About Alex
I’m a proponent of in-depth analysis, boundless creativity, pushing norms and finding new avenues to solve problems and even better…create beautiful solutions.
My Skills
I am a US-based WordPress developer, web designer & digital creator. I am headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but I can work with any organization or company remotely!
The Beginning…
Hello, my name is Alex Martinez and I’m jazzed about turning a passion and hobby into a career. I feel extremely lucky for that. I started coding back in the early ’80s when my father brought home a Tandy 1000 home computer. I made little games in BASIC, being able to create characters and have them run across the screen. I didn’t know it then, but what I was doing was creating something interactive out of a bunch of characters that I typed into the screen. Magic!
I didn’t do much more computer programming after that until I got hired as an Advertising Executive at a local newspaper in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I loved the design department and how they used Adobe to create visual and beautiful display advertisements. I started practicing in Adobe Creative Suite so I could create my own ads to try to sell to clients. This really got my creative side going and I loved the freedom to be able to create.
Swing Over to Development…
I designed a landing page for one of our departments and gave it to our design department at the newspaper, to develop. I remember not being happy with the transitions of the buttons and asked to get the files to this landing page. Here is where I started seeing the absolute magic in HTML and CSS. I started to learn by watching YouTube videos and immersed myself in coding techniques for a good 6 months straight, often staying up until 3-4 am and getting up and going to work at 7:30 am.
I loved it. I wanted to learn everything. Then a newspaper client of mine asked if I knew anyone that could design a website for them and I said “Sure, I can do it!”. Not knowing if I could pull it off, I was intrigued to give it a shot. Here is where I could oversee the design, development, and do what I wanted creatively and make a successful website for my client!
This was 2011. I got to work and created one of the worst websites ever created. Bright colors, gimmicky carousels….just not good. Well, to give myself credit, it was 2011 and it was my first build. I got paid for it and told myself, hey I can improve this craft and make a living or at least a side hustle doing this.
The Beautiful World of WordPress…
I was building static HTML sites and didn’t really venture into a CMS yet, then a friend asked if I ever tried to work in WordPress. I said no, but I downloaded it after our conversation. This opened a new world to me. Not only the database storage and connection but my oh my, PHP. I thought PHP was the answer to all my programming dreams, and honestly still is. To be able to dynamically connect content, custom fields, and call functions was beautiful to me and I’ve been going full steam ahead in it ever since.
About Me…
I am a father of a 16-year-old boy, a huge sports enthusiast, and love to cook. I also like to hike, play golf and work in my yard. When it comes to development and business, I feel like my approach to customer relationships is a great asset so I can ask the right questions about goals and objectives when brainstorming design ideas for clients. I’ve always believed that if my clients are successful with what I have delivered to them, then I am a success.
Thank you for visiting my site and I hope to hear from you soon!