Bharat Tiwary is on a roll. Since taking on a position as a software development engineer at Amazon, he’s been breaking ground on innovative projects, among them the development of a real-time inventory monitoring system, as well as a system for identifying and enforcing compliance regulations on inventory.
If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is, but Bharat has never shied away from technology. He sees himself as a technological pioneer, pushing things to the limit.
“My current goals in life are centered around continuing to push the boundaries of technology while making a meaningful impact on society,” says Bharat.
Bharat is in a unique position that has multiple vantage points. With a double master’s degree from Arizona State University in computer science and electrical and electronics engineering, he knows software and hardware, allowing him to bridge software development with core electrical concepts. “This makes me a versatile problem solver in the tech industry,” Bharat says.
His aptitude and appetite for technology have landed Bharat in Silicon Valley, but his journey didn’t start there. For Bharat Tiwary, it all started out in a medium-sized city in the north of India.
Bharat Vishal Tiwary
The Boy from Ranchi
Bharat was born and raised in Ranchi, the second largest city in the Indian state of Jharkhand. He is the youngest of three brothers and born into a middle-class family. His father is an engineer, who instilled in his sons a deep respect for education and technical knowledge. Bharat’s mother, a housewife, was the rock of the family, managing the household with care.
“My childhood was shaped by a combination of modest means and high inspirations,” he says.
As a child, Bharat was naturally curious about how things worked, tinkering with household electronics, often to his mother’s dismay. His father is an engineer, so he gravitated in that direction. His parents prioritized the education of Bharat and his brothers, who excelled in school, encouraging them to read avidly and think critically. Bharat soaked up science fiction novels and biographies of great scientists and engineers.
In school, Bharat developed his passion for mathematics and problem solving, challenging himself with brain teasers and puzzles, working through complex problems. In his spare time, he played cricket with his friends in Ranchi’s dusty lanes, learning to value strategy and teamwork.
All of this would lead him to study engineering at the university level.
First Steps
Bharat obtained his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University in India, one of the country’s largest technological universities. He then pursued a double master’s degree in computer science and electrical and electronics engineering at Arizona State University. He finished both tracks with a 4.0 GPA while working full-time.
He began his career as a software engineer at Bosch’s India office in Bangalore, later taking on the role of senior software engineer at the company’s office in Stuttgart, Germany. One of his early triumphs at Bosch was optimizing its static integration analysis process, reducing it by 80 percent with the help of the programming languages C# and SQL.
“This project was particularly satisfying as it demonstrated the tangible impact of smart automation on efficiency,” says Bharat.
He later moved on to a role at Nielsen, the global audience measurement and data analytics company headquartered in Tampa, Florida, where he served as software developer for four years. He led large-scale software development projects there, combining his computer science skills in areas like machine learning and cloud systems with his electrical engineering expertise.
At Nielsen, he worked on an application for onboarding people to use Nielsen’s digital panel as well as to share data while earning rewards. The web application was eventually launched in five countries.
Breaking New Ground at Amazon
In August 2022, Bharat moved to Silicon Valley, taking on the role of software development engineer at Amazon in Santa Clara, California, a position he continues to serve. At Amazon, Bharat has had the opportunity to participate in several groundbreaking projects.
One of these has been designing and implementing a near real-time monitoring system at the company, which evaluates about 2 million inventory items daily for regulatory compliance.
“This system has been crucial in preventing inventory leakage of approximately 30,000 items per month due to unknown provenance,” says Bharat. “This project challenged me to work with big data at an unprecedented scale and implement solutions with real-time impact.”
Another project of note has been the design and implementation of a system for inventory suppression at a sub Sku scope at Amazon. This new system allows for products to remain sellable while targeting only the inventory affected by compliance regulations.
“It required a delicate balance between business needs and regulatory requirements, pushing me to create sophisticated, nuanced solutions,” says Bharat, adding that his position allows him to “work with cutting-edge technologies and tackle complex challenges at an internet scale.”
Looking Forward
Bharat remains at Amazon, where he continues to push his own limits and the limits of what’s possible. He says he’s currently focused on deepening his expertise in large-scale software systems, especially in areas such as safety, compliance, and automation at the firm. Bharat is also keen on exploring emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain.
In recent years, he’s also been busy with academic projects. One involved developing a smart contract using the Solidity programming language aligned with ERC-20 standards. The token was later deployed on the Ropsten Ethereum Testnet.
He also trained a Neural Network using backpropagation that predicts whether a robot will collide with a wall or an object in a simulated environment and can explore the environment safely. The architecture was designed using PyTorch, a machine-learning library.
His academic interests continue, and Bharat sees himself giving back to the field in the next decade, by mentoring the next generation of technologists, for example. However, he also wants to make strides in the industry, envisioning himself in a senior leadership role such as a CTO. Being in Silicon Valley also lends itself to potentially becoming a founder and a thought leader.
Whatever he does, he wants to bridge cutting-edge technology with making a social impact.
“This could involve creating solutions that address pressing issues in areas like healthcare,” says Bharat, “education, or environmental sustainability.”
