Usman Arif — Full-Stack Software Engineer

Usman Arif is a full-stack software engineer shipping production marketplaces with Django, FastAPI, Next.js, AWS & Kubernetes. Explore his projects, writing and contact.

Usman Arif is a full-stack software engineer based in Kotli, Azad Kashmir. He builds web products end to end — from database migrations to polished front-end interfaces — most at home with Django, FastAPI and Flask on the backend, Next.js and React on the front end, and AWS, Docker and Kubernetes for deployment.

Skills & stack

Featured projects

• Barqibazar (marketplace) — An online marketplace built for scale — product catalog, search, carts and checkout, wired to a fast Django backend and a snappy Next.js storefront. Built with Next.js, Django, AWS.
• EFGA Fromarket (e-commerce · UAE) — A fresh-produce e-commerce platform for the UAE market. Inventory, orders and payments handled cleanly, with a UI that stays fast even on a full cart. Built with React, Node.js, Stripe.
• Khaliseat (booking platform) — Seat-booking platform — real-time availability, reservations and a FastAPI backend keeping the "empty seat" count honest across every route. Built with Next.js, FastAPI, PostgreSQL.
• Nuxused (marketplace) — A used-goods marketplace with listings, messaging and search. Built on a NestJS API and a React frontend, Dockerised for painless deploys. Built with NestJS, React, Docker.

Experience

• Full-Stack Software Engineer, Freelance / Contract (2024 — now) — Building production marketplaces end to end — Django & FastAPI APIs, Next.js frontends, containerised and shipped to AWS with automated CI/CD. Owner of the whole pipeline, from schema to shipped.
• Backend / Full-Stack Developer, Product & agency work (2022 — 2024) — Designed REST APIs, auth, payments and admin tooling. Dockerised legacy apps, cut deploy times, and made "works on my machine" a thing of the past.
• Junior Developer, Where it started (2021 — 2022) — Cut my teeth on React and Node, broke staging a healthy number of times, and learned the sacred rule: never push straight to main.

Writing

• Why I Deploy on Fridays (and Live to Tell It) — Hot take: Friday deploys are fine when your pipeline actually trusts you back. A love letter to boring, bulletproof CI/CD.
• FastAPI + Django: Two Great Tastes — When to reach for FastAPI, when Django earns its keep, and how I let them coexist in one product without starting a civil war.
• Kubernetes Broke My Brain, Then Fixed My Deploys — A brutally honest tour of the k8s learning curve — the YAML tears, the aha moments, and whether you actually need it (spoiler: maybe not).
• The Art of the 3AM Bug: A Field Guide — Every senior dev has a 3am war story. Here is my system for staying calm, reading logs like tea leaves, and not making it worse.
• React Server Components, Explained Like I Was Confused Too — I finally get RSCs, so let me save you the six tabs of confusion. What runs where, and why your fetch is in the wrong place.
• Docker Layer Caching: The Speedrun — Your builds are slow because your Dockerfile is lying to the cache. Reorder five lines, reclaim minutes on every push.

Contact & profiles

• GitHub: github.com/usman-arif-dev
• GitLab: gitlab.com/usman-arif-dev
• LinkedIn: in/usman-arif-dev
• Instagram: @usman.arif.dev
• Email: usman.professional01@gmail.com