Irina Zernova fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a pilot in 2021, but her journey to NVIDIA took flight years earlier.
Zernova and her husband made a big move in 2017, leaving their native country of Russia for Haifa, Israel. An engineer with a computer science degree from the National Research Nuclear University in Moscow, Zernova arrived in Israel not yet knowing how to speak Hebrew.
In 2019, she joined Mellanox, where her team welcomed and supported her in spite of the language barrier. When NVIDIA completed its acquisition of Mellanox in April 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Zernova saw immediately that NVIDIA was the kind of company that took great care of its employees — supporting them through the transition to remote work while avoiding layoffs.
“It was important to me to work for a company that cared, not only with its words, but with its actions,” she said. “At NVIDIA, we push cutting-edge innovation while supporting and truly caring about our people.”
Based in the company’s office in Yokneam, Israel, Zernova is a part of the hardware verification team that supports the production of network interface cards and switches, which provide the necessary infrastructure for building supercomputers. Through formal verification methods, Zernova works closely with architects and designers to ensure that their hardware code is working as expected.
“I’ve always been drawn to hardware because you’re working so closely to the core of the product at an early stage,” she said. “I get to dive deep into designs and catch bugs early, when it’s easier to fix them. I take pride in ensuring everything works from the ground up.”
Every day is different for Zernova. Each product design varies, so she’s always facing new challenges and coming away with fresh takeaways.
“The most satisfying part is when the chip comes back from the fab and works — knowing my team’s work played a role in making it happen,” she said.
A self-described introvert, Zernova enjoys how she can retreat into her mind to solve problems and finds bug-hunting to be a thrilling part of bringing a product to fruition.
“Every part of the process is important, whether it’s the architects, designers or verification team — our work would not be possible without each other,” she said. “It’s never boring — we’re always inventing new things, improving efficiency and breaking ground in AI.”
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