Former high-tech workers get together to socialize and exchange ideas in a new twist on the old salon society

By Theresa Edo, Globe Correspondent, 1/14/2002

Two centuries ago, Paris's aristocratic women gathered in their homes to talk about art, literature, love, marriage, and freedom. The gatherings, known as salons, offered the women, who were banned from universities, a place to express themselves and engage in intellectual discussions.

In the past 16 months of downturns and layoffs in the technology market, many former dot-com workers have been channeling their energy into modern-day salons, informal get-togethers with unique themes. These networks of high-tech alumni go beyond the stuffy martini and business-card exchanges of the past 10 to 20 years to offer a more intellectually stimulating evening.

Whether held together by profession or hobbies, high-tech workers shared a common experience that was the ride of the Internet explosion, and their ''salons'' give them an outlet not only to network but to focus on the things they enjoy, whether it's discussing books and watching films or playing poker over drinks.

''The thousands of people laid off today are highly educated young people, a generation that has grown up with a constant barrage of media, people who achieved [big salaries and job titles] quickly and realized it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, people who are doing a lot of thinking right now,'' says Stephen Warley, a former associate producer for CBS and CBS.com. ''I find it hard to believe that we aren't all thinking of what truly makes us happy.''

Behind the main barroom at the James A. Logan Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Somerville is a smoke-filled room where a half-dozen people are playing poker. One of the players reports to the others about a job interview he had that day.

''Well, the VP of marketing had one of those combo PDA/cellphones, so he seemed pretty cool, but they are still developing in Front Page!'' Doug Mayle says with a smirk. Mayle, newly unemployed, was laid off from his job in the information technology department at

RadView Software, a Burlington company that produces Web-testing software. The snickers drift away as conversation continues, peppered with insider jokes about computer hardware and software and obscure facts about Rudyard Kipling, the television game show ''Jeopardy,'' and Looney Tunes cartoons.

Like the salons of 18th- and 19th-century Paris, today's gatherings are a favorite rendezvous of the foremost figures of the period - in this case, current and former drivers of the evolution of the Internet. What separates salons from traditional networking sessions is their focus, which can involve activities as diverse as playing poker, talking about television over sushi, screening favorite movies, discussing books, knitting, practicing yoga, and creating scrapbooks.

''With the gang from Firefly Networks [a defunct software company once owned by Microsoft], it's movie night at an in-home theater with potluck, a knitting circle, afternoon teas, or cookie-baking parties,'' says Mikko Von Ronne, a laid-off dot-commer. ''With a few friends from Abuzz [a part of New York Times Digital], we've tried to start a writing circle, but now it is more like an online idea swap. With folks from Thingworld.com [a multimedia technology developer], there are `Sopranos' Chianti dinners, DVD nights, barbecues, weekend getaways, and hiking.''

The ranks of the unemployed are filled these days with workers from the technology sector. In November, 2.1 million of the nation's 8.2 million unemployed were from a technical-related field, according to US Labor Department statistics. That month, the unemployment rate jumped to 5.7 percent, its highest level since 1995. Since the bottom fell from the dot-com world, those who are out of work have been looking for new outlets for their creativity and energy - and for ways to stay in contact with the working world.

''I definitely keep in touch with people from all my old jobs, and for many different reasons,'' says Kiki Mills, a former employee of Overseas Private Investment Corp. who is now director of business development for the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council. ''Most because we've become friends, others because our war stories keep us together, others because it's a good business contact.''

Members of Scoopsters, a group of current and former IT personnel at a financial service firm in Boston, keep in touch via an e-mail list. Scoopsters was formed two years ago with a handful of co-workers hashing out office gossip over drinks at local bars. Membership increased, and they began meeting every Thursday, always at a different pub or tavern. ''There are 50 of us now, and usually 10 or so meet twice a month,'' says Scoopsters cofounder Ed Stoner.

The Association of Ex-Lotus Employees, or AXLE, keeps track of members with an extensive online database of names from the Cambridge-based software company. In four years AXLE has recruited more than 2,100 members and continues to plan events, distribute a newsletter, and post Internet listings for jobs and other resources.

Providing the means for groups of high-tech professionals to keep in touch may also spawn a whole new set of business opportunities. A company called Corporate Alumni builds, manages, and hosts AXLE's Web site and others where former business colleagues can renew relationships. And a Newton woman plans to open a restaurant in San Francisco specifically for salon-type conversations.

Pia Chon, who was the marketing director for RadView Software, plans to open a place this year that would be, at its core, a hip restaurant but would offer an environment for discussion among dot-commers and artists - from engineers and programmers to visual artists, philosophers, and writers. Chon will consider a Boston branch depending on the response in San Francisco. She hopes the environment will become a venue for thoughtful interaction, ''but if nothing else,'' she says, ''I hope it will be a great bar with great food.''

Food and drink seem to be the common denominators for modern-day salons that blur the line between professional and personal contact. Von Ronne explains the bond with former colleagues: ''I love them to death. You have gone through something passionate and demanding, and you sacrificed together. Inherently, we are all supremely creative because of the situations we faced, and we all `get it.'''

That facet of the high-tech work environment could also explain why modern-day salons did not appear with such prevalence after economic recessions of the past few decades.

''I think former co-workers are getting together more often and in more creative ways now, as opposed to 10, 15, or 20 years ago, partly because people are starting families later in life than workers of the prior generation,'' says Kristen Collins, former marketing director for Cambridge Incubator, a venture development company. ''They do not have to devote time to a spouse or children and, instead, are spending more time with networks of friends.''

At the VFW post in Somerville, Mayle counts poker chips and thanks his former boss for telling him about the job for which he interviewed, and former RadView employee Demi Malnar conducts informal research for her new company, asking whether any of the poker players knows anything about biometric security. The conversation turns to scheduling the next poker game, and another salon is closed for the night.

This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 1/14/2002.
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