Surviving IT: A Q&A with Yau-Man Chan

CBS reality show “Survivor” contestant Yau-Man Chan, a favorite of the recently concluded “Survivor: Fiji,” is director of information systems for the College of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley. "Survivor: Fiji" pitted contestants in a variety of mental and physical challenges, the winner of which would ‘outwit, outlast and outplay’ other survivors.Yau-Man, 54, who survived until the final four contestants but was ultimately was voted off, recently talked with Senior Editor Deni Connor about his adventures on the top-rated show and his experience in IT.

I was one of the people recruited for the show. The [show’s producers] were getting a lot of applicants that were 20-something male, so they wanted women, some Asians, some black Americans and older people. They found me through the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association Web site, where I am the division director for the Northern California region.

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CBS reality show “Survivor” contestant Yau-Man Chan, a favorite of the recently concluded “Survivor: Fiji,” is director of information systems for the College of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley. "Survivor: Fiji" pitted contestants in a variety of mental and physical challenges, the winner of which would ‘outwit, outlast and outplay’ other survivors.Yau-Man, 54, who survived until the final four contestants but was ultimately was voted off, recently talked with Senior Editor Deni Connor about his adventures on the top-rated show and his experience in IT.

How did you come about to try out for "Survivor: Fiji"?

I was one of the people recruited for the show. The [show’s producers] were getting a lot of applicants that were 20-something male, so they wanted women, some Asians, some black Americans and older people. They found me through the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association Web site, where I am the division director for the Northern California region.

What IT skills did you take and apply to "Survivor: Fiji"?

The only thing I took is the ability to analyze and problem solve. In the IT field, especially in network infrastructure and keeping the network running, when there are problems, analytical and organizational skills are important. When you play a game like Survivor, which is strategic, every time you encounter a challenge, it helps to analyze the situation and try to go at it not by brute force -- because I can not compete against those young guys -- but to figure out the optimum way to solve the problem.

Tell me about some of the challenges in which your analytical skills were especially helpful.

For example, in the spear-throwing challenge, I certainly don't have the upper-body strength the other guys have to throw the spear far enough [and have it hit a target]. So I had to look at the situation analytically. I noticed when they threw the spear, none of them hit the target. I had to think about how I could do better than them. I decided to do a running start, and before I started, I found the balance point of the spear in order to make sure that it would stick when it hit the target. Thinking through the problem first before jumping in and doing it by brute force certainly helped.

There was also an experience with breaking open a wooden box. Tell me about it.

In the beginning, the very first day actually, an airplane dropped a box for the whole camp. A whole bunch of big, burly guys went and tried to break open the box. Of course, they couldn't, because the box was made to be parachuted from a plane -- so it was very well made. After they tried to break it open for about 20 minutes, I went up and took the box and dropped its corner on a rock a couple of times and the box opened up. You can take brute strength like gorillas trying to slam the box against the rock, or you can determine what is the weakest point of the rectangular object. The corner is, and that’s what worked

What is more challenging -- being on "Survivor: Fiji" or being an IT manager?

Being an IT manager is certainly more challenging. I have to deal with a very complex network, especially pertaining to security issues. In security, we are always up against unknowns -- we don't know who the bad guys are. I have no idea what their motivation is in putting out viruses or attacking our databases. Whereas on "Survivor: Fiji," I know who my opponents are; I can talk to them and deal with them, because I know who they are. In a network world, we don't know who the bad guys are, and that is very challenging. It is getting worse, and I hope there are more tools to help us deal with this awful situation.