Loompanics Unlimited is proud to present author Dennis Fiery, an expert in helping regular people take control of their lives, whether it be teaching them to use computers like the experts, wield their power as consumers, or turn temps jobs into lucrative and productive positions. He is the author of several Loompanics books: Out of Business (1999), The Temp Worker’s Guide to Self-Fulfillment (1997), How to Hide Things in Public Places (1996) and Secrets of a Super Hacker (1994).

     His most recent release, Out of Business, is the incarnation of knowledge gained from working at several crummy corporations that plummeted down the toilet and out of business, leaving him jobless. From those experiences he learned what makes companies fail – and succeed!

     He was born in 1972 to semi-hippie parents. After crisscrossing the country he settled down on the East Coast where he enjoys the close proximity of many bustling cities. He is currently at peace with the world, except for the IRS and insurance companies, and enjoys fudge brownies, inline skating, museums, bicycling, jet skiing, and drunken revelry.

Loompanics Unlimited: It looks like you’ve made a career out of being a sneak. What’s behind that?

Dennis Fiery: I wouldn’t call this a career.

L.U.:: Were you a sneaky kid when you grew up? Did you bend the rules?

D.F.: Sure, I always try to bend the rules. My parents showed me what fun that can be. That’s how you learn. People who don’t try to take risks aren’t happy. They’re trapped in a safe and boring little box. They never grow, never better themselves, hardly even know that they could, if they tried.

L.U.: Have you ever gotten in trouble for bending the rules?

D.F.: You don’t get in trouble for bending the rules. You get in trouble when people in power have a different perception of what the rules are than you do. Like, I think the rules say I can do basically whatever I want to that will make me happy, as long as I don’t harm other people. Other people sometimes take offense at this interpretation.

L.U.: Let’s talk about the Temp Worker’s Guide. Did you go into temp working with a different vision than when you came out of it? Did you realize you could have so much fun?

D.F.: No, I didn’t. It was just a way to of getting money when I wasn’t in school, then it was a way of doing something when I didn’t have a regular job. I didn’t have any preconceived ideas. As a younger version of myself, before I had experienced the world of work, it was a way to see all the corporate drones stuck in an environment, or they felt that they were stuck there. I knew that I would never want to be stuck like that.

L.U.: Do you feel like your books help people get out of their stuck situations?

D.F.: I hope so. I heard from one woman who read Super Hacker who said it gave her the confidence to explore different parts of her computer system and she found out something that she shouldn’t have found out. She learned, essentially, what was going on in her department, and it helped her get ahead. I’ve gotten other feedback like that.

L.U.: Let’s talk about Out of Business. Did something ever happen to you in a business situation that gave you a grudge, or made you swear you’d wreak vengeance against a business?

D.F.: No, I don’t have a grudge. I respect anybody who builds up a business. That takes a lot of creativity, perseverance, a lot of good character traits. What I don’t like is people who don’t try to think for themselves, who just go to work blindly following the motions.

L.U.: Who are you aiming Out of Business at?

D.F.: Anybody that has a business, they would certainly want to read it to get a lot of ideas about things that can go on to hurt their business. Then, of course, anybody who wants to hurt a rival business.

L.U.: What are your plans for the future? Anything in the hopper?

D.F.: I’ve been working on the updated edition of Super Hacker, so I’ve been doing a lot of hacking and exploring computer systems.

L.U.: Does anybody in your real job know who you are?

D.F.: I’ve tried that at previous jobs and it didn’t work out. I don’t feel like talking to anybody about it really, people always ask dumb questions and it’s annoying, they expect things from you. It just makes it simpler to keep it a separate part of my life.

L.U.: What kind of advice can you offer to someone who is frustrated with their job and their life, someone who’s realizing they’re working for The Man and they’re not getting much out of it?

D.F.: You have to act in ways that promote your best interest. People sometimes think they're acting in their best interest, when really they’re hurting themselves. For instance sometimes a worker tries to make himself or herself seem more important, more essential, by not sharing what they know with co-workers. They may know how to get the job done faster, or have access to certain systems or paperwork that others don’t have. They think by keeping that to themselves it gives them more power. But it doesn’t, it just gives them more work to do and other people resent them for it. I say, share your knowledge, share your powers, then other people will share with you, and everyone is happier. That’s how you get ahead.

L.U.: An example would be…?

D.F.: I recently got a promotion and other people didn’t, and the reason I got it was because all along I had been writing documents and programs to make the job easier for myself. When I found one of my documents or programs was helpful to me, I shared it with other co-workers. That makes less work for me and everyone else, and gets everyone rooting for me, because I helped them. They wanted me to get promoted, because they knew if I got promoted I could do more to make their jobs easier. That’s the way to get ahead. But losers think in reverse. They don’t share what they know, or worse, they don’t know anything because they don’t try to learn. They sit around and goof off. When I sit down and write something that’s going to help, it’s fun, it is like goofing off but it’s part of my job. If you really want to get ahead, you can direct that energy to something that will help you. If you have a lot of time to play solitaire or watch TV, then you probably have a lot of time to do other stuff to help yourself, your family, your co-workers, and your position in life.

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