ShareGVL with Phil Yanov
A techie with a gift of networking others
Name: Phil Yanov
How long have you been in Greenville? I came to Greenville in 1980.
What is the most interesting fact about yourself? I have been hanging around IT people for a long time. I was a Lotus Notes Developer, I had my hand on the keyboard before I started planning technology events, with events likely what people know me for. I have written things in various program languages over the years, though I don’t code anymore. That is basically how I got started in tech.
What is your background? I was born in Southwestern, Pennsylvania, practically in the middle of nowhere, just south of Pittsburgh.
I have twin brothers that are ten years older than me and a sister that is 11-months younger than me. I’ve also got a brother eight years younger. My Dad died when I was two. He died while he was at work. That really shaped how I grew up; we had to work for a living.
As a kid, I spent a lot of time alone, either in the woods, walking around or making a path somewhere. But when I first saw a computer, which I first saw one at my school because my family did not have the money for one, it was a Litton Monroe. It was the first thing that I would program, even with a programmable calculator. If you look at it today it just looks like a big adding machine with a paper tape coming out of it. But it allowed you to write programs on paper cards and slide those paper cards in, it would run things and provide you with answers.
Being able to play around with those gadgets, to write a set of instructions, I just thought that was awesome.
I grew up on a fifty acre fallow farm. It was fenced in and sometimes it had cows in it. Now, don’t imagine that you are looking at an open-field, this was all woods and had a stream running through it. It was a dense, heavily wooded area. My thing was going out and exploring the woods.
It was eleven miles to the closest convenience store and a forty-five minute bus trip to school.
In high school, the teachers would allow me to go hang out in the computer lab. I never once went to a sporting event or even pep rallies for the school. I’ll even tell you this, my daughter plays in the band at her high school. I recently went to a high school football game and at the age of 57, that was the first time that I ever attended a high school football game.
I was super nerdy in high school, there is no doubt about it. I would sit and write computer programs all day. I would code games and have friends come down to play those games. I was the kid that had this technology thing figured out. I was the kid that my high school teachers and staff would come to if they had technical issues.
I came to Greenville to attend Bob Jones University. My family felt as if that Bob Jones was the only place I should go to school. That is what brought me to Greenville. I was at Bob Jones University from 1980 - 1984.
Bob Jones did not have a Computer Science Major so I majored in Business Management but did have a Minor in Computer Science.
I did not graduate from Bob Jones, however, as I got kicked out six weeks prior to graduation. This is part of my story. As mentioned, Bob Jones is a very restrictive environment and I partook in some extracurricular activities. One of those activities might have been being found in a place that served liquor. That story made its way to the Dean of Men’s Office and I was kicked out.
I was lucky enough to have the community embrace me. After getting kicked out of Bob Jones, I began working at the first software only store in Greenville. I had two bosses that were like family. It was good to have a real voice of reason, especially being 500-miles away from my natural family. They were generous to me and gave me my real professional start. I took it from there.
What are you currently reading and/or watching? I am about halfway through Barbara Tuchman’s, ‘The Guns of August.’ I have also finished reading, for the third time, ‘How to Think Like a Roman Emperor,’ by Donald J. Robertson.
What are your hobbies? About twelve years ago, I started a group where a bunch of guys would get together and smoke cigars. Somehow, that still lives. Even in this time of social distancing, it is still going strong. I recently did a session via Zoom where we had eighteen people jump on a call. These folks are at home, on their deck smoking a cigar and enjoying one another’s company, virtually. The group is called, ‘Cigar Therapy.’
If you work, who do you work for? I work for myself. My day-to-day is creating, ‘Tech After Five’ events for communities. We have had over 560 events amongst twelve years in different cities. Now the question is: how do I serve the same tribe virtually? How do I reach out to the over 30,000 people that I’ve met, the ones that are on my mailing list?
Tech After Five is a series of live events designed to help IT people and entrepreneurs advance their career or build their businesses. We facilitate these groups, so it is not like a MeetUp, because we are facilitating face-to-face connections by understanding what they are looking for prior to the event. These events are free to most tech professionals and job seekers.
How would you describe Greenville? A wonderful, growing and welcoming place that continues to be a delight to live in.
When I came to Greenville, there was still an automobile bridge across the Reedy River. I knew that there was a waterfall but you couldn’t see it. Now, you have people that came together, both public and private to create a new space [Falls Park], to enjoy what we have with the Reedy River running through Downtown Greenville.
How would Greenville describe Phil? I am just some guy. No, I really don’t know. I am never convinced that I am making a big mark, I am working on me but I am trying to help me and others at the same time. If I can help you, then let me do that. Maybe my best shot at leaving a mark on Greenville is with my wife and kids. We enjoy this city together.
Where is your favorite Greenville morning hangout? I am going to give you two answers: if I want to get a cup of coffee, then I would tell you to find me in the iconic Coffee Underground. If you need to have a meeting, go sit in the back. If, however, you want to watch the world of Greenville, go sit in the front. You will say hello to people for two hours straight - I love it.
More recently, I have rediscovered Grateful Brew. I am completely charmed by it. They have created community in their own way.
Where is your favorite Greenville evening hangout? I have established a habit hanging out with friends at Hans and Franz Biergarten. Friday afternoons until… that is where I want to be.
BONUS: What is your favorite go-to app? Evernote. It is my external brain.
BONUS: What is your favorite social medium? A lot of social media has become heavy, hasn’t it? Still, I find myself using Facebook.
If you go into Facebook, you CAN have a meaningful conversation. But there is a lot of trash that is going on within Facebook. I’ve got a conflicted relationship with the platform. I do a little bit of Facebook and a bit of Twitter.
My challenge is to curate a good group of friends that can benefit by rational thinking.