About Alex Rivera

Background

I am a software engineer with over 20 years of professional programming experience. My career has spanned backend systems, embedded platforms, and consumer electronics — including time at Samsung, where I worked closely with their smart home ecosystem and gained hands-on experience with SmartThings from the inside.

Smart home technology has been a personal passion for well over a decade. What started as a curiosity about home automation quickly became a deep technical interest — one that now shapes how I review products, write guides, and think about integration.

My Setup

My home runs on a multi-system setup that reflects the reality most enthusiasts face: no single ecosystem does everything well, so integration is key. I use:

• Home Assistant as the central hub — automations, dashboards, and the glue that connects everything else
• SmartThings for Samsung-compatible devices and routines
• Philips Hue for lighting, running natively over Zigbee and via the Hue Bridge
• Tuya for a range of affordable sensors and switches, integrated through Home Assistant's local Tuya integration

Running multiple platforms side by side gives me a realistic perspective on compatibility, reliability, and the trade-offs involved — which informs every review and guide I write here.

About Smart Home Guide

Smart Home Guide exists because most smart home content on the web is written by people who have never actually used the devices they are reviewing. I test the products I write about, I run the automations I describe, and I have dealt with the same integration headaches you have.

My goal is to give you technically accurate, experience-based guidance — whether you are setting up your first smart bulb or building a fully automated home with Home Assistant.

Contact

Have a question, spotted an error, or want to suggest a product to review? Reach out on X (Twitter) or Bluesky (smarthomeguideblog.bsky.social — link in footer), or visit the Contact page (link in footer above).