Steve Jobs: His Legacy – Tech Thursday

I have been trying to write this story for hours now. It’s not hard to talk about someone like Steve Jobs and recite facts about him. Yes, he pioneered how we consume digital content and how we buy our digital music as well as how we use computers and much more. And while it could be considered corny by some for me to say this, he touched lives all over the world. Just look at Twitter and Facebook. One of those lives he touched, is mine.

I have been working for Apple for 4 years now. I applied for a job at Apple on a friend’s suggestion. If you told me 5 years ago I would be working for one of the biggest technology companies in the world, I would have rolled my eyes at you and said something like “Yeah, that would be cool, but it won’t happen.”  But here I am 4 years later, it’s one of the biggest turning points in my life.

Again, it can sound corny, but the concepts and the philosophy that Steve Jobs gave me to work by, I have taken and used at home and in my life and it's changed how I do things as well as how I see life. It’s not about the technology, it's people that use that technology. That is Steve’s real legacy. I consider myself lucky to work for a company that values people like it does. That is how Steve thought, what he believed and what he taught me and others. And while it’s true I never met him in person, I still considered him someone that I could be a good friend with.

Some of the people I have met while working for Apple, and outside of Apple has amazed me. Not celebrities or politicians, but just everyday people who come into the store, to play with the technology, to buy it, to get help with their Macs and iPhones. The conversations I have with them are always interesting.  Like the father who bought an iPad so his disabled son could communicate with him and his wife, or the woman who used her Mac to record her voice and played it back for her son who was in a coma. Or just seeing a little girl who comes in with her Mom and immediately starts to play with an iPad and her face just lights up when she finds a game and starts playing. This is what inspires me. I am a different person from what I was before I started working for Apple. The man I am didn’t exist before. It’s the man that my daughters know as Daddy, and my fiance’ Kim knows, who will be her husband. I am thankful for that to Steve Jobs. I like this person better than the one from 4 years ago. I am thankful for my co workers, who are all amazing and I consider my extended family. And for the chance to work for a company that makes a difference in peoples lives every day. This is the legacy of Steve Jobs.

Rest in Peace.