Resumes from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have recently resurfaced on social media, providing a rare look at the early careers of these technology pioneers. Both resumes, created when Jobs and Gates were 18, offer intriguing insights into their beginnings.
Steve Jobs’ 1973 resume highlights his early interest in electronics and technology. At this stage, Jobs, who would later transform the tech landscape with Apple, listed “electronics” and “tech” as his areas of expertise.
In contrast, Bill Gates’ 1971 résumé highlights his proficiency with a variety of computers, including PDP-10, PDP-8, and CDC-6400, and programming languages, such as FORTRAN, COBOL, and BASIC.
Bill Gates’ resume from that time lists his salary as $35,000, which was a significant amount for a young student in the 1970s. It also notes his ongoing collaboration with Paul G. Allen, his future co-founder at Microsoft.
The rediscovered resumes of these tech legends have sparked excitement on social media platform X, with users describing them as “fascinating” and “historical.”
One user commented on X, “This is history. It’s fantastic!”
Another noted, “Steve Jobs even got the date right—something many Americans miss.”
One more said, “Says a lot.”
Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios. He played a pivotal role in the development of the Apple II, one of the first successful personal computers. Although he was ousted from Apple in 1985, Jobs returned in 1997 and spearheaded the company’s revival with groundbreaking products like the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Under Mr. Jobs’ direction, Apple rose to prominence as one of the most valuable businesses globally. On October 5, 2011, he passed away.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft Corporation, the largest software corporation globally, in 1975. Early on, he showed a strong interest in computer programming, and at the age of 13, he started writing code. The OS, MS-DOS, was created by Mr. Gates and Mr. Allen and was a great success. The graphical user interface for MS-DOS, Windows, introduced by Microsoft in 1985, completely changed home computing.
Additionally well-known for his charitable endeavors is Mr. Gates. In 2000, he founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an organization dedicated to eradicating poverty, advancing global health, and improving education. Mr. Gates is still Microsoft’s technology advisor, even though he is no longer directly involved in the company’s daily operations.