1. What do you currently do, and what’s your favorite part about it? By day, I work at Crestron Electronics as an Engineering Manager, leading our audio products division with a focus on DM-NAX Audio-over-IP solutions. I absolutely love working at Crestron. The scope of the work and the technical challenges we tackle are incredible. I get to guide products from concept through release, working with brilliant teams to solve complex problems in professional audio. By night and on weekends, I run DS Apps, a hobby venture (non-profit) where I build Android applications, publish open-source projects on GitHub, and recently started developing Chrome extensions. It's completely free for end users; this is my playground for catching up with the latest technologies and actually shipping products that people can use. Whether it's experimenting with context-aware mobile experiences or diving into new platforms, it keeps me sharp. At my core, I just love tinkering and building products. There's something deeply satisfying about taking an idea from concept to reality and putting it in the hands of actual users. 2. How did you get started with your Tech Career? My journey into tech started with destruction, not creation. Back in 5th or 6th grade, I was obsessed with dismantling trashed FM radios, not because I understood resistors or capacitors, but because I was curious about what made them work. My crowning achievement? Completely destroying my grandma's radio just to understand what a speaker was. I ended up using only the magnet and trashing everything else. Sorry, Grandma. Fast forward to my Electronics & Communication Engineering degree, I still had no passion for software and honestly no clue what I wanted to do. That's when my father became my guiding hand, helping me train for and land my first software job at Wipro in 2007. The training period was a disaster. I was almost about to fail out completely. But then something clicked. I realized software wasn't something to memorize; it was just another language. Once I understood that, everything changed. C and C++ became my language, and I became fluent. I was incredibly fortunate to have technical leaders who were both brilliant and down-to-earth. They taught me not just the code, but how to translate business logic into products. I worked 15-16-hour days regularly, often coding until 1 or 2 AM alongside my managers and architects. They'd even bring me food during those late-night sessions. Those hours created bonds and, more importantly, helped me prove my skills. That intense period transformed me from someone who nearly failed training into someone who truly understood the craft. 3. If Utopia were a color, what color do you think it’d be and why? I honestly don't have a specific color preference; I appreciate all colors. And maybe that's actually the answer: Utopia wouldn't be limited to one color. It would be the full spectrum, because an ideal world shouldn't be monochromatic. Diversity of color, like diversity of thought, makes things richer and more interesting. 4. If everything about HackerNoon changed drastically, what is one detail you’d like to keep exactly the same?  OR What’s your favorite thing to do with HackerNoon and why? I absolutely love HackerNoon, that's the main reason I started writing for it. I've explored other competing platforms, but they weren't what I was expecting. What I'd keep unchanged? The editorial rigor. Here's the thing: my first story got rejected. The editor was strong, almost harsh. At first, I was disappointed, but then I understood why it had to happen. HackerNoon isn't just a blogging platform where you write something and hit publish. The quality bar is high because the audience is exceptional. I've seen feedback from big leaders across major tech companies, people who are genuinely engaging with the content, not just skimming. This is a highly technical forum where technical people are actually reading and gaining knowledge. It's not just blogging, it's blogging plus peer review by people who know what they're talking about. My rejection taught me that the editors aren't just looking at grammar; they're technical people evaluating the substance. That editorial strength, combined with the incredible distribution and reach (you're on every platform imaginable, including podcasts), is what makes HackerNoon special. Don't ever lose that quality control. 5. Tell us more about the things you write/make/manage/build! I build across the entire stack  from thought leadership to production code, always with an open-source mindset. Writing: I'm a Top Writer on HackerNoon in Machine Learning, Programming, and Security. I recently published "From Chaos to Quality: A Framework for AI-Assisted Development" and "I Built with AI Coding Agents. The Hype Is Dangerous." That last one was even featured in the HackerNoon podcast. I write about what I learn by bridging the gap between hype and practical engineering reality. Writing: Mobile Apps: Through DS Apps, I've been pioneering context-aware computing since 2015. My SmartScreen app introduced intelligent screen timeout nine years before Google implemented similar functionality in Android 15. I also built AcTiFy (activity-based app intelligence) and Apparate (AI-powered app discovery). All free for end users. Mobile Apps: Open Source: My GitHub (github.com/dondetir) showcases projects like DocuChat (AI-powered document intelligence), simpleMCP (Anthropic Model Context Protocol integration), and DevFlow. I'm also a recognized contributor to OpenSIPS; my security vulnerability fix was integrated into the official 2.2.6 release, protecting telecommunications infrastructure used by carriers like Google Voice worldwide. Open Source: github.com/dondetir Current Experiments: Just launched a Chrome extension to explore browser-based AI workflows. Current Experiments: Day Job: At Crestron Electronics, I lead DM-NAX Audio-over-IP product development, guiding teams from vision to market leadership. Day Job: The common thread? Innovation through sharing. Whether it's code, apps, or insights, I believe in building things that help others build better things. 6. What’s your favorite thing about the internet? The knowledge sharing and open-source communities, hands down. The internet has created this incredible ecosystem where brilliant people develop amazing technologies and then just... share them. Anyone can read, understand, and build upon what others have created. No single entity owns it all. That democratization is what motivated me to start contributing to open source myself. But it's not just about code. The feedback loops are incredible. I've seen product reviews completely transform the apps I built for DS Apps. One comment from a user in Indonesia, which I had to translate to even understand, gave me insights I never would have gotten otherwise. That global reach, that instant connection with people solving real problems halfway around the world, is mind-blowing. And here's what makes this moment in history special: with AI tools and coding agents, a solo developer can now genuinely compete with entire companies. You can create your own virtual company and ship real products. I'm not exaggerating when I say these are the most exciting times I can imagine. I genuinely believe this will be the best time in my entire life to be building software. 7. It’s an apocalypse of ‘Walking Dead’ proportions, and you can only own a singular piece of technology. What would it be? Here's my take: people first, technology second. Technology exists to help people do their jobs better or live their lives better. It's a tool, not the end goal. So in a Walking Dead scenario, I'd choose whatever piece of technology helps the most people survive. If I had to pick something specific? Probably a solar-powered ham radio or satellite communicator. Not because the technology itself is cool, but because survival isn't a solo mission. You need to find other people, coordinate, share knowledge about safe zones, and warn each other about threats. The most valuable technology in an apocalypse isn't the one that helps you survive alone; it's the one that helps humanity reorganize and rebuild together. Connection and community beat any individual survival gadget. 8. What is your least favorite thing about the internet? Misinformation, hands down. That's my number one frustration. We're drowning in fake news, spam emails, and auto-generated spam calls,  it's creating chaos where you get ten different answers to a single question and no way to know what's actually true. Close second? The advertisement overload. Look, I'm fine with ad creators and platforms needing to make money. But we've crossed a threshold where sites that were never meant to be advertising platforms are now unusable without ad blockers. Here's what I envision instead: opt-out by default, but intentional opt-in for specific advertisements based on your choice, not surveillance of your actions. If I'm interested in something, I'll subscribe to it. Don't track me to figure it out. There's something I miss from the old days when you had a regular television channel that served as a trusted source. Was it perfect? No. But at least you had a reference point. Now privacy is basically gone, and the information chaos is only getting worse. The irony? We have more access to information than ever, but less ability to trust any of it. That's not progress. 9. If you were given $10 million to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why? Education, without hesitation. Specifically, I'd invest in preparing kids for how careers are evolving with AI. We're living through a fundamental shift in how work gets done, and the next generation needs to understand not just how to use AI, but how to build with it, think critically about it, and create opportunities with it. I'd also build a platform to help small businesses catch up with the latest technologies. Think about it, every big company has teams and resources to leverage cutting-edge tools, but small businesses are struggling to keep pace. I want to create something where schools and small businesses can access the same capabilities, either free or heavily subsidized. More big companies should be doing this already. Here's why education is non-negotiable: the next generation will write our future. We have to give them the best of what we have. And finally, I'd use a chunk of that $10 million to encourage more entrepreneurs to build products. Innovation doesn't come from established players protecting their turf; it comes from builders taking risks and shipping new ideas. Support the entrepreneurs, and you unleash the innovation. 10. What’s something you’re currently learning or excited to learn? I'm deep into two parallel tracks right now, both centered around AI and product development. First, I'm exploring how to use AI to build products, treating AI as a power tool in the development process itself. Things like AI coding agents, understanding what each model is actually good at, and figuring out the tips and tricks for using them efficiently. It's not just about prompting; it's about understanding the strengths and limitations of different models so you can architect solutions properly. Second, I'm building AI-powered products that run on edge platforms on your mobile phones, local devices, and things that don't need constant cloud connectivity. There's something elegant about AI that lives where the user is, that respects privacy and works offline. My whole goal is solving real problems with AI, not just playing with the technology. And as I learn, I share everything that's why I write on HackerNoon. If I can figure out what works and what doesn't, and share those insights, then we all get better at leveraging AI to build meaningful products. The more people who can effectively use these tools, the more innovation we'll see. 11. Would you rather travel 10 years into the past or 10 years into the future? Give reasons for your answer. Future, no question. I want to travel 10 years forward to 2035 and see how things actually unfold. Here's the thing: maybe I could bring back insights that help us avoid the mistakes I see, or accelerate the breakthroughs that are coming. That knowledge could be invaluable. I'm naturally wired to look forward. We're always moving into the future anyway; that's where the curiosity pulls me. I want to know: Did AI evolve the way we think it will? What problems are we still struggling with? What breakthroughs happened that we're not even imagining today? What did we completely get wrong about 2025? As for the past? Look, 2015 was an incredible time for me launching SmartScreen, starting this whole journey. But I love what happened. I wouldn't change it. The past shaped who I am, taught me what I know, and put me on this path. I'm not interested in going back and tinkering with it. Let the past be what it is. The future? That's where the real questions are. 12. How do you feel about AI? It's complicated, there's hype and there's reality, and you need to separate them. Yes, every company is slapping "AI" on their products. Photo apps that did face detection for years are suddenly "AI-powered." If you want to call object removal AI, fine, but let's be honest, older algorithms did that too. The branding is overblown. But here's the truth: AI is a tool. A very powerful tool. And like any powerful tool, cars, airplanes, and ships have inherent risks and inherent benefits. Nobody can classify those inventions as purely good or bad. AI is the same. It'll have downfalls and advantages, and we need to understand both and use them to our advantage. The genuine productivity gains? Absolutely real. When used right, you see tremendous improvement. But forget ChatGPT conversations, I'm talking about building products and services WITH AI. That's the game changer. If you're not exploring that at this point, you need to catch up. My main concern? Infrastructure. We're getting better at reasoning, coding, generating content, and moving toward AGI, but it all requires massive compute. What I want to see is companies shrinking these requirements: running on edge devices, consumer-grade hardware, and using natural resources more efficiently. I'm seeing movement there, and I believe we'll get to smaller, more efficient models soon. AI is creating an explosion of solo entrepreneurs; one person can now run entire companies. But here's the critical part: if you're a builder using AI, you MUST know the fundamentals. If you're a software programmer, you have to understand the code AI generates, the architecture, and the trade-offs. That will never change. AI helps you achieve things faster, but the knowledge? That's always yours. Don't outsource your understanding.

This story contains new, firsthand information uncovered by the writer.

Between Two Computer Monitors: This story includes an interview between the writer and guest/interviewee. 

Engineering Manager by Day, Solo Innovator by Night: Why This Is the Best Time to Build

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