In 1987 my friend Steve and I started CSS (Custom Software Solutions) with the intent of developing software for doctors’ offices, mom and pop VHS rental stores, and whatever else we could. We ended up creating a couple of accounting programs for 2 small contractors; one on the Commodore 128 and another on an Amiga 500. Since we knew nothing about business this “company” didn’t go very far so we gave it a rest and went our separate ways.
In 1993 this same friend, Steve, approached me about a job as a c programmer for the company he was working for; Parish Automation. I knew a little bit of the c language and nothing of the pharmaceutical inspection systems that this company built and sold but I jumped at the opportunity. I interviewed with the owner of the company wearing my one and only suite, that didn’t fit too well, and with a hole in my right sock that could be seen through the glass table in the owners office. I expressed how eager I was to join his company and with my friend backing me up I was offered the job.
In 1995 a headhunter found me at Parish Automation and wanted me to interview at a competitor, Systech Solutions. At the time pharmaceutical plants were required to have automated inspection systems so that market was hot. I spent a week updating the Parish software to run in “demo” mode, took the application and source code with me, and went on the interview. I did the normal face to face interview, showed the “demo” running of the software that I built, then asked the manager, Lee Clark, if he wanted to see the actual code that I wrote. Lee looked a little surprised that I actually had it with me, probably because it was such a blatant breach of trust against my current employer at the time, but because of my initiative was he able to get a better idea of what I could do. When I was asked how much money I was looking for I added another $3k to what the recruiter had told me the job was offering. I later told this to the recruiter and said that I was shooting high… he responded “I hope you didn’t shoot yourself in the foot”. Needless to say, I got the job and also got the money I asked for.
In 1997 the VP of development from Systech Solutions, Alan Bourassa, had left Sytstech to work at Barnes & Noble. He reached out to me and asked if I wanted to help out with some client / server development. “client / server” was hot in the market at that point so I decided the opportunity was for me, plus it was for Barnes & Noble! He offered me an hourly contract or the option for a full time position. I weighed the benefits of both and decided that I did not want to be subject to the full time rules of working late, salary restrictions, time off restrictions, etc., I just wanted to be paid the most that I could for each hour that I worked. I then took a 6 month contract that lasted 5 years and starting at Barnes & Noble Inc and transferring to barnesandnoble.com.
In 2003 my contact Alan, from barnesandnoble.com, was working at Deloitte and Touché and reached out to me looking for another colleague of mine that he was looking to hire. I said “how about me”? He then offered me full time or hourly work again, and I took the hourly 6 month contract and stayed there for 2 years.
In 2005 my one of my closest friends from high school, Bob Apostolico, was looking for vb.net help at Comverse in the real time billing division; since acquired by AmDocs. I took the gig and brought my friend Jon Kragh with me as an extra hourly resource. I did not make any money off of Jon but my yearly revenue went up so it felt like I was growing my company.
In 2007 I again connected with Alan from Barnes & Noble. Alan asked me if I was looking for some work and said that they had a big initiative at the company where he was working. I asked if I could meet with the executive team to make sure it was the right fit. I drove to the EmpireCLS corporate office in Norwood NJ and met with David Seelinger, Ed Martinez, and Alan Bourassa. I then started a 12 year stint with these guys. During the years I’ve had 5 people subcontracting under me, have outsourced a few projects overseas, and have also worked alone.
As of January 2019 I am still helping the team at EmpireCLS. My contract is up end of June 2019 and I’m not sure what will be next…