Professional Bio

Born and bred in Madrid, I attended the Lycée Français, then moved to Barcelona to study my undergraduate in business management in ESADE. My first job was at Nintendo of Europe in Frankfurt, where I worked for four years as Product Manager; I then moved to London to work for a martech startup.

In London, I became obsessed with computer science and started self-studying it for hours on end. I also built a startup that generated logos and branding assets algorithmically - way before generative technologies were cool. That failed, and my self-teaching was hitting a wall, so I enrolled in a Masters in Software Engineering at Harvard University through the Extension School, spending a term in Cambridge, MA.

After graduating, I started working in Madrid as an independent consultant, leading projects as both a technical product manager and software developer, in large enterprises (L’Oréal, Pernod Ricard), fantastic small-to-midsize businesses (Field.io, Oquendo, Talengo) and a variety of startups in the Madrid tech ecosystem.

You can see my up-to-date CV on my LinkedIn page.

Current Work

After working for the last couple of years in Executive Search, I’ve seen a set of problems that I think apply to many other professional services industries, and that I’m really interested in solving.

I’m currently developing an Analytics and AI suite for Executive Search, transforming candidate, sales and business operations data into actionable intelligence for the ambitious Executive Search boutique.

If you work in exec search or recruitment be sure to say hi. I am always interested to hear the challenges you may be facing, and in return I may be able to offer a tip or two on current technological trends.

I’m more generally interested on the impact of AI on SMEs - especially professional services -, on labor markets and the future of work, and on education.

I’m also furthering my studies in AI and Machine Learning with an MSc in Computer Science at Georgia Tech (OMSCS).

Skills

I consider myself a general-purpose technologist, straddling the line between product manager and software developer. Seeing the work I’ve developed in the last decade or so, I think I could fit into titles like “forward deployed engineer” or “product engineer”. I enjoy strategy, analysis, design and engineering in equal measures.

Technical

My main working tools are:

  • Python for both analytical and web dev or transactional work, covering a wide range of libraries in the ecosystem (Django, duckDB, Jupyter, PyTorch, Streamlit, etc.)
  • PostgreSQL
  • JS/TS, React, Astro for front-end work
  • Slight preference for Google Cloud Platform and Hetzner for infra, but I’ve done production work in AWS and Azure too

I have some degree of experience in many other technologies: C, Node.js, OCaml, Java, C#, Unity, other SQL flavors, Neo4j, MongoDB, etc.

I also have significant experience working in and around a variety of core business systems like the CRM, ATS, CMS, or eCommerce engine.

Product and Business

Typically, I work independently, but have also assembled and led teams on diverse client projects, sometimes at my own risk.

In terms of product skills, I have ample experience in wireframing, rapid prototyping, user research, outreach, and interviewing.

I have also accumulated a fair amount of experience in B2B sales and marketing to support my activity.

Personal Interests

I like literature, history (modern and contemporary, particularly Spanish and European), philosophy (ethics, history of ideas, philosophy of science), politics, economics, cinema (all genres and eras), music (metal, electronic, classic rock, classical, jazz, soul), cooking, lifting weights, swimming and football.

  • Three writers: Thomas Mann, Benito Pérez Galdós, John LeCarré
  • Three moviemakers: William Wyler, Martin Scorsese, Denis Villeneuve
  • Three philosophers: Aristotle, Ortega y Gasset, Antonio Escohotado
  • Three bands: Metallica, Creedence, Maribou State
  • One team: Real Madrid

I’ve quit mainstream news and social media, except LinkedIn. I allow myself one hour of browsing Youtube and a small set of sites (ex: Hacker News). It has radically transformed my life for the better. If you’re consuming more digital media than you’d like, I may be able to offer you some useful tips.

If you like reading please connect on Goodreads!

Contact

You can reach me at ae@alexerhardt.com

AI Disclosure

I use AI extensively for generating code, but not for generating human-readable content (posts, images, messages, etc.) unless explicitly stated.

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