Meet Aarish Khanna, the Swiggster who simplified grocery shopping on Swiggy Instamart!
Behind Swiggy Instamart’s recent viral ‘shopping list’ feature is one of the youngest Swiggsters who joined the company in January 2024. Barely a few months into the system and Aarish Khanna is already a star. This is his story.
“Did you know?” Aarish asks, while adding, “Our shopping list feature was ready to be released much before the tweet about it went viral. That message, however, assured us that we were on the right track.”
From tough times to building tough features
About the same time last year, Aarish Khanna was worried. “It was a difficult time for me, I didn’t have a job and things were getting frustrating. And it was during an internship at a startup that I heard about the aSDE programme and applied for it,” says Aarish who didn’t expect to receive a call since the number of people applying for the programme was high.
Like all the other aSDE’s, Aarish too went through the initial stages of learning. “The programme is built in such a way that it exposes you to the real problem statements that we’re solving. We slowly scaled up by assisting on various projects,” he says. Before he could register how time was passing, Aarish found himself working on new features.
Talking about how the shopping list feature came about, he explains. “Every year during the WWDC event, Apple releases their new iOS version. We check out the features to see how we can use it at Swiggy. During one such discussion we came up with the idea to power our search engine with Siri and then saw an opportunity to add more features to it including scanning lists through an image.”
After the initial chat, the team got to work. “Even today, people in India write down their shopping lists. So we knew there were many use cases that we would be solving for. We then pitched the idea to Naina Bansal, a product manager and Bhavya Patunjal, a UX designer.They loved the idea. Despite being busy with other P0 projects, the team carved out time for this and helped us build it,” adds Aarish who recently got promoted to the role of an SDE1.
How challenging was it to build a new feature when he was still a fresher in the system? “I had to learn and understand the new version of iOS and then build a refined solution. I work for Swiggy Food but this was an Instamart project, so it was challenging to understand their code. But the team was supportive and helped me through the blocks,” Aarish says.
Speaking about Aarish and how he worked on this feature, Agam Mahajan, Engineering Manager at Swiggy says, “Aarish has showcased remarkable ownership and a founder’s mentality from day one! His dedication to deep problem-solving is truly inspiring. With the Shopping List, we knew it would impact consumers’ lives, but watching it go viral was the perfect cherry on top!”
So how does the new found fame feel? Aarish laughs as he answers, “It feels great! The best part is that my parents can now see the impact of my work. In fact, when the tweets were going viral my dad was so excited he read all of them and was even giving me suggestions!”
For someone who “always wanted to work in the iOS field”, Aarish can’t believe it came true within the span of a year. “The aSDE programme is a great opportunity for people who want to get into this field. Not only did I get to work on some unique features and products but I also got promoted! For a beginner like me, this offered immense scope for growth and that has added to my skill set.”
When you ask Aarish what’s the best part about this feature for him,he says, “It’s made my mother’s and the lives of several others a little easier and that makes me truly happy!”
Author Bio
Priyanka Praveen leads content for Swiggy's Employer and Talent Branding team. She comes with 11 years of writing experience having worked for Indian and International news organisations. She loves story-telling, is an avid embroidery artist and a wannabe baker.
