I'm a software engineer who enjoys turning complex problems into simple, elegant solutions. From frontends to backends, I care about quality, performance, and the developer experience along the way.
I gravitate toward problems that sit at the intersection of design and engineering — interfaces that feel inevitable, systems that just work, and tools that make other engineers faster. I believe great software is honest software: well-named, well-tested, and kind to whoever reads it next.
When I'm not coding, you'll find me exploring new tech, contributing to open-source, or sketching ideas for my next side project.
Projects shipped
Years building
Happy clients
Awards & mentions
Wrote my first production code. Joined a small team building a customer portal — learned the value of clear naming, code review, and shipping small.
Led a frontend rewrite from legacy templates to a modern React stack. Cut page-load time in half and shipped a design system the team still uses today.
Took features from idea to production — backend services, infra, and the UI. Worked closely with design and product to ship features users actually loved.
Working independently with select clients on products I care about. Focused on AI-assisted experiences, accessible interfaces, and craft you can feel.
Tiny merges, frequent feedback, fewer surprises. The best software is the kind you can change tomorrow without fear.
Real users have slow networks, screen readers, and tired eyes. I build for them — not for the demo on a 5K display.
Clear naming beats clever tricks. Every line is a love letter to whoever maintains it next — including future me.
Plain English in tickets, honest estimates, early warnings when something's off. Trust compounds; opacity erodes it.
An AI-assisted writing tool for engineers — turning rough notes into clear technical docs.
Diving deeper into Rust and the WebGPU spec — slow, deliberate, surprisingly fun.
A Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout. Re-reading Shape Up by Basecamp.
Lots of lo-fi while coding, and the occasional Rick Rubin interview when I need a reset.
Mostly street and architecture. The constraint of a single frame teaches better composition than any screen.
Long, slow trips with a notebook. Cities I keep coming back to: Lisbon, Kyoto, Mexico City.
Curating playlists, learning bits of piano, occasionally producing ambient tracks for fun.
Equal parts software books and old-school sci-fi. Currently working through Le Guin's Hainish cycle.
Easy mileage four times a week. Best ideas show up around kilometer five.
Home barista. Currently obsessed with light-roast Ethiopians on a hand-crank grinder.
"Shafqat is the rare engineer who cares about both the code and the user. He shipped a feature in two weeks that our last team couldn't deliver in three months."
"Working with Shafqat felt like having a senior product designer and a senior engineer in the same person. Our app finally feels coherent."
"Calm, clear communication. Always one step ahead. The kind of person you want owning critical paths in your product."
"He took a vague idea and turned it into a product our customers actually love. The before/after numbers speak for themselves."
Talk at FrontierConf — on building UI patterns for products with non-deterministic outputs.
"Quiet UI: designing interfaces that respect attention" — published June 2024.
Guest episode on shipping accessible features in fast-moving startups.
Personal portfolio recognized for typography and motion design.
Yes — I take on a small number of projects each quarter. Best fit: product teams shipping web apps, or founders who need a senior engineer to lead the first version of something.
TypeScript everywhere. React/Next.js on the front, Node or Python on the back, Postgres for data. I deploy on Vercel, Fly.io, or AWS depending on the project. Happy to learn whatever your team uses.
Remote-first since 2020. I overlap 4+ hours with most US, EU, and APAC time zones, and I'm happy to fly out for kickoffs or workshops when it makes sense.
I design what I build. For larger projects I partner with a dedicated designer; for smaller ones, I can take a Figma file from blank canvas to shipped product.
Mostly fixed-scope sprints (2–6 weeks) with a clear deliverable, occasionally hourly for ongoing work. I'll always send a written proposal before anything starts.
Email is the surest path — hello@example.com. I reply within a business day or two. The contact page works too.
I'm currently open to new opportunities and freelance collaborations for 2026.
