Black Chasm Software

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Black Chasm Software was created in 2002, to provide a company vehicle for the systems development efforts and consulting work of its founder, John Lekashman. Some corporate bureaucracy just had to do a purchase order, and didn't want to do a 1099. So, I made a company. Some customers have been: DaimlerChrysler, Megatest Corporation, Fairchild, and NASA. In 2004, I began work full time at Quantum Corporation, and continue some part time work here. Quantum work ended in mid 2005, and I am doing something else now, with some consulting work as well..

Whats with this name, Black Chasm, anyway?

When the company was created, there was the usual extended search for a name, and finding that all sorts of possible choices were, of course, already taken.

Black Chasm came from the fact that at the time of creating the LLC, I was doing some work on anti-spam email service, watching an old movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and reading a book, called Crossing the Chasm, about how to get a company going, all at about the same time. And the black knight is, like all IT professionals, invincible.



Sometimes people like to see resumes. This is a useful place to store them.

Here it is: word ascii



How do we do business with you?

Generally if you have come here, you already know me, and are looking something up, like a phone number. Most business is via referral.

However, here is the summary: If you really know what it is that needs to be done, I can create a fixed price. This is rare in IT consulting. Half the job is usually discovery and analysis of what is going on, then the other half is getting management buy-in to a solution, followed by the last ten percent, actual implementation. Of course I always give that 110 percent.

Usually, people aren't sure, there is much discussion to be done regarding the work, and so there is an hourly rate. This varies from $50 an hour to $200 an hour, depending on urgency, and time pressure. It is $50 an hour for simple IT work if we schedule it, and I have some flexibility on how it is to be done. It is more likely $125 an hour for architecture and complex system design. Its probably $200 an hour if I need to drop everything else and work on it until its done, now, because your best friend just trashed your laptop by installing something badly, and I need to come over at 2am and fix it so you can catch an 8am flight to Switzerland. (But, yes, you can call me for that.)

As is obvious, we can negotiate.