4 ms·

Jobs had no money, no connections, no "pedigree", and was a college dropout. Jobs' parents were blue collar, his dad was a repo man, and their background was po

Jobs had no money, no connections, no "pedigree", and was a college dropout. Jobs' parents were blue collar, his dad was a repo man, and their background was poor.

TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
Jobs grew up in San Francisco. His father supported an interest in electronics, and he got an in at HP by being mentored by a neighbour who worked there. He joined the HP Explorer's Club and got to see world-leading new products ahead of release at a time when HP were creating incredibly impressive calculators and personal computers. He also attended lectures on the HP campus - which wasn't just educational, but also contributed to his relatively fearless approach to networking. The family may not have been rich, but it's just plain wrong to say he had no connections and no advantages.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  Anybody in that area at the time could have done it. And SV was hardly the only place where adults worked on electronics. HP wasn't the only computer company. DEC was in Massachusetts, for example. Texas Instruments was in, well, Texas. Tektronix was in Oregon. Universities all had electronics schools. Radio Shack and HeathKit made electronics learning kits for kids. Los Angeles had a thriving microcomputer industry at the time. The notion that Jobs was in some unique position is not correct.
alehul 8y ago
Poor people aren't able to move just to switch school districts for their child's benefit... Also, they had a nice single-family home with a yard in a suburban area.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  Poor people migrate thousands of miles on foot to enter the US and then somehow reach every corner of it.
  - alehul 8y ago
    Land in the U.S. isn't available, however, to just "migrate on foot" with your family a few miles into the better school district. We have laws and property has to be bought. As a child who grew up in one of the not-good areas, I can tell you it's a lot harder than you think. :)

Jobs had no money, no connections, no "pedigree", and was a college dropout. Jobs' parents were blue collar, his dad was a repo man, and their background was poor.

TheOtherHobbes 8y ago

Jobs grew up in San Francisco. His father supported an interest in electronics, and he got an in at HP by being mentored by a neighbour who worked there. He joined the HP Explorer's Club and got to see world-leading new products ahead of release at a time when HP were creating incredibly impressive calculators and personal computers. He also attended lectures on the HP campus - which wasn't just educational, but also contributed to his relatively fearless approach to networking. The family may not have been rich, but it's just plain wrong to say he had no connections and no advantages.

skookumchuck 8y ago
Anybody in that area at the time could have done it. And SV was hardly the only place where adults worked on electronics. HP wasn't the only computer company. DEC was in Massachusetts, for example. Texas Instruments was in, well, Texas. Tektronix was in Oregon. Universities all had electronics schools. Radio Shack and HeathKit made electronics learning kits for kids. Los Angeles had a thriving microcomputer industry at the time. The notion that Jobs was in some unique position is not correct.

alehul 8y ago

Poor people aren't able to move just to switch school districts for their child's benefit... Also, they had a nice single-family home with a yard in a suburban area.

skookumchuck 8y ago
Poor people migrate thousands of miles on foot to enter the US and then somehow reach every corner of it.
- alehul 8y ago
  Land in the U.S. isn't available, however, to just "migrate on foot" with your family a few miles into the better school district. We have laws and property has to be bought. As a child who grew up in one of the not-good areas, I can tell you it's a lot harder than you think. :)