Employee 64 at Sequent and Turning Self-Employed

Employee #64 (A Power of Two)

• I was hired as Employee #64—a number that held special nerd significance for me as a pure power of two (\(2^6\)).
• At Sequent, I worked across technical writing and Quality Assurance (QA).
• I authored the technical documentation and user manuals for Sequent's groundbreaking multi-processor Unix computing product line.
• In QA, I assisted in designing bug-tracking systems and administering units under test in the hardware labs.

The Layoff and Stepping into Self-Employment (July 1986)

• In July 1986, during an industry-wide tech downturn, Sequent conducted layoffs and I was let go after nearly two and a half years.
• Rather than looking for another full-time corporate role, I decided to go into business for myself—following the entrepreneurial blueprint modeled by my father, Ray Schwartz, who had been a self-employed tradesman my entire upbringing.
• This decision marked the official founding of Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. in June/July 1986.

Surviving the Lean Months

• Initially, finding direct clients was challenging and I went hungry for a short period while searching for contracts.
• To bridge the gap, I partnered with a technical staffing agency ("body shop") that placed contractors and took roughly a 50% cut of billings.
• That agency connection led directly to my first major contracting gig with Astro Gas. See Contracting for Astro Gas and Learning the Petroleum Business.