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Nicole Otero
Professor Robert Miller
Perceptions of Reality
12 October 2017
The Milestones in the Life of a Genius
- Steve Jobs -
An individual is nothing but the sum of the events and the people that surrounded him or
her throughout their life. To say that someone’s life is influenced by the different experiences they
got through is an understatement. A person’s life is shaped and defined by those events and also
by the interaction with the people who were with them when these things happened. The
cumulative outcome of such experiences is what ultimately makes the person make the decision
they make and in Steve Jobs’ particular case, it is what made him redefine the way other people
perceive the world. Jobs was certainly one of the smartest people on earth, he could see the world
through different lenses and his creativity and determination were revolutionary. He changed
technology forever and his innovations marked the beginning of an era. Many people argue that
he was born with special talents and that his abilities could not have been learned, however, it is
also believed that his life was full of good, bad and overall shocking experiences that shaped him
and his personality, to the point where he became one smartest people to ever exist. In the
following work, Jobs’ life is explored and studied to show how his experiences actually built his
character and developed his skills to generate a technological and business revolutions that have
impacted every single individual on the planet.
Steve Jobs was an American business executives with a background in computer
programming and entrepreneurship. He created the technology company Apple and he also
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participated in different projects with other companies such as NeXT, Pixar and Atari. He was one
of the brightest people and he revolutionized the personal computer industry as well as the
cellphone and music industries. He was born on 1955 in San Francisco, California, however, he
was not raised by his birth parents, he was actually given out for adoption to Paul and Clara Jobs.
Jobs learned he had been adopted at a very young age, and he would carry the idea of him being
“rejected” by his birth mother in his mind for a long time. Interestingly enough, he would soon
realized how his mother had not “given up” on him, but in fact, he had actually been “selected” or
“chosen” by his adoptive parents. According to several psychological studies, the adoptees usually
understand why the adoptive parents use the constructed idea of “selection” to explain the adoption
process, however, this story has a flip side to it because most of these individuals live with the
underlying fear that they will eventually be sent back. (Bradford, 1). Steve never publicly admitted
to feel the pressure of having to impress their parents to avoid been sent back, but he did prove to
use invention and determination as one of the coping mechanisms for the situation. This main
event in his life also caused him to become self-sufficient, which is why he would enjoy to do
things by himself. He swam competitively but he would never enjoy group sports or social
activities. Instead he would find refuge on electronics.
Thanks to the adoption, Steve got to be raised by his adoptive father who was a mechanic.
Jobs never actually enjoyed the manual work that the craftsmanship implied, but he was
immediately drawn to the electronics and the science behind that aspect. Because of this, his dad
was one of the most influential people in his early life. Without him, Steve would have never had
exposure to electronics. At the same time, his adoptive parents provided him with the opportunity
to go to the best schools and ultimately go to college. Nowadays it is somewhat implied that parents
would eventually help their children to go to college, however, in Steve’s situation, his birth mother
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had specifically requested that one of the conditions for him to be adopted was that the new parents
would promise to allow him to go to college. In this sense, this event was one of the most important
symbols of affection that Jobs ever received, and it was particularly special since it showed how
much his birth mother cared about him which was one of the reasons why he never truly felt
“rejected”.
With Steve’s education in mind, his family moved to Mountain View, California. This area
has is of particular importance due to the fact that it soon became the center of electronic
innovations and people started calling “Silicon Valley”. This event allowed Jobs to have even more
exposure to the world of electronics and technology. He spent a lot of time with his neighbor who
worked for the electronic manufacturer Hewlett-Packard, they would work in his neighbor’s
garage for hours assembling little artefacts and learning about circuits design. This was the first
time Jobs had a direct interaction with the tech industry, he worked with actual parts and he
designed and build many artefacts, this allowed Steve to get his first official job at HP. As a young
intern, he helped different teams and he also learned a lot about how the industry actually works.
This opportunity also allowed him to experience ego for the first time. He was an outstanding
intern and the president of the company, as well as other important people started to realize the
rough diamond he was and complimented him and allowed him to set his own boundaries. As the
control maniac Steve was known to be, he obviously enjoyed the freedom and the recognition he
received during his internship and so the foundations for his egocentric personality started to
consolidate.
Steve Jobs has always been known for getting his way. This did not start after he was
extremely famous and wealthy, this actually started way back when he was a young teenager going
to college. Jobs went to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, he loved the hippie vibe it had and he
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enjoyed having the social interaction in an open ideas environment. However, the moment he
realized there were “required classes” he started to complain, he believed college was a place for
self-discovery and self-improvement, he never saw the point of having to take classes that did not
seem interesting to him just for the sake of them being required. There were many other factors
that also influenced his decision to eventually drop out of college, one of them being his adoptive
parents. Although his birth mother’s wish was for him to be able to go to college, Jobs’ adoptive
parents were not very wealthy and so they had to save for a long time to provide this opportunity
for him. Steve sincerely felt like he was insulting his adoptive parent’s effort and sacrifices because
he was wasting all their savings in classes that will not help him improve in any way. The college’s
dean recognized the potential and his very enquiring mind as a future asset and so he offered Jobs
the possibility of not paying tuition and auditing the classes that seemed interesting to him while
