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Geeks and nerds just want to have fun, too
Thursday, January 06, 2000 By Dan Fitzpatrick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Jeff Kephart, who calls himself "a typical computer nerd," is part of a new movement in Pittsburgh's cultural life. He doesn't know it, though.
Single and self-employed, Kephart is a 37-year-old amateur radio operator who lives with his sister in Evans City. At night, Kephart builds personal computers, doing some of his best work between 3 and 4 a.m. He sleeps during the day.
For fun, Kephart and his ham radio friends go to "ham fests," where they trade electronics, radios and computers with others in the area. Kephart's group also gathers each Sunday at a different restaurant to talk about technical problems, trade secrets and to discuss new technology.
"It's really just a bunch of friends who dig computers," Kephart said. "The bottom line is, we all like to B.S."
So-called "geeks" or "nerds" used to be social outcasts. But that was before Pittsburgh's technology boom. Now, social-geekery, techie-hobnobbing and nerd-networking are in high style. The industry's growth is allowing computer enthusiasts such as Kephart a chance to create a coterie of people and places that are unique to their tastes, interests and needs.
"We are geeks," said Vanessa Fine, a 35-year-old software developer for Storm LLC who helped start Geek Night, a once-every-other-month networking event for technology workers. "We like to hang out with other geeks."
As the Geek Night Web site (www.pghgeeks.org) explains: "The Pittsburgh high-tech industry is small, incestuous and full of people we haven't seen in ages but keep meaning to call and invite for lunch. So we figured, let's get all those people in a room together for some really efficient social geekery."
The invitation is open-ended.
"If you're a geek -- and you know who you are -- then you're welcome," she said. "Drink beer. Trade stupid user stories. Enjoy the soothing chirp of a room full of pagers."
But Geek Night is not the only social option for the computer set. Geeks also gather now at Ultimate Frisbee matches, pinball tournaments, soccer games, rock climbing events, women-only coffeehouse gatherings and happy-hour events that cater to smart, obsessive, idiosyncratic people.
Soon, there could be an after-hours technology club Downtown.
"I don't feel like the employees at large and small high-tech companies know each other that well," said Phil Compton, the chief financial officer at CoManage Corp. in Wexford. Compton is one of several local technology executives who want to build a technology club Downtown as a new economy antidote to the Duquesne Club. He currently is looking for space.
With a technology club, Compton said, "you can go out on Friday night and start to get to know some of your fellow tech workers in town."
Such is the idea behind Cool Tech, yet another happy-hour social event launched in 1998 by online auctioneer FreeMarkets Inc.
Its purpose? "There is no big agenda other than to get together with fellow high-tech workers, meet and maybe share ideas and troubles," the company wrote in an invitation to a recent holiday party at the Penn Brewery.
The party was held in the restaurant's basement on the North Side. FreeMarkets lined a table with melon slices, cheese, soft pretzels, beer and diet soda. After 7 p.m., the room filled quickly. Among those who arrived was Andy Tepper, a 32-year-old video game designer who owns eGenesis in Penn Hills. He came hoping to find a potential investor.
"The purpose was to check it out," he said.
Wearing jeans and a denim shirt, Tepper blended with the crowd. There were no ties and no suits, only open collars and turtlenecks.
Tepper was not the only person eyeing a deal. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius attorney David Gerson, who helped FreeMarkets go public last year, spent part of the evening talking to venture capitalist Sean Sebastian about a start-up software company called Neometric. Gerson, who represents Neometric, wanted Sebastian to meet a Neometric executive who was at Cool Tech that night.
Eventually, Gerson brought the two men together at one end of the room. "He says we have to talk," Sebastian said. The software executive responded: "I guess that is a good thing."
One mark of the rising popularity of the region's new techie culture is the Pittsburgh Ultimate Frisbee summer league, which attracts as many as 300 people, many of them technology workers.
"The high-tech world right now is very appealing to people who aren't into doing more normal things," said Jim Buell, a 36-year-old quality assurance manager with CoManage Corp. As geek culture broadens, it is making room for more women, too.
Take Diane Cencarik, a 27-year-old who works for a company called Futuristics. This year, Cencarik is launching the Pittsburgh chapter of Web-grrls, a New York-based organization that caters to the social and business needs of women in the technology industry.
The first meeting was five months ago, at a coffee shop. Cencarik is planning more events for this year. She wants women to use the group for networking, socializing and as a place to learn new skills. When Cencarik worked for a technology company in New York, she remembers attending a geek-style party, event or mixer nearly every night.
"There is not really much of that here," she said. "We could make more of those things happen."
Geek Night also plans to branch out this year, offering more educational seminars. Its first, held Oct. 27, was titled "How stock options work." More than 100 people attended.
"We're amazed by how much it has grown," said Fine, who founded the event with three other people.
The last Geek Night, held Dec. 2 at the Foundry Ale Works and titled "Geek Night Before Christmas," drew more than 60 people. They sipped free ginger ale and nibbled on chips, salsa and chicken wings. One person wore a T-shirt that read, "Code warrior."
"You can really tell the technology industry is growing," Fine said that night, looking across a room of her friends and colleagues. "If we did this 10 years ago, we would have had one-third the number of companies attending."
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