87 transcendental functions to expand
  features, enhance readability, improve accuracy and ensure maintainability
  
  Analyzed AMD K5 Microprocessor divide microcode to identify and characterize a "short cut" to boost performance
  
  Suggested technique to select constants for microcoded transcendental routines in the AMD Athlon Processor that doubled accuracy in certain critical cases
  
  Developed proofs of accuracy of microcoded transcendental functions for the AMD Athlon Processor which required novel techniques
  
  Tripled the number of known failing cases for the K6 multiply bug overnight
  
  Developed assembly language microcode emulator for an x87 floating point emulator
  
  Rewrote C and Assembly memory detection routines for Linux to be more robust and flexible
  
  Worked with technical marketing to document the AMD Athlon Processor legacy FPU exception erratum
  
  Represented AMD as technical expert in hostile interview

Nathan Zook’s Education

• The University of Texas at Austin

  MA , Mathematics , 1992 — 1995

  Accepted into the PhD program in 1994.

  Activities and Societies:

  YCT

• University of Tennessee-Knoxville

  BS , Mathematics , 1990 — 1992

  Activities and Societies:

  Gold Key Honor Soc.

• Kansas State University

  Mathematics 1983 — 1985

Nathan Zook’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch