va3ndf

About

Nicholas Ficara

Nick Ficara

I'm a maker with experience in software, hardware, and almost everything in between. I'm also an amateur radio operator under the callsign VA3NDF and the operator of AS214681, a small autonomous system I run for the fun of learning how the internet fits together.

Most of what ends up here falls into two piles. Writing covers software, radio, homelabbing, and networking. Builds covers the physical side: laser cutting, machining, PCB work, leather, and whatever else my little shop allows.

You can find me on my personal site, LinkedIn, or by email at nick@nicholasficara.dev. There's also a puzzle on this site. If you crack it, I'd love to hear from you!

Experience

  1. Meta

    Jun 2026–Aug 2026

    Product Scaling Intern · Menlo Park, CA

    • Static analysis of Android apps
  2. Maxima

    Jan 2025–May 2026

    Software Engineer Intern · San Mateo, CA

    • Agentic accounting product
  3. AMD

    Apr 2025–Aug 2025

    Systems Engineering Intern · Markham, ON

    • GPU media encoding and codec tooling
  4. Government of Canada

    Jan 2024–Dec 2024

    Systems Engineering Intern · Ottawa, ON

    • Reverse engineering and vulnerability research
  5. PostGrid

    Apr 2023–Aug 2023

    Backend Engineer · Remote

    • Backend for letter mail API
  6. Avenda Health

    Aug 2021–Aug 2022

    Software Engineering Intern · Remote

    • 3D data analysis and visualization for prostate cancer