Behind the Build: An iOS Engineer’s View of Spotify Wrapped 2021

In our series profiling technical staff, we spoke with Mesfin Mekonnen, a Senior Engineer from Spotify’s New York office. Mekonnen, who specializes in iOS development, joined the 2021 Wrapped team as an embed, taking ownership of several core stories in the annual experience.

From User to Builder

Having long admired Wrapped from the outside, Mekonnen was eager to see the product from the inside. As one of several iOS embeds, he split the workload for the various stories with his peers. His specific responsibilities covered the Top Five Artists, Top Five Songs, Top Five Podcasts, and Top Genres features, along with the all-new Audio Aura.

The project gave him a new appreciation for its scale. “I didn’t truly appreciate the amount of people and work involved,” he said. “It requires literally hundreds of Spotifiers.”

Unexpected Technical Hurdles

The team initially predicted that Audio Aura—being a completely new feature—would be the most difficult build. It did indeed take the longest to implement due to its many components and the lack of prior iterations to build upon.

For Mekonnen, however, the more demanding task was the Top Genres story. It required specialized software to generate bar charts by programmatically drawing text onto a canvas and rendering the context as an image. That process was a first for him, and he credited the deeper expertise of his fellow engineers for helping him learn the technique on the job.

A Culture of Collaboration

The high-pressure environment of Wrapped—with its tight schedule and weekly deliverables—was mitigated by a supportive team atmosphere. “Whenever blockers came up, we could always rely on our teammates to pitch in and help out,” Mekonnen noted.

Because every story had both an iOS and Android counterpart, communication across mobile platforms was constant. His team regularly shared approaches and flagged issues with their counterparts, which he sees as a highlight of the experience.

Recognition for Key Contributors

Mekonnen was quick to credit those who made the project successful, including:

  • Cait Charniga and Sona Dolasia for detailed designs and precise motion specs.
  • Udaya Pillalamarri, the engineering manager, for prioritizing team wellbeing and creating an environment where people could be themselves.
  • Zela Taino, the tech lead, for strong project and time management while also implementing stories.
  • Kylan McBride for deep iOS expertise that Mekonnen relied on for his toughest challenges.

Lessons for the Home Squad

Beyond the technical wins, Mekonnen highlighted the dedication of the localization and accessibility teams as a lasting inspiration. Weekly testing sessions with the localization manager caught translation issues and ensured a quality experience across all languages, pushing the team to fix problems with non-Latin characters.

“This kind of dedication—along with a real focus on accessibility—is something I’m taking back to my home squad and my day-to-day work at Spotify,” he said.