Meet HackerNoon Top Writer: Leon Adato – Discussing Transition to Tech, Writing, And Overall Journey

Thank you for having elevated our evergreen community, we cannot wait to hear your story 💚

Introduction

My I.T. superhero origin story goes like this: I got my degree in Theater and promptly realized the world didn’t need another short young scrawny nebbishy looking actor (at the time, Matthew Broderick had that corner of the market sewn up).

I fell into IT training almost by accident, but it allowed me to feed my family while also having a very perform-ative element to it. I was able to take complex technical concepts and make them understandable, relatable, and even funny. After 5 years of in-class work I was ready to take my show on the road. I got a job at a “real” company and worked my way up the IT food chain from helpdesk to desktop support to sysadmin and network engineering.

Then I took a weird sideways shift to work on “Tivoli”, a monitoring, inventory, and software distribution tool. From that point on, for the next 27 years, monitoring and observability was my jam. I used just about every tool out there, and applied it in environments that ranged from modest to moderate to mind-boggling.

And then, 11 years ago, one of those monitoring vendors asked if I’d like to be one of their “Head Geeks”, a term that seemed cooler than “Technical Evangelist” – the prevailing term at the time. The role allowed me to leverage the technical knowledge I’d acquired up until then, but weave in my penchant for writing, public speaking, and being an all-around show-off. And that’s what I’ve been doing since.

How Did You Start Writing?

I’ve always been a person-who-writes. Whether it was diary entries or compulsive classroom notes (not about the subject. That was boring. But if you wanted to know who’s chair made a fart noise in social studies, I was your guy.) When I became a Head Geek / Developer Relations Advocate / Technical Evangelist / Dancing Bear the writing I did naturally became part of my job.

How Has Technology Impacted The Way You Write?

While I imagine myself as the type of writer who could do well with a trusty underwood or even a fancy IBM selectric, the truth is that there are a number of tools that I use in small but significant ways.

Obviously the internet itself – with the ability to research almost anything without leaving the comfort of my chair – is a biggie. Likewise are utilities that have become so ubiquitous as to be virtually invisible at this point – everything from spell- and grammar-checking to word counters and beyond.

Beyond that, the most important tool I have isn’t one that helps me do this, but rather a tool that helps me NOT do things: focus mode. My cell phone is another important tool (not to writing specifically, but to my life in general), but it’s also a huge stumbling block to me when I need to get work done. As a 57 year old guy with undiagnosed ADHD, someone who learned to cope back before all the amazing adaptations we have today, I have nevertheless amassed my own collection of coping mechanisms. Focus mode on my phone is one of them, and a big one at that.

However, at the very top of my list of technologies that impact my writing are keyboards. Yes, I’m one of THOSE people. The kind of person who knows the difference between Cherry MX red, brown, or blue and have an opinion about it to boot. My all time favorite keyboard is an old Sun Microsystems Type 5 keyboard. It’s got just the right amount of play but also a softness to it. It also has a Mini-Din 8a connector. Yes, it looks like an old PS2 connector but it is decidedly NOT. Which is why I was DELIGHTED to drop $65 for an adapter that lets me use my favorite keyboard with modern equipment.

For me, having a keyboard that feels good using is a big part of getting past my lizard brain that comes up with all kinds of reasons NOT to write.

Share About Your Journey Highlights?

(Share with us the highs and the lows, pivotal moments that reshaped your creative path.)

The most important moment that helped me pivot from a-person-who-likes-to-write to “a writer” came 11 years ago, when my career shifted from being an individual contributor (specifically a IT practitioner who helped design, implement, and maintain monitoring systems) to a developer relations advocate for a software vendor. That role is ALL ABOUT writing, and it gave me the reason, time, and motivation to spend serious quality time at the keyboard, and make the mistakes necessary to learn and grow in the craft.

What’s Your Creative Process?

(Do you have a specific writing routine? How do you get ideas for your articles?)

In her now-famous TED talk, “Your Elusive Creative Genius“, author Elizabeth Gilbert talked about her creative process. Rather than the cliched lightning stroke of inspiration, of the artist crying “Eureka” and leaping out of bed to immediately (and instantly, in one sitting) create a masterpiece, Ms. Gilbert said of herself,

I’m a mule, and the way that I have to work is I have to get up at the same time every day, and sweat and labor and barrel through it really awkwardly.

That is a really important point to share here, to anyone reading this and wondering “Why is this so hard for me? Maybe I’m just not a creative person.”

Please never doubt that you, dear reader, ARE. It is hard for all of us. It is a slog, sometimes. It is work – “…the dogsbody work of writing” was how another writer put it once.

That said, my creative process is a blend. There are days when the topic isn’t grabbing me and the ideas simply aren’t there. In those moments, the advice of every writing coach on the planet holds true: keep writing anyway. Write anything. Write about not having any good ideas. Write about what you see out your window.

Just. Write.

But… Other moments – happily for me, many moments – the ideas fly faster than my fingers can type them. In those moments my ADHD brain isn’t a freight train, it’s the Broadway production of Starlight Express – dozens of actors on rollerblades streaking in multiple directions at breakneck speed, all vying for my attention.

I bounce from typing a paragraph for the work at hand to jotting notes in Joplin – sometimes on the same topic, sometimes something completely disassociated. By the time I’m done, I might have 3 or 4 paragraphs of good material, and 6 or 7 other essay ideas (not all of them good).

But if I try to focus down to one thing, I end up with no-thing. The act of saying “stop” to any of those ideas ends gives me a case of creative constipation. So my process has adapted to just keep the movement going, and clean up the mess afterward.

Also… ew. Sorry for that mental image.

Your Favorite Memory/Article(s) to This Day?

Over the 11 years as a DevRel Advocate, I’ve had a chance to create a lot of stuff. With that volume of work, it’s hard to pick a favorite. Also, like coding itself, when I look back on older things I’ve written there are parts I like and there are parts that I wish I’d done better (but I also recognize I couldn’t have done them better because I wasn’t at that point in my journey yet.)

With all of that said, so far this year, the piece I’ve enjoyed most is “HOW TO DEVREL: It Might Not Be New, But It’s Yours”

How Did You Hear About HackerNoon? Share With Us About Your Experience With HackerNoon.

I originally heard about HackerNoon from one of my DevRel coworkers. I was looking for a community that had a large, vibrant, engaged audience where I could share my thoughts – ostensibly about tech, but also about whatever was top of mind for me – and I realized that HackerNoon, from the bright 8-bit aesthetic to the cheeky notifications, was the right place for my work.

What Have You Learnt From Your Journey?

I’ve been around the block a time or 10 so there are SO MANY things I’ve learned along the way:

• The single greatest skill anyone can have is the ability to quickly and comfortably say “I don’t know, but I would love to find out and share it with you.”
• You will always learn more from your mistakes, mis-steps, and missed shots than you will from your nothing-but-net wins. Learning to see those moments for what they are and make the most of them is huge.
• Just because you don’t feel like it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Conversely, just because you want to do it doesn’t mean you should.
• Putting gas in the tank – yes I mean taking a break, but also reading, talking to other people, and experiencing other people’s creative work – is critical to your growth as a creator.
• Anybody who tells you that you’re not enough – not old enough or young enough or experienced enough or skilled enough or whatever – is scared of you. Not just who you are today, but what you might become tomorrow if they don’t shut you down now. See them for what they are, and get past them as quickly as you can.
  • That also applies to the voice in your own head telling you that you can’t.
  • Yes, I have one of those voices too. I know how hard it is to shut it down or ignore it. Keep trying.