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Seyhun Akyürek
Seyhun Akyürek

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My Journey: Demystifying Core Software Engineering Concepts

I am representing a archetype of technology leader: one who combines two decades of experience delivering secure, scalable platforms for regulated enterprise banking with the agile, founder-level mindset required to pioneer cutting-edge AI solutions till 20 years of experience. My career demonstrates a strategic evolution from ensuring stability at scale to driving disruptive innovation. 

This unique duality forms my core value proposition, positioning me as a leader who not only translates vision into production-ready reality but also builds the high-performance cultures necessary to sustain it.

Introduction: From First Code to Leading Teams
Welcome to a practical roadmap for aspiring developers. If you've ever wondered what separates writing a simple program from building a robust, real-world application, this guide is for you. We'll explore the essential pillars of modern software engineering by breaking down the core concepts that professionals use every day.
To make these ideas tangible, we'll draw on the experience of me a passionate developer to team leader with a knack for turning ideas into reality. Myjourney provides a perfect lens through which to understand how fundamental skills connect to create impactful technology.

My journey in tech has taken me from writing my first line of code to leading teams in building impactful digital products.

Before drafting about me
I recommend to read "The Manager's Code: Crafting Cultures of Engineering Excellence" by me, which is based on the twenty years of experience in software development and leadership. The book acts as a guide for engineering managers and leaders, focusing on principles required to cultivate high-performing software teams and achieve technical superiority. It systematically explores how to establish a values-driven engineering culture, design scalable and sustainable software architecture, and manage technical complexities, such as technical debt and codebase scaling.
 
Furthermore, the book details strategies for fostering engineering creativity within Agile processes, implementing continuous feedback loops and retrospectives, and scaling engineering excellence across an entire organization while balancing speed with long-term quality and meeting critical Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

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The Manager's Code: Crafting Cultures of Engineering Excellence
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The Manager's Code: Crafting Cultures of Engineering Excellence Kindle Edition

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About me

My primary areas of expertise include:

Product Strategy: Designing and executing AI-driven roadmaps that align with business outcomes - from ideation to scalable deployment.
Technical Leadership: Building and mentoring high-performance engineering teams with a focus on velocity, robust architecture, and strategic impact.

Systems Design: Architecting resilient, cloud-native platforms, from infrastructure to user experience, designed to serve millions of users reliably.

Leadership Philosophy and People Management: For any senior management position, my leadership style and ability to positively influence engineering culture are paramount. Technical skill alone is insufficient; my approach is to inspire, mentor, and create an environment where teams can thrive. 

In this post, I will explore these four pillars - Agile (how I build), programming language(what I build with), DevOps (how I ship), and AI (what I build next) - using my journey to show how they connect to form the bedrock of a successful engineering career.

  1. The 'How': Agile Methodologies for Building Better Software

What is Agile?
Agile is a modern approach to building software that emphasizes flexibility and collaboration. Instead of creating a rigid, long-term plan, Agile teams work in small, iterative cycles. This allows them to respond to change, get feedback early, and deliver value to users faster. This philosophy is brought to life through specific practices like Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), and Test-Driven Development (TDD), all of which are key skills for modern engineering teams.

Agile in Action: A Real-World Impact
My major accomplisments are in roles of Mobile Chapter Lead at Azərbaycan Beynəlxalq Bank Cultural Transformation & Performance / Delivery and Team Leader role at Commercial Bank of Dubai exceled Enterprise Delivery & Stability

Agile isn't just a theory; it delivers measurable results. During time as he implementation done by Agile Office and Agile methodologies helped me to implement robust coding standards led to a dramatic turnaround in the engineering culture and product quality.

90% reduction in system outages through the implementation of new Change Advisory Board (CAB) and release protocols during my work in CBD - Commercial Bank of Dubai

100% on-time feature delivery for critical, high-volume digital banking applications.
30% increase in team productivity through process optimization.

Ensured full compliance with KYC, AML, ODD, and PCI DSS regulations across all digital channels.

I demonstrated ability to deliver mission-critical applications within a highly regulated financial environment. My leadership was pivotal in enhancing platform stability, ensuring compliance, and increasing team productivity scope of Personal Banking of Mobile Channels

Improved Quality
I rather focusing on best practices, the my teams boosted unit test coverage from a starting point of 0% to 76% in just 6 months then reached tip point. This means the code was more reliable and easier to maintain.

Enhanced Stability
I focus on quality directly impacted the user experience, elevating mobile app crash-free rates from a problematic 60% to an exceptional 99.9% within only 3 months.

Why This Matters for You (The "So What?")
For an aspiring developer, working in an environment means you're part of a collaborative team focused on writing high-quality, stable code. It's a system designed to help you and your team succeed by building the right thing, the right way, and delivering it to users quickly and reliably.

This disciplined methodology for how to build software naturally leads to the question of whatyou build it with.

Moving to Python's Power and Versatility
What is Python?

Python is a powerful, high-level programming language famous for its clean, readable syntax. It's often recommended for beginners but is also trusted by the world's largest companies for complex applications. Its versatility is its greatest strength, making it a go-to language for everything from web development and data science to artificial intelligence. Seyhun's profile highlights this, noting "Python and Django 90%" proficiency and foundational knowledge from Harvard's CS50 course.

Python in Action: From AI Platforms to Command-Line Tools
A look at my projects reveals just how broadly Python can be applied. It's not just for one type of task; it's a multi-purpose tool for solving different kinds of problems.

Crafted AI Framework: A multi-agent collaboration AI platform. - Python, Django, Redis, PostgreSQL, CrewAI, OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, AWS
Invy: An AI-powered stock analysis and trading assistant. Python, Yahoo Finance
Metd: A simple Command Line Interface (CLI) to dump and load Python functions to the cloud. - Python, Cloud Storage SDK

Why This Matters for You (The "So What?")
Learning a versatile language like Python opens up a vast landscape of opportunities. As these examples show, a single language can be your entry point into building complex AI systems, creating useful financial tools, or even developing simple utilities that make other developers' lives easier.

Once you've written the code, the next challenge is getting it into the hands of users efficiently and reliably.

The 'Where': DevOps for Faster, More Reliable Delivery
What is DevOps?

DevOps is a culture and set of practices that aims to shorten the development lifecycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality. It breaks down the traditional silos between software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops), enabling them to work together through automation. 

Key technologies that power this culture include version control systems like Git, containerization with Docker, and cloud platforms like AWS and Azure. At the heart of DevOps is the CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery) pipeline - an automated process that builds, tests, and deploys code whenever a change is made. 
Think of the CI/CD pipeline as the automated assembly line for software. It takes raw code from a developer, runs it through automated quality checks and tests, and delivers the finished product to users, all without manual intervention.

DevOps in Action: Measurable Speed and Stability
The goal of DevOps is to make the process of releasing software faster, safer, and more predictable. Real-world metrics demonstrate its impact:

At Crafted, streamlining CI/CD processes using Docker and GitHub Actions reduced deployment time by 70%, allowing the team to deliver features and fixes much faster.

At ABB, the adoption of lean CI/CD practices reduced release cycles by 30% more, accelerating the time-to-market for new mobile banking features.

Why This Matters for You (The "So What?")
For a new developer, a strong DevOps culture is a huge advantage. It means you can spend more of your time focused on what you do best - building features and solving problems - and less time worrying about the complex, manual steps of deployment. It creates a safety net that ensures the code you ship is stable and reliable for users.

As the process of shipping software becomes more efficient, it enables teams to build and deploy more advanced technologies.
The 'Future': Artificial Intelligence in Modern Applications

What is AI in Software Today?
Today, Artificial Intelligence, especially Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), is moving from a niche field to a core component of modern applications. Instead of just following pre-programmed rules, AI-powered software can understand language, generate content, and even collaborate on complex tasks. 
My work as the "Crafted AI Framework" and deep focus on this domain - evidenced by advanced certifications in areas like Retrieval Augmented Generation with LangChain and Building GenAI Apps with Amazon Bedrock - highlights the shift of AI to a core engineering discipline.

AI in Action: Building Intelligent Tools
AI is not just an abstract concept; it's a tool being used to create entirely new kinds of user experiences and solve problems that were previously out of reach for software.

  1. Crafted AI Framework: An advanced platform that allows businesses to build and run custom AI agents that collaborate on business processes.
  2. MentorCraft: An AI-powered career simulator where users can practice real-world job tasks and get feedback from an AI mentor.
  3. LetsTalk: An AI language tutor that enables users to have live, real-time speaking practicewith an AI tutor in over 30 languages. Why This Matters for You (The "So What?") Understanding the fundamentals of AI is becoming essential for the modern developer. It represents a powerful new toolkit for creating smarter, more helpful, and more personalized products. Learning how to integrate AI opens the door to working on the next generation of software and tackling some of the most interesting challenges in technology today.

Conclusion

Journey Ahead

I have covered four interconnected concepts that form the foundation of a modern software engineering career:
• Agile is how you work - collaboratively, iteratively, and with a focus on quality.
• Programming is an example of what you build with - a versatile tool for a huge range of applications.
• DevOps is how you ship - reliably and efficiently, through automation and teamwork.
• AI is the new frontier - a powerful capability for building the intelligent applications of the future.

Mastering these core areas is the key to building an impactful and rewarding career in technology. Just as my journey demonstrates, combining a strong methodology, versatile tools, efficient processes, and forward-looking technology is the formula for turning great ideas into reality.
The principles and tools are clear. Now it's your turn to start building.

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