About Jake & Dakic OnLine
I’m Zeljko, Jake for clients, and I’ve been building software for a living since 2006.
That’s when I started Dakic OnLine out of Chicago. The original idea was simple: help businesses solve real problems with well-built software. Not slide decks. Not theater. Actual, working software that people could use.
Over the years, the tools changed — frameworks came and went, AI reshaped how we write code, cloud replaced servers — but the core problem stayed the same: teams need to ship, and most of what slows them down isn’t only technical. It’s unclear priorities. Heavy process. Long feedback loops. Decisions that take weeks instead of minutes.
I spent years inside large organizations and watched great ideas stall exactly that way. That experience shaped everything about how I work now.
The path here
In 2023, I went back to independent work. Instead of reactivating Dakic OnLine, I tried something new — I launched a studio called Augmented Developers, riding the AI wave. Things took off. Delivery speed doubled. Clients were amazed.
Then they got used to it.
That taught me something important: speed is only impressive until people expect it. What actually matters is shipping something real, every week, and making the client feel in control of where it’s going.
By 2025, I’d simplified everything. No more rigid packages. No more preset timelines. Every client starts with a clear plan, and we adjust weekly based on what they need and how fast they can give feedback. Most find that the simplest engagement is all they need.
Along the way, I tested another brand — Make Simple & Easy — but friends told me it undersold the work. They were right. I had two decades of history and a track record under my own name. Reinventing the wheel wasn’t necessary.
So here we are. Dakic. The domain, the name, the company. Clean and simple.
Today, I describe the work as Future-Ready Product Engineering: hands-on engineering for teams that need to prototype what is possible, modernize what already exists, and keep shipping while the technology landscape keeps moving.
Everything I’ve learned — from enterprise environments to AI-augmented development to working directly with founders — comes through in every sprint.
How I work
Ship daily. Review weekly. That’s the rhythm.
- Mon–Thu: Focused build cycles. You see progress every day — commits, deploys, screenshots. You’re never in the dark.
- Friday: Weekly review. You see everything that shipped, where the project stands, and what’s proposed for next week. You approve, adjust, or redirect before Monday.
No heavy ceremony. No long planning cycles. One week at a time, one clear outcome at a time.
I work as a Super IC: one senior product engineer carrying more of the thinking, building, and decision-making than a traditional single role usually covers. That means less handoff, less translation, and fewer layers between the problem and the shipped work.
I use modern tools — AI, cloud, CI/CD — because they work, not because they’re trendy. Automation removes friction and speeds up delivery. But judgment, architecture decisions, and understanding what the client actually needs? That’s still human.
The method behind this is Practical Futurism: use experiments and prototypes to discover what can be done now, then turn the useful parts into systems your team can actually use.
Principles
- Delivery over drama. Measure success by what ships, not by how many meetings happened.
- Transparency. Clear timelines, real updates, no surprises.
- Simplicity. Remove complexity that doesn’t help the product, workflow, or codebase.
- Directness. Honest communication, even when it’s uncomfortable.
- Craft. Pride in the work and accountability for outcomes.
Focus areas
- Prototypes and experiments. Validate ideas with working software — not slides.
- Web and mobile applications. Clean, performant apps designed around real users.
- Future-ready codebases. Make existing systems easier to change, extend, and automate.
- Momentum Sprints. Weekly product engineering cycles for teams that need visible progress.
- Marketing systems. SEO, content engines, and automation that support measurable growth.
Ready to build something?
I’m based in Chicago (US/Central), with occasional presence in San Francisco. I work with founders, CTOs, and product teams who need senior engineering that ships — not more meetings about shipping.