WDT Employee Spotlight - Nicholas Hunter
by Daphne Thompson, on Feb 9, 2017 10:48:10 AM
Name: Nicholas Hunter
Current Position: Senior Software Engineer
Degree: M.S. in Computer Science
What type of work do you perform?
Nick primarily works with WDT services that produce tiled meteorological data sets, such as radar mosaics or temperature grids, that are planned for map display. He also works on our cloud infrastructure, automated deployments, and real-time lightning strike services.
What aspect of your role do you enjoy the most?
Improving and optimizing our services is a satisfying part of my job. We monitor and graph many different metrics about how our software behaves. Seeing improvements after a deployment is always a good feeling!
Before working at WDT, what was the most unusual or interesting job you had?
I worked for the University of Oklahoma as a research assistant back in 2006. We implemented some interesting projects for the time where we had client applications on Zaurus PDAs with Linux. We thought it was cool because no one had Android phones or iPhones back then.
What are some of your hobbies?
A big hobby of mine is working on a retro video game project. I handle the programming while a friend of mine does all the artwork. We took a prototype of the game to PAX South in 2016 and received a lot positive feedback.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to spend time with my wife and 2-year-old son. We like to go to brunch on the weekends which is always great. Additionally, we enjoy having the Warren Theatre nearby in Moore which has great balcony and IMAX seating. Finally, I’m into computer games and currently play more Overwatch than I should.