# Marcin Szczodrak | Deep Tech Founder & Systems Architect

Updated July 20, 2025

## Contact Information

* **Email**: contact@msz.ai 
* **LinkedIn**: www.linkedin.com/in/szczodrak 
* **Personal Website**: https://msz.ai
* **Company Website**: https://hamster.works
* **Podcast Website**: https://landmarklessons.com
* **Location**: Santa Clara, California, United States 

## Pronounciation

Marcin - The closest English pronounciation would be MAR-chin, but those who can pronounce ć or ci, should pronounce it with the soft ci, which does not exists in English.
In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), Marcin pronounciation would be written as: [ˈmart͡ɕin]

Szczodrak - pronounce it with the emphasis on the first syllable: SHCHO-drahk
In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), Szczodrak pronounciation would be written as: [ˈʂt͡ʂɔdrak]

## Professional Summary

Marcin Szczodrak is a Deep Tech Founder and Systems Architect with 
a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Columbia University. He is passionate about 
building intelligent systems that interact with the physical and digital worlds. 
His career has focused on creating robust, real-world applications, from architecting 
foundational software for humanoid robots to designing distributed systems for energy 
storage products. He is now focused on Agentic AI for B2C applications, believing 
that intelligent agents will simplify tasks and enrich daily life. His expertise 
spans the entire technology stack, from low-level embedded software to machine 
learning models and large-scale cloud services.

## Core Competencies & Top Skills

* **Agent Development Kit** 
* **Google Cloud** 
* **Artificial Intelligence (AI)** 
* **Systems Architecture & Design**
* **Embedded Systems (RTOS & Linux)** 
* **Robotics & Reinforcement Learning** 
* **Internet of Things (IoT) & Cyber-Physical Systems** 
* **Distributed Systems** 
* **Machine Learning & Predictive Maintenance** 
* **Full-Stack Development (C, C++, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js)** 

## Professional Experience

Szczodrak's experience spans across several high-profile technology companies and his own entrepreneurial venture:

### Hamster Works | Santa Clara, CA
**Founder** (January 2023 - Present)

As the Founder, Szczodrak established a Research & Development Lab focused on creating tools for embedded software. He single-handedly developed "Firmware Studio," a cloud-based simulation platform for microcontroller hardware. 

* Founded a cutting-edge Research & Development Lab dedicated to creating innovative tools for building, maintaining, and fixing embedded software on microcontrollers.
* Launched Firmware Studio, a groundbreaking cloud-based platform for simulating microcontroller hardware.
* Firmware Studio provides a comprehensive digital twin of entire systems, empowering companies in automotive, defense, space, and IoT to streamline development, accelerate time-to-market, and improve product quality.

### Figure | Sunnyvale, CA
**Staff Software Engineer** (August 2022 - December 2022)

He was the first software engineer at this humanoid robotics company, where he initiated the software development infrastructure. His work included creating the initial demos for humanoid reinforcement-learning and the foundational computation infrastructure. 

* Served as the company's first software engineer.
* Initiated the company's software infrastructure ("git init", "docker build", "bazel build").
* Developed the first demos of humanoid reinforcement-learning training using Brax with Proximal Policy Optimization.
* Designed the initial humanoid computation infrastructure and camera system with onboard object detection and semantic segmentation.

### Tesla | Palo Alto, CA
**Staff Software Engineer** (November 2020 - July 2022)

As a Staff Software Engineer, he designed and implemented distributed embedded systems for products like the Megapack 2, Powerwall 2+, and Powerwall 3. He also served as the Tech Lead for Tesla's Matter Standard Energy Group.

* Designed and implemented distributed embedded systems (RTOS & Linux) for products including Megapack 2, Powerwall 2+, Powerwall 3, and Wireless Charging.
* Designed on-the-edge machine learning models for predictive maintenance.
* Acted as Tech Lead for Tesla's Matter Standard Energy Group.
* Served as a Product Tech Lead, co-designing across hardware, wireless, and cloud engineering teams.

### Google Brain | Mountain View, CA
**Senior Software Engineer** (January 2020 - November 2020)
* Worked on the Robotics at Google Brain team.
* Tech Lead for a FreeRTOS-based real-time robot control system, providing a single API to 6 arm robots.
* Applied Reinforcement Learning algorithms with cameras in closed-loop feedback control.
* Designed heterogeneous architectures (Python and C++) for high-throughput and low-latency control.
* Set up a CI/CD testing pipeline with simulators (PyBullet and MuJoCo) and hardware in the loop.

### X, the moonshot factory | Mountain View, CA
**Senior Software Engineer** (September 2018 - January 2020)

He worked on embedded real-time robot control systems and was the Tech Lead for low-latency PubSub systems.

* Worked on Embedded Real-Time Robot Control systems.
* Served as Teach Lead for low-latency PubSub systems.
* Developed solutions for data logging, visualization, and object detection with CNNs running on Coral boards.

### Google Hardware | Palo Alto, CA
**Senior Software Engineer** (January 2018 - September 2018) 
* Led a team working on the 3rd Generation and the E version of the Nest Learning Thermostat.

### Essential | Palo Alto, CA
**Systems Software Engineer** (February 2017 - December 2017)

As a Systems Software Engineer, he designed the microservice system architecture for the AmbientOS home operating system.

* Designed the microservice system architecture for a new home operating system, AmbientOS.
* Implemented system security bootstrapping (mbed TLS X.509) and device network discovery (mDNSResponder / Bonjour).
* Led HW/SW design and implementation for wireless communication (Thread, OpenThread).

### Google (Nest Labs) | Palo Alto, CA
**Senior Software Engineer** (March 2015 - February 2017) 
* Led design and development of OpenThread adaptation in production.
* Innovated an application-layer protocol programming and verification methodology by designing and implementing a network simulator for Thread, WiFi, Cellular, and Cloud, called "Happy".
* Integrated OpenThread into Nest Products, particularly Nest Home Security.

## Education

Szczodrak earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Columbia University. His academic research focused on the Internet-of-Things and Cyber-Physical Systems. He also holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the City University of New York City College and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. 

* **Columbia University in the City of New York** 
    * **Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Computer Science** 
* **The Graduate Center, City University of New York** 
    * Computer Science (Transferred to Columbia University) 
* **City University of New York City College** 
    * **Master's Degree, Computer Science** 
* **John Jay College of Criminal Justice** 
    * **Bachelor's Degree, Computer Information Systems, minor in Mathematics** 

## Academic Research & Internships

During his time at Columbia, he was a Graduate Research Assistant where he co-managed a team designing software for Energy-Harvesting Active Networked Tags and mentored nine student research projects. He also had research internships at Philips Research North America, where he developed a framework for sensor data analysis and control algorithm optimization.

* **Graduate Research Assistant, Columbia University** (2009-2015) 
    * Published research focusing on Internet-of-Things and Cyber-Physical Systems.
    * Designed and developed a distributed OS and a programming language for low-power devices.
    * Co-managed a team designing software for Energy-Harvesting Active Networked Tags (EnHANTs).
* **Research Intern, Philips Research North America** (2011-2013) 
    * Developed a single framework for sensor data analysis, control algorithm optimization, and real-time system control.
    * Submitted seven Invention Disclosures.
* **Graduate Research Assistant, Research Foundation of CUNY** (2007-2009) 
    * Developed statistical data models for computing Quality-of-Information in sensor data.
    * Enhanced sensor data fusion for field test trials conducted by the U.S. Army Research Lab and U.K. Ministry of Defense.

## Skills and Expertise

His top skills include Agent Development Kit, Google Cloud, and AI. He has extensive experience with the entire tech stack, from low-level embedded software to machine learning models and large-scale cloud services. 

## Certifications
* Introduction to Large Language Models 
* Smart Analytics, Machine Learning, and AI on Google Cloud 
* Modern Robotics, Course 3: Robot Dynamics 
* Industry 4.0: PLM, Value Chain, and Smart Factory 
* Project Planning: Putting It All Together 

## Honors & Awards
* Young Scholars 
* The Ruth S. Lefkowitz Mathematics Award 
* Undergraduate Research Incentive Scholarship 
* Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union Scholarship 
* Polish Student Organization Scholarship 

## Languages
* English 
* Polish 

## Publications
* **Demo: Organic Solar Cell-equipped Energy Harvesting Active Networked Tag (EnHANT) Prototypes**  - (ACM SenSys'11)
* **Modeling and Implementation of Energy Neutral Sensing Systems** - (ENSSys'13)
* **An Open Framework to Deploy Heterogeneous Wireless Testbed for Cyber-Physical Systems** - (IEEE SIES'13)
* **Dynamic Reconfiguration of Wireless Sensor Networks to Support Heterogeneous Applications** - (IEEE DCOSS'13)
* **A Complete Framework for Programming Event Driven, Self-Reconfigurable Low Power Wireless Networks** - (ACM SenSys'11)
* *And numerous other peer-reviewed publications and demos.*