Yusif Jabrayilov is a frontend engineer who’s built production systems at Ekip and Baysart and is now developing Safe Circle, a London-based prototype that combines real-time incident reporting with privacy-first geodata. In this conversation, he breaks down what “deep React/Next.js expertise” looks like in practice: data ownership, rendering behavior, refactoring patterns that restore team velocity, and why custom UI libraries often outperform generic component kits at scale.
When did you start feeling like people saw you as an expert rather than just another developer?
Yusif: It wasn’t one specific moment. Early on I was solving problems other people found difficult. Recognition came when colleagues started asking my opinion before making big architectural decisions. At Ekip and later at Baysart, they trusted me to define the entire frontend layer: routing, data fetching, performance strategy, developer workflow. When your proposal becomes the foundation for a whole product, you realize people are relying on your judgment, not just your ability to write code.
Many engineers describe your understanding of React and Next.js as unusually deep. What do you approach differently?
Yusif: I treat these tools as constraints rather than solutions. Once you understand rendering behavior, data ownership, the cost of every network call, you stop chasing new syntax and start designing flows that scale. With Next.js specifically, I focus a lot on where data should live and when it should be fetched. Every choice affects performance, maintainability, and user experience. That awareness is what keeps systems fast even when the product grows.
Teams often bring you in to rebuild or refactor existing products. Why?
Yusif: Usually they’ve hit a plateau. Features take longer, regressions multiply, performance drops. My first step is understanding the structure that created those limits. Once you map it out, you can show how relatively small architectural changes, like shifting logic to server components or introducing a clearer state model, can restore speed and confidence. When a team feels like new features don’t break old ones anymore, trust in the process comes back quickly.
Tell us about Safe Circle. How did the idea appear, and what makes it technically interesting?
Yusif: The idea came from observing how people move through large cities with almost no real-time information about safety. Safe Circle lets users report incidents anonymously and view them on an interactive map. The challenge is providing detailed geodata while protecting privacy. We separate personal and location data completely, encrypt all communication, and process only what’s necessary. Most of the work is keeping that balance right, usefulness without compromising anonymity.
Safe Circle is still early. How do you see its role in the London tech community, and what are you focusing on right now?
Yusif: At this stage it’s a working prototype. We’re testing with a small group of users to see how they actually interact with reports, maps, and notifications. My goal is proving the system provides value and behaves reliably before we think about visibility or scaling. Technically we’re refining map rendering, category logic, and real-time notifications. If the tool helps people feel more aware of their surroundings, that’s already a strong foundation.
You often build custom UI libraries instead of using public ones. Why invest time in that?
Yusif: Generic component sets work fine for prototypes. For production systems you need components that match your design language, accessibility rules, and performance targets. Internal libraries remove inconsistencies, shorten onboarding, and give teams a shared vocabulary. When someone says “use the compact list component,” everyone knows its exact behavior and styling. That predictability keeps large projects maintainable. It’s more upfront work, but it pays off.
You have mentored many junior engineers. How has that shaped your professional reputation?
Yusif: Mentoring forces you to clarify your thinking. I’ve done around eighty structured sessions through the Beyond Boundaries programme, guiding people through React, TypeScript, and React Native. You start seeing patterns in how beginners misunderstand concepts, and you learn to explain things in a way that changes habits, not just knowledge. For me, the recognition comes when someone writes later: “We applied your method for state management and our bug rate dropped.” That’s the feedback that matters.
From your perspective, what defines your approach to engineering?
Yusif: I focus on how systems behave in production. Every design decision should serve reliability and clarity. Whether it’s a marketplace or a safety app, I want the interface to load fast, handle errors gracefully, and earn user trust. Deep knowledge is only useful if it translates into products people can depend on every day.
Finally, where do you see your work heading in the next few years?
Yusif: I want to keep combining strong engineering with products that make a difference. That means scaling Safe Circle responsibly and helping other teams build systems that are both efficient and respectful of users. Recognition follows naturally when you focus on real impact, not visibility for its own sake.
