Life & Work with Leonard Tatum

Hi Leonard, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My interest in software development started back in the late 90s. I developed the first website for Quartz Hill High School. At that time, no school in the Antelope Valley had any official websites, and web development in general was still fairly new for non-commercial. This was back when Netscape was King and image mouseovers were the epitome of JavaScript coding.

Through my professional tenure, I have been fortunate to touch a lot of different technologies and industries within the tech profession. I say fortunate, because I feel I am more well-rounded due to it. I have worked with ARM Assembly and hardware development. One of my early jobs was tech support. I received a lot of flowers, cookies and candy doing that role. I was good at tech support, and people appreciated me fixing their computer during the troublesome times of Windows ME. Eventually, I started creating games independently and did a lot of freelance/contract work. I still do contract work today, in fact.

Ultimately, I was able to leverage my C++ experience to learn JAVA very quickly and joined the ranks of native Android mobile app developers. My timing was intentionally early. I had a good feeling about the direction of mobile apps and got involved as early as Eclair OS version; it could have actually been as early as Donut. This is where my love and passion for technology really blossomed, and I’ve been an Android fanboy since.

Today, I am Founder and CEO of Tatum Games. Tatum Games is an early-stage startup, that is currently spearheading solutions to many of the pain points in the mobile ecosystem, such as analytics and advertising. Specifically, we are addressing issues with targeted user acquisition for developers on smartphones. Our product, MIKROS, is one of the world’s leading in-app analytics services for mobile games. If you have a mobile game, you should absolutely be using MIKROS.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have worked in tech many years, so I have a lot of stories and experiences. I will spare you the details, but my career journey definitely has not been easy. I have had to prove myself a lot, often times in the face of discrimination and blatant racism. It is not easy being a minority in tech, albeit it is a lot easier today compared to the 1990s and early 2000s.

All in all, I hope that more minorities enter the tech space. If you are looking for a career change and are sitting on the fence, I encourage you to get off and see what is available to you in the tech industry. You are important, not only for your skills, ability, and talents, but also for bringing different perspectives, ideas, and culture to the work environment.

I like what I see today. There are more Black entrepreneurs, like myself, than ever before. And we are redefining hiring practices, scouting processes, interview formats, and keeping diversity in the forefront to consciously improve work environment and culture. The tech industry has room for everyone and can be liberating and beautiful. I hope that we can continue to live by each other’s happiness, and not by each other’s biases.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Entrepreneur/Native Android Mobile App Developer/Mentor

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Persistence, patience, sickening worth ethic.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://developer.tatumgames.com/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tatumgames
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tatumgames
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TatumGamesLLC
• Other: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/tatum-games-llc

Image Credits
Lindsay Schlick