The Life Story of Steve Jobs
In his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford, Steve Jobs narrated one of his life stories and ended the note by saying you cannot connect the dots looking forward.
You can only connect them by looking backward. By believing that your life story will tie together in the future, you’ll have the courage to follow your heart and keep moving forward even though you are currently on an unfamiliar path.
Steve Paul Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs came to life on 24th February 1955 in San Francisco, California, to Abdulfattah Jandali and Joanne Carole Schieble. His birth parents felt they were young and unprepared for parenthood, so they gave him up for adoption.
Steve Jobs was later adopted by Paul Jobs, a machinist and mechanic, and Clara Jobs, Paul’s wife. Even though Paul and Clara told Jobs he was adopted, he still considered them his biological parents.
Childhood and Growing Up
In 1961, Paul Jobs moved his family to Mountain View, California, south of Palo Alto. This area later gained the name Silicon Valley since it was the hub for electronics such as radios, stereos, televisions, and computers.
Steve Jobs grew up surrounded by friends and neighbors who worked as engineers at the Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel, and Xerox. He saw his first computer at 12 years old.
Steve Jobs enjoyed working with his dad at his workshop and garage. He admired how his dad could build anything with his hands. He could construct a cabinet for their home, a fence, and repair cars as a mechanic.
His father later designated a workbench for him at the garage, but Jobs wasn’t all that interested in fixing cars. He was, however, into electronics, especially computers.
Education
Steve Jobs attended Monta Loma Elementary School in Mountain View but later transferred to Crittenden Middle School in sixth grade. Many of his schoolmates thought he was odd and socially awkward.
He struggled to make friends his age and preferred doing things alone. Jobs was also rebellious as a student. He said he found school boring and often played pranks on other students. It wasn’t until fourth grade that Jobs began taking learning seriously, thanks to his fourth-grade teacher, Imogene “Teddy” Hill.
Jobs disliked Crittenden Middle School. He complained of being bullied and gave his parents an ultimatum; if they didn’t transfer him, he would drop out.
His parents relented and bought a home in Los Altos, which they relocated to in 1967. Little did Jobs or his parents know that this house would be the first operations base for Apple.
Jobs went to Cupertino Junior High. It was in this school where Jobs met Fernandez, who later introduced him to Steve Wozniak.
In 1968, Jobs joined Homestead High School, where he struggled to make friends. His two closest ones were Steve Wozniak and Chrisann Brennan, his girlfriend.
Wozniak, at that time, was studying at the University of California, Berkeley.
Jobs occasionally attended lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company. One time, Jobs asked HP’s president, William Hewlett, for computer parts to complete a school project.
Hewlett not only gave him the parts but also offered him a summer internship at HP. The work entailed assembling frequency counters.
After graduation, Jobs wanted to attend Reed College in Portland, Oregon. However, this school was too expensive for his parents, but they relented.
Jobs joined the school but dropped out after one semester. He, however, stayed within the campus for 18 months, during which he pursued a calligraphy course. Jobs later credits this course to the typography they used in the Macintosh in 1984.
Adulthood
In 1973, Jobs returned to San Francisco and became a technician at Atari in Los Gatos. He lived a simple life in a cabin and saved most of his salary for a pilgrimage in India.
After saving enough money, Jobs went on his spiritual journey in India. He wanted to meet the Buddhist guru, Neem Karoli Baba, but he had passed away. Jobs stayed in India for seven months and then returned to the United States.
Creating Apple
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple in 1976 after Jobs saw the personal computer that Wozniak had built. He was so impressed that he requested Wozniak to start a company, saying they wouldn’t have anything to lose.
Wozniak was the engineer behind the software and hardware of Apple’s computers, while Jobs was in charge of marketing. Their third partner, Ronald Wayne, left the company after only weeks.
Jobs was also tasked with searching for an angel investor, and he, fortunately, got Mike Markkula to invest in a one-third stake in Apple. The three incorporated Apple in 1977 and worked on creating Apple II.
Jobs loved involving himself in the design process. He wanted computers to be appealing and attractive. He wasn’t solely focused on the functionality aspect. He wanted Apple’s computers to be “insanely great.”
In 1979, Jobs and a small group of Apple engineers went to the Xerox Corporation’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to learn about graphical user interfaces (GUI).
Jobs realized that GUIs would be the future of computers and began designing his own at Apple. He named the project the Lisa project.
However, Jobs got transferred to head the less interesting Macintosh project after clashing with his team. He worked on making the Macintosh attractive and “insanely great” and introduced it in 1984. During this time, Jobs also encouraged the board to hire John Sculley as CEO.
Sculley, at that time, was the CEO of PepsiCo. He got Sculley to join Apple by asking him the famous question, “Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?”
The relationship between Sculley and Jobs was smooth initially, but the two had different views and plans for Apple. They clashed so much that Jobs wanted the board to oust Sculley, but they sided with him. Jobs later resigned in 1985.
Leaving Apple
During his commencement speech at Stanford University, Jobs narrated that leaving Apple was the best thing that ever happened to him. The years he spent away from the company were the most creative ones of his life.
Jobs started NeXt and then purchased a controlling stake in Pixar, which went on to create popular animations such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. NeXt was also purchased by Apple for $429 million in 1996, during which Jobs returned to Apple.
Personal Life
Steve Jobs married Lauren Powell in 1991. The couple lived in Palo Alto, California, and had three children, Reed, Erin, and Eve. Jobs also had a daughter called Lisa with Chrisann Brennan.
He initially denied being the father but later accepted. Lisa came to live with Jobs when she became a teenager.
Returning to Apple
Jobs returned to Apple as a consultant in 1996 but convinced the board to make him interim CEO in 1997. His first strategic decision was to reduce Apple’s product line to only four computer models.
He also released the iMac in 1998, iPod in 2001, iTunes in 2003, and iPhone in 1997. Job’s tenure as CEO was one of the most phenomenal in the company’s history.
The Death of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple in August 2011 due to health complications. He died two months later of pancreatic cancer, in October 2011, with his family by his side. He was buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in an unmarked grave.
Facts and Anecdotes
- Joanne, Jobs’s biological mother, wanted Jobs’ adoptive parents to be educated. She refused to sign the adoption papers when she learned that Paul and Clara Jobs hadn’t gone to college. Joanne later agreed after they promised that Jobs would go to college.
- Jobs was a pescetarian. He only ate fish meat.
- Atari’s co-founder admitted that Jobs was an odd but valuable employee. He occasionally walked around barefoot in the Atari offices.
- Jobs named the Lisa project after his first daughter, Lisa. He, however, denied it at the time, saying that the name Lisa was short for Local Integrated Software Architecture.
- Jobs’ annual salary at Apple was $1. He was, however, the majority shareholder in Pixar and owned more than 5 million shares in Apple.
1955
Steve Jobs is born in San Francisco, California.
1961
Steve Jobs and his family relocate to Mountain View, California.
1967
Steve Jobs and his family move to Los Gatos. Jobs attends Cupertino Junior High School.
1968
Jobs attends Homestead High School.
1973
Jobs joins Reed College but drops out after one semester.
1974
Jobs travels to India for his planned pilgrimage.
1976
Jobs founds Apple with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
1979
Jobs attends a demonstration at the Xerox Corporation PARC. He learns about graphical user interfaces.
1985
Jobs resigns from Apple after the board fails to side with him. He later establishes NeXt.
1986
Jobs purchases controlling interest in Pixar.
1991
Jobs marries Lauren Powell.
1996
Jobs returns to Apple as an advisor after the company buys NeXt.
1997
Jobs becomes interim CEO of Apple.
2000
Jobs officially becomes CEO of Apple.
2009
Jobs takes a six-month medical leave from Apple for a liver transplant surgery.
2011
Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple in August and passes away in October.
Quotes
- Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.
- It’s not a faith in technology. It’s faith in people.
- I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple In my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
- I think money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things. It enables you to invest in ideas that don’t have a short-term payback.
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