Fifteen years after his death, Steve Jobs remains a polarizing yet influential figure in tech. On what would have been his 71st birthday, we examine how his unconventional early life helped shape both his personality and Apple's distinctive ethos.

Born on February 24, 1955, Jobs was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs after his birth mother Joanne Schieble initially resisted the adoption. She had wanted a college-educated couple to adopt her son, but the original arrangement fell through when the lawyer's wife decided she wanted a girl instead. This early experience of being given up and then chosen became central to understanding Jobs's complex personality.

Jobs's relationship with education was equally complicated. Despite his family's financial strain, he insisted on attending Reed College in Oregon, only to drop out after one semester. He later explained this decision as a way to stop spending his family's savings, though he continued auditing classes that interested him, including calligraphy—a choice that would later influence Apple's design philosophy. His adoptive parents moved to Los Altos specifically to get him into better schools, placing him just four miles from where Apple Park would eventually stand.

Whether his adoption truly influenced his behavior remains debated. Friends like Andy Hertzfeld attributed his occasional cruelty to abandonment issues, while Jobs himself vehemently denied this, calling Paul and Clara "my parents 1,000%." What's undeniable is how his early experiences—from the adoption drama to his eclectic education—contributed to the unique vision that would revolutionize personal computing and consumer electronics.