Md Hishaam Akhtar 🌈 Bisexual pride heart

Engineering @ Groww
I build with intent — caring deeply about how it works, but even more about whom it serves

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About

I’m an engineer driven by the urge to build — not just scalable systems, but ideas that question norms and tools that quietly empower. My work spans fast-moving teams and complex architectures, but what I care about most is building at the intersection of code and compassion. I’m especially drawn to how technology shapes human behavior — and how AI might one day support addiction recovery, mental health, and equitable education. Above all, I believe engineering should be inclusive by design: thoughtful, humane, and built to serve those most often left out.

Education

Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore

B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering · Graduated 2023

CGPA: 9.01 / 10.0

Selected Coursework: Artificial Intelligence · Natural Language Processing · Theory of Computation and Compiler Design · Operating Systems · Parallel & Distributed Computing · Computer Architecture · Discrete Mathematics · Cybersecurity · Web Mining · Data Visualization · Human-Computer Interaction

Work Experience

Groww [Website]

Software Engineer · Jun 2023 – Present
Software Engineer Intern · Jan 2022 – Jun 2023

At Groww, I contributed extensively to the Customer Engagement Platform (CEP), helping it scale across newer engagement mediums such as Feed, Story, WhatsApp, and Email. I architected and built a generic-triggered service to deliver real-time stock alerts and technical signal notifications — such as 5% price movements or DMA triggers — directly into these mediums. I led the migration of batch segmentation logic to a real-time streaming system, integrating Groww’s internal event bus (EMS) seamlessly into the CDP and Journeys ecosystem. Additionally, I optimized Apache Pinot configurations across critical tables, resulting in a 90% reduction in both CPU and memory usage, while significantly improving query latencies. I also introduced observability practices within the platform, integrating Prometheus metrics and Airflow–PagerDuty alerting to enhance system reliability and developer visibility.

Trademarkia [Website]

Software Consultant · Feb 2021 – May 2021

At Trademarkia, I designed a legal data pipeline and trademark search API for efficient indexing and retrieval. I also built an asynchronous scraper for geolocation data and implemented a multi-channel alert system (email, SMS, push) for notifying users of legal events in real time.

Research

Real-Time Captioning of Sign Language Gestures in Video Meetings

Sharanya Mukherjee · Md Hishaam Akhtar · Dr. R. Kannadasan

arXiv:2507.14543  |  Presented at ICCMDE 2021

Developed a real-time sign language recognition system that translates American Sign Language (ASL) gestures into live captions during video meetings — enhancing communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The system leverages transfer learning with MobileNetV2 and CNN classifiers trained on the large-scale WLASL dataset. A novel browser extension architecture streams model predictions from a local app via WebSocket to overlay subtitles for all participants. Achieved up to 63% word-level accuracy without requiring gloves or 3D sensors, making it scalable, affordable, and inclusive.

Side Projects

Iris – Wikipedia Pathfinding Engine [GitHub] [Website]

A high-performance graph traversal service that discovers the shortest path between any two Wikipedia articles. Leveraging Redis-backed BFS, Celery task queues, and Flask APIs, Iris reveals hidden knowledge trails with production-grade architecture and session-isolated path computation.

Hermes – A Real-Time Polling and Quiz Platform [GitHub]

A scalable WebSocket-based system for conducting live polls and quizzes with instant audience feedback. Built with Node.js, Redis, and MongoDB, Hermes powers interactive events through real-time vote tracking, dynamic question flows, and secure event management.

Sociocredz – Reward Point Donation Platform [GitHub]

A hackathon-born platform that lets users donate unused loyalty points to NGOs. Designed to make micro-philanthropy effortless, it connects everyday consumers with social causes through a lightweight Node.js backend and a simple, impactful interface.

Keats – A Collaborative Book Reading App [GitHub]

An Android app that transforms reading into a shared social experience. With Firebase-powered clubs, real-time annotations, and page-synced discussions, Keats fosters deeper engagement, inclusive learning, and literary community-building among readers.

Jury Duty – A Scalable Multi-Contributor Data Labeling Platform [GitHub] [Website]

A Supabase-powered annotation system enabling rapid, conflict-free dataset labeling by multiple contributors. It features intelligent work distribution, real-time progress tracking, and research-ready structured outputs for IRR, bias detection, and statistical analysis.

Community & Leadership

Backend Developer – GDSC VIT [Website]

Apr 2020 – Dec 2022 · 2 yrs 9 mos

Served as an inner core member of the Google Developer Students Club at VIT, contributing to backend development across several projects including Hermes, Iris, Akina, and Keats — some of which were featured at DSC OMG. I co-organized major technical events like WomenTechies and DevJams, co-hosted DevTalks 2021, and helped build a custom recruitment platform during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Technologies used: Node.js · Go · Django · Flask · FastAPI · MongoDB · PostgreSQL · Kotlin · Android

Hackathons & Achievements

Hackcraft – People's Choice Award

Built an AI-powered live translation tool for Groww Help & Support, enabling multilingual chat support in real time.

Access Denied 2.0 – Winner

Co-created Sociocredz, a platform for donating unused loyalty points to NGOs — born during a 24-hour hackathon sprint.

VIT Hack – Finalist (Healthcare Track)

Developed a healthcare assistant app built for Flippr’s sponsored challenge at VIT Hacks — selected as a finalist in the track.

Udemy Instructor – 15,000+ learners

Created a hands-on Node.js course to help developers master backend fundamentals through practical, real-world examples.

Writing

Which Backend Stack Should You Learn?

A beginner-friendly guide on choosing a backend tech stack, published with GDG VIT.

Building a Data Lake on Google Cloud Platform

An in-depth breakdown of how we set up a scalable GCP-based data lake at Groww.

What Revisiting a College Project Taught Me About Growth as an Engineer

A journey through a project that taught me engineers evolve not only in what they can build, but in how they think.

Certifications

Machine Learning Specialization

DeepLearning.AI · Issued Jul 2025 · View Credential

Architecting with Google Compute Engine Specialization

Google Cloud · Issued Jun 2020 · View Credential

Graph Search, Shortest Paths & Data Structures

Stanford Online · Issued Apr 2020 · View Credential

Divide & Conquer, Sorting & Randomized Algorithms

Stanford Online · Issued Mar 2020 · View Credential

Resume

You can view or download my resume here:

View Resume

Contact

All opinions that may be listed here are my own and are not necessarily representative of my employers — past, present, or future.