Reflection: "Pirates of Silicon Valley"

1. What are the factors that contributed to the success and failure of Steve Jobs as a technopreneur?

 “Pirates ofSilicon Valley” was a film based on a historical fact regarding on Steve Jobs a nd how Applegot started and also about Bill Gates and how Microsoft got started. Thefilm opens with the creation of the 
1984 commercial for AppleComputer , which introduced the first Macintosh . Steve Jobs ( Noah Wyle )is speaking with director Ridley Scott ( J. G.Hertzler ), trying to convey his idea that "We're creating a completely new consciousness." Scott,however, is more concerned at the moment with the technical aspects of thecommercial. The film then flashes forward to 1997 as Jobs, who has returned to Apple , isannouncing a new deal with Microsoft at the1997 Macworld Expo .

Steven Paul Jobs was born onFebruary 24, 1955 in San Francisco, California. His unwed biological parents,Joanne Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali, put him up for adoption. Steve wasadopted by Paul and Clara Jobs, a lower-middle-class couple, who moved to thesuburban city of Mountain View a couple of years later. Passion,persistence and charisma are just three of his lethal combinations. Who wouldthink that a shaggy nerd of 60’s changed the way we lived life and approachedto it? A man with nothing that ended with something. And that something wasn’tjust something! It was something great that every living creatures with humanbrain hoped for—becoming successful. True, Steve Jobs did a really an excellentjob. He is now an object of envy and admiration. He is desired by many peopletoday.

His life story is earnestly followed, dissected, gossiped about, and hisexample imitated. His words are taken seriously and his advises are obeyed forthey could mean financial and personal success. In the movie Steve Jobs split his company, Apple into two camps. One theold Apple computer camp, and the other the new Macintosh development camp.After seeing this effect on the company, Steve Jobs is forced to leave hisposition at Apple. Years later the movie picks up with Steve Jobs back incommand of Apple who now has partnered with Microsoft and Bill Gates. SteveJobs was not born with silver spoon on his mouth. He’s a product ofrags-to-richest story. He did not receive acclaim of his inventions thatsudden. He worked for it. Along with his aspirations are his unrelentingefforts and dedication to his multifarious undertakings in this life. Five years later, when Steve Jobs reached college age,he told his parents he wanted to enroll in Reed College — an expensive liberalarts college up in Oregon. Even though the tuition fees were astronomical forthe poor couple, they had promised their son's biological parents he would geta college education, so they relented. Steve spent only one semester at Reed,then dropped out, as he was more interested in eastern philosophy, fruitariandiets, and LSD than in the classes he took. He moved to a hippie commune inOregon where his main activity was cultivating apples. A few months later,Steve returned to California to look for a job. He was hired at the young videogame maker Atari, and used his wages to make a trip to India with one of hiscollege friends, in order to 'seek enlightenment'. He came back a littledisillusioned and started to take interest in his friend Woz's new activities.

Steve was good in persuading people. He’s good in presenting and marketing theirproducts. He could make a ‘No’ a ‘Yes’ or the other way around. Stevetreated his obstacles as stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks. He justkept on learning and inventing by constantly experimenting with those circuitboards. Despite being someone who has nothing, he was still able to stand onhis ground. He remained determined and persistent. Though people of his time viewed noclear indications (especially in computer industry) on the advancement oftechnology, Steve Jobs made it. Jobs creativity and innovations proved them allto be wrong. Even if he was dropped out in college, his skills and talent keephim on track. One of the distinguishing factors of Steve is that he just keepon exploring. He simply did nit like sticking into the results of the otherpeople. He would rather like people would depend on the results of histhinking. Hr gave new approaches to old techniques. Better and brilliant thatno one could ever imagine until brought into reality. SteveJobs has a Passion. He just simply loves what he’s doing. Even from the days ofhis youth, he kept on exploring, learning and understanding the complexity ofthings.

Through the familiarity and skills imparted by his father who was oncea machinist, Jobs was encouraged to hone his skills. He constantly learning,building new things while still having fun. Though Jobs, at his early age,didn’t have any idea what exactly he would become in his future, all he knew heexisted to change the world. It wasn’t until he met Wozniak (who soon becamethe co-founder of Apple), he began to realized his purpose --- “revolutionizingthe world of personal computing”. Together with Wozniak, they perseveringlystrived. They exerted everything within their means and performed best andachieved what Apple has now. Steve’s Passion pushed him to become innovativeand creative. It was his passion alone that kept him on moving, working andinventing despite being fired from the company he used to helped exist. Whatthe distinguishing factor of Steve, he’s not like to those people who wouldjust turn back and get destroyed after a devastating crisis. I believed, onlydeath can stop him from innovating and being zealous. Steve Jobs taught me animportant lesson; our knowledge is not a prime necessity to become victorious.It’s our Passion. Passion alone can make us alive. There’s no question how aperson do extremely well on a field he/she simply love. Exactly like what Stevesaid “The only way to do great is to lovewhat you do.” I agree to what Steve Jobs said because it really meanthat he believe in the passion for what you do. Just like me, I can relate towhat he said. I can say that I am deeply passionate to music which is my firstlove in my life. Truly, Steve Jobs is a role model for us young persons that weshould love what we’re doing as well as inspiring others by what we arepassionately doing. Yes, sometimes we can’t prevent of our bad sides. All of ushas our bad sides in life. Though we have that it is not an excuse not to moveon and make it up with yourself. Because I believe that sometimes undergoing mistakesinlife can make your personality strong and you can say that you really moldyourself. Finally, you can really say that “I am worthy for my life.”

2. How do you see yourself as a technopreneur?

Before anything else, let me first define the two wordsthat made up of technopreneur . The technology and entrepreneurship.

What is entrepreneurship? It isthe act of being anentrepreneur or"one who undertakes innovations , finance and business acumen inan effort to transform innovations into economic goods ".This may result in new organizations ormay be part of revitalizing mature organizations inresponse to a perceived opportunity. The most obvious form of entrepreneurshipis that of starting new businesses (referred as Startup Company ); however, in recent years,the term has been extended to include social and political forms ofentrepreneurial activity. When entrepreneurship is describing activities withina firm or large organization it is referred to as intra-preneurship and may includecorporate venturing, when large entities spin-off organizations. So,that is the meaning of entrepreneurship.

How bout technology? It is the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools , machines , techniques, crafts , systems , methods of organization, in orderto solve a problem, improve a preexisting solution to a problem, achieve a goalor perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of suchtools, machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures. Technologiessignificantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to controland adapt to their natural environments.

What is technopreneur? It means a business that using technology as their business model.This term only use by Asian countries.

Well, seeing myselfas technopreneur.I don’t know. As of now, I can’t say I’m good at it but one thing I can say isI am interested to become one of it. Frankly speaking, computing is notreally my field, but since I kept on encountering it, somehow my heart wasforced to love it! if only I am as fortunate as Steve jobs who discoveredhis passion at early stage of his life probably I won’t buffer this much. IfI’m a computer right now—I’m most likely hanging! Perhaps any IT student like me if ask by this question, itwould create a span of time thinking the possibility of being one. Well, ofcourse there’s a great possibility since this will be our future. Yes this willbe. Doubtless,the reason why it made me think seriously answering this questionfor my mind is already set on Steve Jobs and Bill Gates examples. They arerevolutionaries, and to be one would be amazing and at the same time edgy. Ican’t imagine myself to be like them-- geniuses who were full of determination,persistence, visions and enthusiasm. Visualizing myself as a technopreneur, anewbie technopreneur gives me a lot of exciting and unknown frontiers. It makesme feel I’m taking an exam—I don’t know what the answers are and how to answer.I have no idea where to start and how to. I’m still thinking of something thatI could offer into the community that somehow would represent me and mypassion. I never thought of setting up my own business, I’d rather go abroadand find opportunities there but now I realized there is a lot of opportunitieshere I’m just too blind to see it. Thanks a lot for the movie “Pirates of theSilicon Valley”, it made me realized Information technology doesn’t end after Igraduate nor it has an ending. Information technology has no limitations. Thething that makes it limited is the ideas of the people. We could actuallyextend the limitations through innovating. And that’s the essence of being atechnopreneur.

Reading the definitions on the net, made me conclude that itis not easy to become a technopreneur. A lot of things needed to be acquired,becoming a skilled and effective designer, researcher and a developer. knowthat being a technopreneur requires expert organizing skills in order to keepon top of everything. And being in the business, it’s no surprise that on myway I’ll be hitting a number of bumps. So, I’m just going to prepare myself forthem. Though I’m not that kind of business oriented person but one way oranother I’m not closing myself to be productive in this industry. I’ll try tobe innovative and creative of making my own simple things on my own simpleworld. I’ll try pouring out something great from something better and good.Despite the fact that technopreneurship is a difficult adventure since it takesa lot of assignment and planning to get a business up and running, I’m willingto take risks. The brilliant thing of being atechnoprenuer ,I can make myself my own boss and accordingly accept to acceptall responsibilities for my business(that’s pretty scary though! It’s also alesson for me to be mature!). Being employed by someone else offers a slew ofadvantages, and what worst, we are under instructions. We are being commandedon what we will do. At times we are being scolded and we can’t even defendourselves from false claims that our employers might throw unto us. And gettingpaid for the hours you're on work. If you don't turn up one day then you won'tget paid. When you're self-employed and you've set up your business properlyyou'll find that certain aspects of it run by themselves (and more importantlymake money for you by themselves).Realizing this make me think again ofestablishing my own business. Not just I can earn a lot from it than just having a fix salary, it could also help my skills sharpen and of course I’m canbe a productive citizen. I’m not just helping myself but also the other peoplearound me. A number of people might disagree but it comes to realization thathaving a regular job is not always the best way of making money and supporting yourself. Although too risky, starting our own business would bring us so manyadvantage. Since a growing number of technoprenuers are existing in every partof the world today, surely, engaging myself in this business will not be justan ‘ABC’. We are all aware of course that as the number of people engaging inthe same field increases,the narrower the probability for us to excel in it right? However, technology offers us a wide variety of opportunities,no need tobe alarm.yeah. so maybe I will just take everything slowly.

3. Would you take the same career path that Steve Jobs took? Why or why not?

Noah Wyle's role as Steve Jobs focuses on darker sides of Mr. Jobs including hiabusiveness, drugs, and especially his reaction to his illegitimate daughterwhich he denies is his. Noah does effectively capture the genius of Mr. Jobswhile simultaneously showing his "mercurial" side. In my opinion thereal protagonist of the story was Steve Jobs not only because he got featuredmore in the film but also I admire his determination to uplift the name ofApple. Sure, he got some attitude problem going on but he did becomesuccessful, right? He also had flair in talking people into something but youreally would not want to cross him when he’s angry or everything will just comeexploding.

In the movie Steve Jobs split his company, Apple into two camps. One the old Applecomputer camp, and the other the new Macintosh development camp. After seeingthis effect on the company, Steve Jobs is forced to leave his position atApple. Years later the movie picks up with Steve Jobs back in command of Applewho now has partnered with Microsoft and Bill Gates. As of now, werecognized Steve Jobs as a great technopreneur. SJ'sinevitable skills in the field of technology made him one of the wealth icons.Steve Job's is such an inspiration especially for the youth craving forknowledge. Just having thoughts that he started his career at very young ageand become successful bring me to reality that I must also begin the stepstowards my future. Steve Jobs is just another awesome creature. He is anincredible human being created by God to transform the people’s lifestyle.

It is not that easy totake the same career path of Steve Jobs took. I will not make myself engage inanything that I don’t want to be. Steve Jobs did his best to become asuccessful and I believe also that this is what God wants him to be. I won’ttake the same path of career of Steve Jobs; instead I would make his factors tosuccess as my inspirations when deciding my career to be taken up in thefuture. I will distinguished first my wants and try to develop it and make someinnovations with it and then try to develop my own wants. On how Steve Jobsruns his company is just a not a matter of who gets the idea first, but whodelivers it to market successfully as with the XEROX Graphical User Interface.I know I have the ideas but still it is not worth to pursue what Steve Jobsearned today. Instead I will make my own way to make myself a goodtechnopreneur someday. I need a help with my friends that are also wants toengage their lives in developing a new technologies. We will make a team that cannotbe broke of anything that’s trying to fall us down. It is not about all bymyself, it’s all about how we can make things possible together with them. Byhaving them in each of our sides I insure that we can make difference byfounding our own company someday. We will consider our success in each andeveryone. Today it’s impossible to make your own business without the help ofothers; we should know when to call someone that can help us. Choosing your career is not what you intend you want to be, it isa matter of choice that you want to be whether you continue this one or not. Itis some kind of go forward or go backward. Once you made your choice you muststand by it. Still have faith in order for you to attain this one. Steve Jobschoose his passion which is the “personal computer” thing over his schooling.He dropped out at the first semester when he found out that he has thecapability to develop such things that could contribute to every people’slives. What he did or his sacrifice or his choices he made in his previouslife, definitely, I cannot do those things. Right now I cannot do any thingsthat matters with a choice. I cannot decide what I should take or to pursue andwhat is not, what I think to myself right now, is “I am a dependent person”, Iam afraid of losing anything around me regardless with its importance. By thisattitude of mine, I know I cannot be a successful technopreneur someday, Idon’t have the guts, confidence, and I am not really engaging myself with abusiness. At this time this is just only what I think, I am not pointinganything that I don’t want to be a technopreneur. By enrolling this subjectcourse, I know I will have some ideas to gain and enable to develop it; and aswell as my weakness would be my key to my success someday. As I encounter anysituations in my life, maybe this situation would be my basis to build, make ordevelop my business. I can have world renowned team members for my company andI will be able to manage, improve and develop my business. But with the help ofmy family, friends and the people surrounding around me I know I have the willand the strength to carry it through out of my life while facing the harms andthe possibilities to engage myself in such things that could brought to achange not just for myself but with everyone who live this world.

Generally speaking, all of us has different wants and needs in life. As well as we havevarious ways of enjoying our life and choosing our true passion in life. For me,I won’t consider myself as a technopreneur someday. Yes, it is true that maybeI am into something else yet the movie just really give me an idea on how to become one. Though I will not exactly follow his exact footsteps and endeavorin what he achieved in life. Aside from that, we have lots of dreams andambitions in our life. I believe through that we will take different paths aswe walk throughout this life. Frankly speaking, becoming successful is really agreat feeling but for me what matters most is the attitude of the person on howhe achieved his success and as well as on what is his attitude in achievingthat certain dream he had. Well, I strongly believe that the attitude of acertain person counts! Rather than having a smart and intelligent enough personbut the attitude was very severe and cannot be take anymore. So, whatever Iwill become someday I won’t forget what this movie teaches a lesson to me aboutbecoming successful in our ways. That was it, I won’t follow Steve Jobs careerpath but I will follow his positive attitude such as being patient toeverything that comes and most of all being truly passionate to the things thatyou want and develop your skills for the other’s sake. Truly Steve Jobs inspired me through his own ways. I want also to inspire others in my own andnatural way. I know God has a purpose for everything and He knows what is bestfor us. So all we have to do is nurture our talents and present them to God andshare to other people while inspiring others as well.