STEVEN PAUL JOBS
Steven Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California. Growing up in Mountainview, the heart of Silicon Valley, he exhibited behavior problems while in elementary school. During fourth grade, Job’s teacher would bribe him with candy and money in order to curb his behavior. Reflecting back on these years, Jobs recounts that if such behavior continued, it would
“absolutely have landed me in jail” (Leander, 2008). He found school to be so easy that he was able to skip 5th grade and move directly into Middle School. He found middle school chaotic and persuaded his parents to move to Los Altos in 1967 where he could attend the much nicer Cupertino
Junior High School. This area (Los Altos, Cupertino, and Sunnyvale), was full of engineers and with this emerged many young startup companies (e.g., Hewlett-Packard).
Job’s introduction to the world of electronics came during High School with the discovery of electronic hobby kits, Jobs realized that the electric world was not as complicated as it first seemed and that electronics was an interesting field. It quickly became his passion. He began attending lectures conducted by the Hewlett Packard Company (HP). This further fueled his appetite for the field and eventually he found summer employment at HP. It was here that he met future co-founder and co-adventurer Steve Wozniak.
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Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, Volume 16, Number 7, 2010
Jobs graduated Homestead High in 1972 and eventually attended Reed College, a small regional liberal arts school in Portland, Oregon. He lasted a semester before dropping out. Though no longer enrolled, he still attended classes that interested him. Not having a place of his own, he frequently slept at the home of friends. Collecting and recycling cans provided him with money and free meals were obtained by