# Who is Alex Merced?

This site is the personal profile of Alex Merced: Technologist, Educator, Developer Advocate, and Author. It covers his life journey from his early life to his current role as Head of Developer Relations at Dremio.

## Sections
- **Early Life & Context:** Born June 30, 1985, in Hartford, CT. Early interest in tech and web design.
- **Musician & Creator:** Produced original guitar and electronic music, and now uses AI to revitalize past productions.
- **College Years:** Attended Bowling Green State University (2003-2007), founded businesses, and studied media/culture.
- **NYC & Economics:** Spent a decade in NYC teaching economics and finance to professionals.
- **Public Service:** Ran for public office advocating for pluralism and served as Vice Chair of the LNC (2018-2020).
- **Transition to Technology:** Reinvented his career in 2019, diving into software development, creating GrokOverflow.com, and producing tech content.
- **Developer Advocacy:** Joined Dremio in 2021 as Head of Developer Relations, focusing on Apache Iceberg, Apache Polaris, and developer education.

## Books Authored
- Apache Iceberg: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly)
- Apache Polaris: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly)
- Architecting an Apache Iceberg Lakehouse (Manning)
- Additional independent titles: [books.alexmerced.com](https://books.alexmerced.com)

## Speaking
Alex has spoken globally at conferences including Oredev, Data Council, Data Day Texas, Confluent Current, and DataEngBytes. To book Alex to speak, email Contact@alexmerced.com.

## FAQ
- **What does Alex Merced do?** Head of Developer Relations at Dremio, focusing on data engineering, open source (Apache Iceberg, Apache Polaris), and developer education.
- **What books has Alex Merced written?** Three flagship data titles (Apache Iceberg: The Definitive Guide, Apache Polaris: The Definitive Guide, Architecting an Apache Iceberg Lakehouse) plus independent titles at books.alexmerced.com.
- **Where has Alex Merced spoken?** Oredev, Data Council, Data Day Texas, Confluent Current, DataEngBytes, and more.
- **How to contact or book Alex Merced to speak?** Email Contact@alexmerced.com.

## Podcasts
- Alex Merced's Tech Podcast
- Thoughts & Opinions of Alex Merced
- DevRel and Dev Advocacy

## Links
- [DataLakehouseHub.com](https://DataLakehouseHub.com)
- [AlexMerced.com](https://AlexMerced.com)
- [AlexMerced.blog](https://AlexMerced.blog)
- [AlexMercedCoder.dev](https://AlexMercedCoder.dev)
- [AlexMercedMedia.com](https://AlexMercedMedia.com)

## Events
- [Agentic Lakehouse Events](https://luma.com/agenticlakehouse): Global meetups and webinars on agentic analytics
- [Data Lakehouse Hub Events](https://luma.com/DataLakehouseHub): Global lakehouse meetups, linkups, and webinars

## Community
- [Data Lakehouse Hub Slack](https://join.slack.com/t/thedatalakehousehub/shared_invite/zt-274yc8sza-mI2zhCW8LGkOh1uxuf8T5Q): Practitioner community for lakehouse architecture
- [Data Events Slack](https://join.slack.com/t/data-events/shared_invite/zt-38vgrooy9-U9ral_gr3NAz_Siih1QwmQ): Announcements for data conferences and meetups
- [Data & Tech Slack](https://join.slack.com/t/datatechcommunity/shared_invite/zt-12xrk4qmd-y~6jUFFd7kdaLhgLURKwoA): Broader data and technology community
- [r/datalakehouseandai](https://www.reddit.com/r/datalakehouseandai/): Subreddit for data lakehouse and AI discussion
- [Data Lakehouse Hub on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/data-lakehouse-hub/): Company page for the Data Lakehouse Hub
- [Alex Merced Tech on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@AlexMercedCoder): Software development and engineering channel
- [Alex Merced Data & AI on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@alexmerceddata): Data lakehouse and AI channel