Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Alexander Encinas. I was a Mechanical Engineer for four years and a half before joining Le Wagon to learn Web Development.
For many years I’ve been interested in the tech industry and learning to code, but I never had the opportunity to switch careers. The health crisis pushed me to take the leap and join Le Wagon.
Today, I’m Co-Founder and CTO of MangoLab, a company providing IT services to startups.
Why learn Web Development with Le Wagon?
I chose to learn Web Development because I’ve always been fascinated by the creative part of things, and I enjoy seeing projects come to life.
Le Wagon convinced me because of the curriculum. What you learn & what you'll be able to achieve is very clear and transparently explained.
Tell us about MangoLab and how you became an entrepreneur
I founded MangoLab with my brother-in-law last September.
We found it interesting to join forces as he had experience managing tech teams, and I had just finished the bootcamp and was ready to work on software development projects.
We started working for clients who needed help building websites and landing pages, and then realized we could create our company to help more startups. We saw that many marketing agencies don’t fully cover the technical side of projects - they will usually ask freelancers to take care of the coding part - so we wanted to offer our services in this domain.
What’s your day-to-day like as a CTO?
My main goal is to provide the maximum quality to clients.
As a CTO, I support my team technically and coach them to communicate directly with clients. I believe it’s important that developers directly work with clients instead of just focusing on programming.
My experience as an engineer helped me understand the skills needed to manage people from different backgrounds. I’ve been in many roles and worked for various businesses. From this, I learned it’s essential to have an open mind, listen to people, and build a network.
That’s why I try to create a growth environment for our team to evolve professionally and personally while encouraging knowledge sharing inside the company.
Do you think Le Wagon set you on the right path to becoming an entrepreneur?
It helped me a lot! Especially the project phase.
Working on projects, I realized the importance of teamwork and what it takes to make collaboration work. With my team, we had two meetings every day: one planning meeting in the morning and one at the end of the day to review the blocking points. This helped us prioritize tasks and stay focused.
I also discovered that what I like is managing a team and supporting others in their work.
What’s your advice for people thinking of a career change?
Don’t be afraid. All it takes is to make the first move.
“There’s more and more demand for developers, so now is an excellent time to switch to the good side!”
Enrolling in a bootcamp like Le Wagon will open your mind - maybe you’ll find a job, or you’ll get an idea to launch your business. Whatever path you take, you’ll learn new things that will come in handy at some point in your career.
