Mario Aksiyote

About

Work

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My work lies at the intersection of code, design, and data. I turn complex ideas into creative digital products.

I was born and raised in Mexico City in a Turkish-American household. I went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with honors and a degree and in Computer Science and Economics. Since then, I’ve designed and developed 20+ data-rich large-scale applications, cooked up a multitude of complex algorithms, given lectures at my alma mater, and been featured multiple times on The Rachel Maddow Show.

There is no such thing as a typical day on the job for me. On some days I’ll be writing production-level software from scratch, and on others I’ll be working on scrappy prototypes. Some days I’m designing unique product experiences, while others I’m reading research papers on geospatial AI, information design, economics and game theory. All this is to say that I do lots of things!

My most advanced skill to date is front-end development. Having a strong foundation in FE allows me to execute all sorts of cool and interesting ideas. I see coding – like design, data science, or data visualization – as a tool to be used in service of these ideas. Sometimes they require writing some heavy-duty code but sometimes they require no coding at all. I like to think of myself as an ideas person rather than a coder — someone with a unique combination of qualities, interests, and skills who can both think up and execute ideas in all different forms.

For the last few years I’ve been working at Topos, a startup based in New York City developing a holistic understanding of cities through the interconnected lenses of data and artificial intelligence.

When I’m not working, I’m either playing guitar, riding my bike around NYC, reading in the park, or discovering cool coffee shops.


C.V.

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Experience

Lead UX/UI Developer, Topos

New York, NY | Jun. 2017 – Sept. 2020

Established as first employee company’s front-end development processes: tech stack, best practices, and hiring approach.

Led front-end team in development of 10+ production-level React applications; built products for leading companies in Commercial Real Estate, Retail, Technology, and Public Health.

Roadmapped and managed all new and existing products as member of product team – served as team’s technical voice.

Built Covid-19 Compiler featured extensively on the Rachel Maddow Show. User base in hundreds of thousands at its peak.

Ideated, designed, and developed geospatial front-end prototypes from scratch, aiming to find product-market fit.

Designed multiple algorithms for optimizing store locations – one awaiting patent.

Contributed to research and writing of various articles on Topos Blog.

Product Designer, Behavery

Philadelphia, PA | Sept. 2016 – Apr. 2017

Redesigned and reinvented entire front-end for Behavery App.

Created design prototypes that helped secure funding from Gates Foundation in Oct. 2016.

Chief Financial Officer, ILMUNC

Philadelphia, PA | Oct. 2014 – Dec. 2017

Managed $350K in annual revenue and oversaw all matters related to business development, financial planning, and marketing.

Formalized legal and accounting processes by hiring bookkeepers, accountants, and lawyers.

Head TA for Intro to Decision Theory, Univeristy of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA | Jan. 2017 – May 2017

Aided Dr. Sumantra Sen in all course matters. Graded all homework, midterms, and finals.

Research Assistant, University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA | Jan. 2017 – Apr. 2017

Worked under Dr. Alexander Funke programming web scrapers to measure traffic data for peer-to-peer companies and services.

Collected data helped build first global index of the Sharing Economy.

Software Engineering Intern, ListenFirst Media

New York, NY | Jun. 2015 - Aug. 2015

Refactored web app into smaller components using internal Tile Framework.

Generated D3 data visualizations from large amounts of data collected from social media

Education

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA | Graduated in 2017

Bachelor of Arts

Computer Science & Economics Double Major

Discrete Math, Software Engineering, Web Programming, Data Structures, Algorithmic Game Theory, Micro/Macro Economics, Econometrics, Statistics, Graphic Design

The American School Foundation

Mexico City | Graduated in 2013

International Baccalaureate. Graduated with honors.

Publications and Mentions

Talks and Workshops

2020 - Mapping and Geospatial Data Visualization Guest Lecture at The University of Pennsylvania

2018 - Data Visualization Guest Lecture at The University of Pennsylvania

Testimonials

“Everyone is trying to do their own data visualization tools because the U.S. government is putting out basically nothing useful. But this at least as of today is the handiest thing I've seen so far to figure out basically what parts of country ought to be freaking out a little bit more than they are.”

— Rachel Maddow on “The COVID Compiler”

“I always enjoy seeing someone do the best version of a thing. This analysis is inspirational for anyone trying to come to a specific answer to a complicated problem.”

— Tristan Handy on my article “The Next Wave”

Skills

Software Skills

Javascript

React

GraphQL

Apollo

Gatsby

React Native

React Native Web

DeckGL.js

GeoJson/TopoJson

Mapbox

D3

Webpack

Babel

Node

Python

SQL

Design Skills

Sketch

Figma

Photoshop

InDesign

Other Skills

Fluent Spanish

Team Management

Product Ideation and Planning

Data Science

Game Theoretic Modeling

Algorithm Design