Alex Beciana
Software Engineer
New York, NY, USA
I'm a full-stack software engineer with an entrepreneurial spirit with 5 years of digital marketing, product management, and community management experience, working in tech (startup to FAANG), education, and music as well as leading a profitable startup. I'm a recent Flatiron School graduate and accustomed to the Agile methodology, working across technical and non-technical teams, and managing project roadmaps.
My interest and passion for engineering blossomed during my undergraduate career as I was working full-time during the day and attending class full-time at night. During this time, I started a company, Sweet Static, so that I could learn and grow skills from scratch with a real-world application of classroom learning and independent study. This company became profitable and noteworthy in New York City and along the East Coast of the United States, allowing me to hire a small writing staff to give others an opportunity similar to what I created for myself.
Recommendations
Tashawn Williams
Sr. Manager, Software Engineering Instruction
I’ve been a Lead Instructor at Flatiron School for close to 3 years and have graduated over 1500 students. I don’t often write recommendations but I do when I notice something special. There are 3 things I look for in a student to gauge their likelihood to be highly successful engineers: resiliency, ability to receive feedback, and impact on others. Alex exhibits all three. There was a moment where I’ve had to give constructive feedback to Alex about his code and performance on a code challenge. Most students in this situation respond with resentment or denial. Alex, on the other hand, gracefully accepted the feedback. He spoke with me about how he could improve and what suggestions I had. Not only did Alex execute on this feedback, improving in every area, he became one of the strongest students I’ve ever had. In fact, he’s the first student of mine to build his own Ruby gem to help initialize new CLI projects, eliminating a prominent pain point for his classmates. Additionally, Alex would offer his time to help his fellow classmates who were struggling with understanding and implementing concepts. The ability to acknowledge areas of opportunities and the resiliency to turn them into strengths are integral to success in any career but particularly significant for a Software Engineer. Alex has proven that he is self motivated and committed to learning and growing as a developer. I firmly believe he will be a valuable addition to any team.
Skills
Marketing
- User testing
- Web usability
- Market Research
- SEO
- SEM
- Google Analytics
- Salesforce
- Hubspot CRM
- Social Media Marketing and Scheduling
- Customer Success
- Community Management
Product and Design
- Jira
- Zapier workflow automation
- Product Management
- Project Management
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Adobe Indesign
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe XD
- Figma
Software Engineering
- HTML5
- CSS3
- CSS Flexbox
- CSS-in-JS
- vanilla JavaScript
- Ruby on Rails
- Ruby
- MVC architecture
- Agile methodology
- React.js
- Redux state management
- Redux-Thunk
- secure JTW HTTP-only cookie auth
- Netlify
- Gatsby
- SQLite
- PostgreSQL
- Twilio API
- Twiml
- RESTful API
- Relational databases
- Git
- GitHub
Education
Flatiron School
Software Engineering Program
2020 - 2020
Zicklin School of Business (Baruch College)
Marketing Management - Digital Marketing Specialization
2016 - 2020
Suffolk County Community College
Business Administration
2012 - 2016
Work Experience
November 2015 - Present
Founder, CEO Sweet Static
Growing at an average of 150% annually in audience size and web metrics. Organizing and promoting sold-out branded events and showcases across the Northeast United States region, including partnerships with Planned Parenthood, Everytown Gun Control, and the ACLU for charity benefits. Overseeing product development, graphic design, HR, editorial planning and editing, and business development. Working in close contact with music artists, management companies, photographers, visual artists, and performance venues of all sizes.
November 2017 - April 2020
Digital Marketing and Program Coordinator Major League Hacking (MLH)
Collaborated on new community strategies - increasing completed events by 350% and a 260% increase in attendance, resulting in the empowerment of 13,000+ community members. Mentored and advised 800+ professional and student organizers (domestic and international) via community building/management and marketing resources to be used by student organizers. Promoted the community and product offerings via social media, email marketing, in-office events, and partnerships - working closely with sponsors - GitHub, JPMC, BlackRock, Amazon, Google, Twilio, etc. Created successful email marketing campaigns to an audience of over 140,000+ for various frequencies (seasonally, monthly, and weekly)
July 2015 - September 2017
Publicity / Radio Outreach Assistant King Pizza Records
Responsible for securing domestic and international coverage of events and artists by attracting the press via press releases, email correspondence, and networking. Created marketing and public relations guide to be followed by the label and its artists. Maintained close relationships with various radio stations, blogs, and retail stores
March 2017 - August 2017
External Events Scheduler New York University - Kimmel Center
Booked and kept track of 400+ events, resulting in $350,000 in revenue. Acted as the liaison between NYU and clients, trusted with high levels of sensitive information from both sides Maintained close relationships with CEOs and executives of national and international corporations and nonprofits. Assisted in the day-to-day operations that include answering phones, processing payments, handling inquiries, and taking messages.
August 2016 - August 2017
Head Events Booker / Talent Buyer The Gateway
Managed 60-100+ events and concerts each month as well as additional space bookings on an event planning calendar. Calculated the risk/reward factors with events, making sure the venue stayed on/below budget. Grew and cultivated close relationships with other bookers/promoters, artists, and booking agents.
August 2016 - March 2017
Web Project Coordinator New York University - Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
Acted as the liaison between IT web team and the faculty/staff of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Uploaded all content to the website while proofreading and editing copy while monitoring performance and providing feedback to the editorial team. Managed the timely deliverables of content to third parties. Worked closely with UX/UI designers while working on the frontend. Attended and contributed in SCRUM meetings to access deadlines and outstanding tasks for the website rollout.
Le Cine
A film club management app to bring meaningful conversation and film lovers together under one roof.
My friend Russell found the COVID pandemic as an opportunity to create a safe escape once a week in the form of the Pandemic Film Club. Everyone involved has cultivated a lasting friendship that spans across the United States. I created this app as a way to help Russell with managing the club instead of sending out emails. Additionally, users can signup for SMS push notifications to find out what the group's discussion and watch-along films are on a given week.
I used Bauhaus design theory on the frontend as a personal aesthetic that I like to use.
You can look at the code here and access a live demo here.
Adobe IllustratorAdobe XDAdobe PhotoshopBranding Colors and LogoGraphic DesignTwilioRESTfulAPIUX DesignFrontendRuby on RailsReact.js
rcli_app
This gem focuses on helping beginner Rubyists get started with creating their own command-line applications. After installation, you can start building your domain models and creating your application.
You can look at the code here.
