"Hacker" is sort of a loaded term today. It tends to be associated with criminal behavior, or at least security research. If you spend time hacking on software/hardware projects, what do you call that to a layperson? Digital tinkering?
'Tinkering' is my goto phrase if I want to avoid the negative connotations of 'Hacker'. And I never call cyber-criminals 'hackers' since I don't want to taint the word hacker or associate it with e-crime.
