Sergio Mattei: The Beautiful Humans Of Hacker Noon (Noonies Winner for Under 20ish Award, 2019)

In Hacker Noon’s inaugural awards last year, we wanted to recognize the brightest and best, in tech, and the award category ‘2-or-3 under 20ish’, is for the ones who are super young, yet entrepreneurial and motivated. This is our sweet little Q&A with an awesome human named Sergio Mattei, who is the winner of the award.

How did you feel when you were nominated (... and won!) the category for ‘2-or-3 under 20ish Award’?

Well, it was pretty awesome! I’d been aware of the award and pushing the voting link hard within the online maker community, so I was really excited to see the final results come in with me leading the category. I’ve worked really hard building community and creating content, and seeing that get recognized was pretty fantastic.

What is your full-time job?

My full-time work is leading and building Makerlog, a community of over 5,000 creators in tech shipping software together. It’s pretty great work: I feel like what I do is extremely impactful and has a role in impacting lives around the world. I couldn’t ask for more.

How do you keep up on your tech industry’s latest developments?

I read a lot! Aggregators like Hacker News and publications like Hacker Noon are my slight addictions, haha. Every morning (and bathroom break) I hop on my phone and start getting my daily brief of satisfying tech content.

Which topic do you usually read on Hackernoon.com?

Naturally being a founder and in the maker community, the Startups section is a great fit! The articles on it are pretty great morning (or, noon) reads.

What was the last book you read and was it any good?

‘Principles’, by Ray Dalio. It’s a pretty popular book, but I’ve just started reading it and I’m pretty hooked.

What’s your biggest vice?

I’ll be straight up with you: reading Hacker News. I love criticizing that place because the amount of people talking with authority is staggering (similar to Reddit). But it’s a love-hate thing -- I contribute there often and it’s my primary morning reading destination. I really love the intellectually satisfying content and in-depth discussion -- the YC folks have really inspired a great on-site culture.

Would you like to share more on what you are working on right now?

Absolutely! Makerlog basically works by making your entire product-building process -- from idea to production -- entirely transparent and public, hence making you more productive! We’ve built an incredibly supportive community that not only helps makers stay motivated while shipping, but also loves to chip in and help -- anywhere from being initial beta testers to collaborating in products.

If you’re a maker or online creator building something, Makerlog is your home!

What is one thing you’d wish to change about yourself?

I’d probably improve my habit-building abilities and time awareness. It’s extremely hard for me to build habits, for some reason. I think it’s probably related to my ADD. 

I have attention issues, yet time awareness happens to be really difficult for me. When my mind enters a focus state, I basically completely lose track of time. Hours could go by and I wouldn’t notice. This is a serious issue when scheduling meetings and whatnot… But somehow I manage.

If you could change a global issue that is one of the world’s biggest problems today, what would you change?

That’s a complicated question. There’s many global issues that I would change, and I don’t want to get too political either. This will sound cliche but it’s a cause that is very dear to me -- bringing the maker movement to the places that need it most. 

I’ve made things since I was a kid, and for the longest time, I felt like I didn’t have a support network. That all changed after I stumbled upon the maker community - I truly began to feel that there were people that understood me, even if my economic reality distanced me from traditional startup hubs and metropolitan areas.

That’s an amazing thing, and the world is set up for it. The cloud has brought high-tech to everyone at affordable costs. You can now build a startup with a cheap laptop or even from your phone with no-code.

The democratization of technology is going fast and I like it. 

Is there anything else you wish the readers to know about you?

I don’t know, I’m quite the open book. :) Follow me on Twitter for sure - I write a lot of content there and tweet often about my hustle building Makerlog. 

Where are you living at right now? Caguas, Puerto Rico. The tropical summer heat is starting to hit but the beach makes up for it.

What is your favourite breakfast meal? Pancakes, for sure. The folks at YourStacks would be proud.

Do you have a phrase or a quote you live by?

“No mercy.” - Alina Sava

“You didn’t wake up today to be mediocre.” - ???

Favorite color: Green! My eyes are green. HackerNoon would be proud.

Favorite song at the moment: Derecho de Nacimiento by Natalia Lafourcade.

Favorite podcast: Definitely Planet Money by NPR and “How I built this”. Great podcasts!

Favourite tech app you use daily: Makerlog, for sure. But also Notion, TweetDeck (I am a HUGE TweetDeck fan), Spotify.

A tool you can’t live without: I probably can’t live without Notion and tools like Roam Research. I love how these tools help me turn my thoughts into great-looking documents.

They work like my brain does, especially Roam -- I am really effective writing in bullets.

In this year’s awards, we have a category called ‘Future Heroes’, which we’ve no doubt Sergio already belongs to. Will you share your nomination for the beautiful humans shaping tomorrow’s technology in web monetization, tech for good, #BLM , and so much more?