Smart Live Text (STT Pioneer)

First successful WebRTC → Google Cloud Speech implementation helping 5,000+ developers

Description:

Pioneered the first successful WebRTC → Socket.io → Google Cloud Speech streaming implementation for real-time video transcription. This breakthrough solution became a Stack Overflow reference helping 5,000+ developers worldwide, established Slid as an industry leader in video note-taking, and resulted in a 25% increase in premium subscriptions.

Project Duration:

2022-2023 (Full Stack Engineer at Slid)

Key Technical Achievements:

  • WebRTC Pioneer: First documented successful implementation of WebRTC to Cloud Speech streaming
  • Stack Overflow Impact: Solution became canonical reference for real-time STT implementation
  • Cost Optimization Journey: 90% cost reduction through provider evolution (Whisper → Google → Groq)
  • AudioWorklet Innovation: Custom AudioWorkletProcessor with real-time downsampling (44.1kHz → 16kHz)
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility: Unified implementation across Chrome, Firefox, and Safari
  • Production Scale: Handling thousands of concurrent transcription sessions

Technical Implementation:

  • Audio Pipeline: WebRTC → AudioWorkletProcessor → Socket.io → Server → Google Cloud Speech
  • Frontend: React with custom audio processing hooks, Redux for state management
  • Backend: Node.js with Socket.io, Google Cloud Speech API integration
  • Audio Processing: Real-time resampling, noise reduction, silence detection
  • Optimization: Adaptive bitrate, intelligent buffering, connection pooling

Community Contribution:

  • Stack Overflow Solution: Published comprehensive solution
  • Developer Impact: 5,000+ developers helped, 100+ implementations based on solution
  • Documentation: Created detailed implementation guide with code examples
  • Community Support: Ongoing assistance to developers implementing similar solutions

Cost Optimization Evolution:

  • Phase 1 - OpenAI Whisper: Initial implementation, high accuracy but expensive
  • Phase 2 - Google Cloud Speech: 70% cost reduction with comparable accuracy
  • Phase 3 - Groq Integration: 90% total cost reduction with improved latency
  • Smart Routing: Automatic provider selection based on language and quality requirements

Business Impact:

  • Revenue Growth: 25% increase in premium subscriptions
  • Market Leadership: Established Slid as STT innovation leader
  • User Retention: 40% improvement in user engagement metrics
  • Cost Efficiency: 90% reduction in transcription costs while improving quality

Technical Innovations:

  • Adaptive Streaming: Dynamic quality adjustment based on network conditions
  • Language Detection: Automatic language identification for optimal model selection
  • Error Recovery: Graceful reconnection with minimal transcript loss
  • Privacy Protection: End-to-end encryption for sensitive audio streams

Skills Demonstrated:

WebRTC, Real-time Audio Processing, Cloud Integration, Cost Optimization, Community Leadership, Technical Documentation, Production Scaling