1987

Paravant

After about six months of working at Paravant, the testing definition phase of the blood glucose device was nearing completion when Craig approached me about becoming a full time employee of Paravant as a software development manager.  This was in part due to the Tax Reform Act of 1986 which determined that previously self-employed contractors to a company should have been classified as employees and thus the IRS would assess substantial back taxes, penalties and interest.  Exactly what this meant and if it applied to “contractor shops” was widely discussed in trade journals such as Computerworld which I read regularly.  There was some question if the Reform Act applied to computer software contractor shops in which a company hires employees for technical contractors to perform work for someone else. Such companies were widespread at the time with some having hundreds of “pass-through” employees. 

By mid-1987 the IRS ruled that, yes, indeed the rule did apply to such companies, creating considerable confusion and consternation in the industry.  Although small with only three or four programmers, my arrangement with Elias’s company likely fell under the rule.  While my contract with Paravant was directly with them and not though Elias, Paravant asked me to become an employee to avoid any possible issue and I accepted the position.  While I would make a less than I did as a contractor, I would not have to pay the 50% extra in Social Security taxes that self-employed persons pay and, for the first time since working for the University back in ’76, I would get medical insurance.  It was also the first time I actually would be managing others although it was just two programmers.  Although I would not be writing any code, I would review the code that they wrote.

Paravant seemed to be a good company to work for. My friend Craig the president, Rick the VP of engineering, and another guy who was the hardware development manager were all about my age (35) while most of the other dozen or so employees were in their 20’s and everyone was upbeat and positive about the future of the company.  

In June I went camping with a group of the Paravant employees on a lake in the Ocala National Forest.

View of campsite on the lake

View of campsite with my screened canopy and tent behind it.]

Psychic Medium