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Cesar Sanchez
CST 300 Writing Lab
17 September 2019

Software Engineering

“Working smarter not harder” is a phrase I have heard throughout my working

experience and is commonly heard throughout the tech industry. This phrase can be used quite

frequently when it comes to doing a task that is repetitive which could be automated to be more

efficient. This is exactly what a Software Engineer can provide in the tech industry. With the

ability to use languages such as Python, Java, C++ and many more, there is a vast amount of

opportunities waiting to be fulfilled. With a degree in computer science through CSUMB, the

opportunity to be involved with the future in tech appears to be closer to reality than a dream.

Being able to obtain a degree in computer science is extremely crucial in this era because

a lot of the higher paying jobs out there are all, in one way, shape, or form associated to

technology. Technology does not have to be associated with coding and software programming

but having a diverse background in a bit of everything will come a long way in obtaining the

career we desire. Friedman demonstrates the need for future software developers when he

explains how Estonia is struggling to hire programmers. With the lack of programmers, Estonia

is dedicated to teaching computer programing to first graders along with kids in other grades

(Friedman, 2012). I am not too sure about other cities here in California, but I know that when I

was attending school there were not too many classes that were offered about computer

programing or computer science in general. Instead, there were classes for art and digital design

(photoshop) as if that will teach you any new trends that are happening in the tech industries.

Major corporations such as Apple, Amazon, Cisco, Facebook, Microsoft, Oracle, and Samsung

are all on the rise as the largest Technology Companies of 2019 (Ponciano, 2019).
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Focusing on one of those major corporations, Apple has been known to be a successful

and emerging company. Founded on April 1, 1976, Apple has brought many products to the table

that have helped revolutionize the technology used till this day. But how did it all get started?

Apple started out in a garage in Steve Jobs garage alongside with Steve Wozniak, located in Los

Altos, CA (Bellis, 2019). This is really interesting because a lot of the companies around this

time were created based off of an idea that started in a garage. This comes to show that

innovation can come from anywhere. With their first computer created, they were seeking to

create something that would be user friendly and could be kept in someone’s house or office. It

was first sold with just the computer itself, meaning there were no mouse or keyboards that went

along with the computer. A year later in 1977, they started selling the computers with the

accessories that were required. With innovative technology, Jobs and Woz created the first

computer with color graphics that would change the tech industry for the better. It was known as

the Apple II. This made their profits increase from $7.8 million to $117 million in the span of

two years from 1978 to 1980 (Richardson & Terrel, 2008).

With the company continuously growing, they started hiring more people to advertise the

company and make it more profitable. Jobs decided to hire John Sculley which had formerly

worked for Pepsi. It was all going great for Jobs and Sculley in the beginning of their working

relationship but as time went on, they started having different views on the company’s direction

and the pricing that was being placed on the computers they were selling. Sculley believed that

the price of the computer should have been directed more towards the general public which

would be in the $1000 range while Jobs on the other hand, wanted to focus his attention towards

the bigger companies with the Macintosh. With opposing views starting to rise more frequently,

the board of directors started getting more involved with the debates. Sculley would eventually
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have the board decide between the two. The board decided to pick Sculley over Jobs which led

Jobs to becoming the Chairman of the company. Although it sounds like it would have been an

upgrade to his role, it was actually a stunt to pull him off of the company’s day to day decisions.

He then realized that this was not something he wanted to do which led to Jobs resigning and

begin a new company called NeXT. NeXT would be very similar to Apple as it would be

focused on creating workstations for academic purposes. Jobs did this all while taking a large

portion of Apple’s staff with him on a new adventure at NeXT.

In short, Apple was not doing as great and decided to buy out NeXT which in turn meant

that they would get Steve Jobs with the company. Steve Jobs spoke with the board of directors

and persuaded them to let go of the current CEO at the time, Gil Amelio. In return, Jobs took the

CEO position and began a new era that slimmed down the products they sold to only four

products. Two for the common household and two products for businesses (Rawlinson, 2017).

With time, more products started to rise. The first iPod was introduced in 2001 which had great

success because of the smoothness in the interface and ease of use. This wasn’t the first MP3

player to be created but was the most efficient MP3 player which is why it did so well. Since

then, Apple has released a variety of new products such as the iPhone, introduced in 2007,

MacBook, iMac, and many other products that have drastically increased their revenue (Richter,

2019).

After Steve Jobs death, Tim Cook stepped up as the CEO of Apple and has led the

company to continue being successful. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in

Industrial Engineering from Auburn University along with an MBA from Duke University meant

there would be plenty of opportunities for Cook in the tech industry. Soon after graduation, Cook

was able to start off in IBM, where he was able to move his way up to become the corporation's
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North American fulfillment director. He spent 12 years at IBM and soon after became the chief

operating officer. With great success at IBM, he moved on to work at Compaq Computer

Corporation as the Vice President. After a short amount of time there, Cook soon moved on to

work at Apple in 1998, where he worked alongside Steve Jobs and helped with the Macintosh

division. Starting off at apple was not easy for him as he began in a time when apple was

bringing itself back up after near bankruptcy. Cook said it best when he mentioned,

Only a few months before I'd accepted the job at Apple, Michael Dell, the founder and

CEO of Dell Computer, was publicly asked what he would do to fix Apple, and he

responded, “I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” (Tim Cook

Biography, 2018).

This sums up the type of environment that Tim Cook went into when he first started off at apple.

Less than a year after landing at Apple, the company started reporting profits at a rapid rate. This

led to Cook moving up the chains to become Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

afterwards. With all his great work being performed, he was named CEO of Apple after Steve

Jobs tragic death in October of 2011 (Tim Cook Biography, 2018). Apple since then, has had the

opportunity to recently create their new headquarters located in Cupertino, CA. Being one of the

wealthiest tech companies in the world, with stores worldwide, Apple has employed over

100,000 full time employees (Apple Reports Third Quarter Results,2019).

Being one the wealthiest companies is not something that is easy to do. In order to

accomplish what Apple has done, innovation and creativity has to be at the top of the list. Some

of the products that apple has created which bring in a lot of revenue comes from the iPhone,

Mac, AirPods, apple dongles, and much more. One of the most surprising revenues comes from

subscriptions that are brought to the customers through the app store. Services from Apple have
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been setting records for revenue, producing over 10.9 billion dollars. Chaim Gartenberg

mentions:

It’s a substantial figure compared to Apple’s other business segments: services already

brings in more per quarter than the Mac ($7.4 billion last quarter), iPad ($6.7 billion), or

the collected “Wearables, Home, and Accessories” group of products ($7.3 billion). And

that balance will likely only continue to shift as Apple starts to push services harder and

introduces new services to which people can subscribe (Gartenberg, 2019).

The amount of revenue that comes from their services and subscriptions is substantial and is only

continuing to grow with more services being brought to the consumer. Having a wide variety of

products and services allow Apple to be one of the top contenders in the tech industry.

Apple has been dominating the tech industry, being placed in the top 10 companies with

the highest revenue making us wonder how so much success could have come from a garage

startup. One of the reasons they are so successful is because they are secretive in the workplace.

Apple believes that what is worked on at Apple should not be discussed outside of the work

environment to avoid leaks of upcoming products or services. Being secretive with the work that

is done at apple also allows the employee’s to be more loyal to the company because they feel

like they are part of something big. This also means that the employees there are dedicated to the

work they do and often times work long days to accomplish great products (England, 2015).

Working for a big company will provide a lot of experience which can be transpired to

many other careers in the future. It all starts with your feet in the door and what better way to

start things off then to be admitted to CSUMB where there will be various courses that will teach

and guide me to obtain the position desired. During the program, one of the top goals to have is

to pass each class with a B or better. Having great grades in the courses means I am performing
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at a top level which will only prepare me for future jobs. One of the trends that are upcoming in

these industries are related to infrastructure as code (IAC). With this in mind, learning about IAC

will enforce a programmer’s ability to be up to date with upcoming trends. CST 334: Operating

Systems and CST 438: Software Engineering will be the courses that will help the most in

getting a full understanding of not only the backend but also the front-end programming. With

IAC, it is crucial that the candidate knows the ins and outs of the environment so there won’t be

any back doors that can be made easily available to a potential hacker. Some of the tools that can

help with IAC are Puppet, Terraform, Ansible, and Docker.

Combining a few of those tools can make automation much easier. One good

combination that has been used at PayPal is Terraform and Docker containers through Amazon’s

Web Services, also known as AWS. Being able to create the code through terraform to optimize

scalability and availability brings much more to the table than solely being able to code. There

are many tutorials out there that can help learn terraform with hands on learning. Some of the

learning tools that can be accessed are Udemy, Khan Academy and if you’re willing to pay some

money, LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn Learning is such a great tool to use when trying to learn

new languages, tools that can be used in an industry or even soft skill that can be applied in your

workspace. Not only does it have great lectures, it also documents the skills you have achieved in

your LinkedIn profile. When it comes down to hiring someone, a LinkedIn profile is often asked

for alongside a resume. With LinkedIn keeping track of the courses you have completed; it

demonstrates to a future employer the skills that can be potentially used in their business with

guarantee that It is proper training as it comes from LinkedIn.

When looking for future candidates, employers often time require that the candidate has a

minimum of a bachelor’s degree. This applies to most tech jobs even if they are entry level
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positions. Although a college degree plays a big role in getting hired in the tech industry, having

experience also plays just as big of a role. Being able to network with your classmates,

professors, or during internships will only aid in securing a position as a Software Engineer with

emphasis in Infrastructure as Code. Some recommendations would be to try and network with as

many people as possible because this not only makes you seem more approachable; it also lets

the staff know that you are a team player and can communicate with other efficiently.

Networking in the workspace has made tech positions more easily attainable. If someone that

already works at tech company can vouch for you, it will make the process much easier to get

hired on.

With technology industries innovating new technology, getting acquainted with the tech

industry is a path one cannot go wrong with. Having companies such as Apple, which is

constantly coming out with new products and new services, allows there to be a high demand for

candidates with computer science degrees. With jobs available in Machine Learning and AI,

Hardware, Software and Services, Design, and many more, it allows a wide range of job roles

and experience. Completing a computer science degree through CSUMB will be the first step

forward into a new career in the tech industry.

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References

Apple Reports Third Quarter Results. (2019, July 30). Retrieved from

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/

Bellis, M (2019, January 15). The History of Apple Computers. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-history-of-apple-computers-1991454

England, F (2015, September 18). What Apple employees really think about the company's

internal corporate culture. Business Insider. Retrieved from

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-work-at-apple-2015-9

Friedman, T (2012, September 8). New Rules. The New York Times. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/opinion/sunday/friedman-new-rules.html?_r=1&hp

Gartenberg, C (2019, March 20). How Apple Makes Billions of Dollars Selling Services. The

Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/20/18273179/apple-icloud-

itunes-app-store-music-services-businesses

Ponciano, J (2019, May 15). The Largest Technology Companies In 2019: Apple Reigns As

Smartphones Slip And Cloud Services Thrive. Forbes. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2019/05/15/worlds-largest-tech-

companies-2019/#182e2243734f

Rawlinson, N (2017, April 25). History of Apple: The story of Steve Jobs and the company he

founded. Macworld. Retrieved from https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/history-

of-apple-steve-jobs-mac-3606104/

Richardson, A., & Terrel, E (2008, April). Apple Computer, Inc. The Library of Congress.

Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/businesshistory/April/apple.html

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Richter, F (2019, May 29). Infographic: Apple iPod's Contribution To The Company's Revenue

Since 2002. International Business Times. Retrieved from

https://www.ibtimes.com/infographic-apple-ipods-contribution-companys-revenue-2002-

2796171

Tim Cook Biography. (2018, February 5). Biography. Retrieved from

https://www.biography.com/business-figure/tim-cook