The American Dream and You: Personal Technology’s Role

The American Dream is a nebulous entity. It changes its meaning for each generation, depending on the economic, political, and social climates they are facing. Some opinions state that modern definitions of the American Dream rely too heavily on materialistic markers. A fancy house, new cars, and regular vacations scheduled to exotic locales may not be for everyone. It’s also unrealistic to believe that the American Dream is hedged off by certain income brackets and materialistic achievements. 

At this concept’s core, most people would agree that the American Dream is based off proven opportunity and a ladder that anyone can climb. Rather than reducing social and economic opportunity to a particular class, America’s ladder of success is open. The founders’ goal was a nation where a boy born in a log cabin could become president. Their dream was realized, and the American Dream continued to take shape. Many social activists insist, not without cause, that the American Dream isn’t as unrestricted as we might like to believe. 

Even if that’s the case, some of America’s greatest success stories have been informed by this pursuit of the American Dream. Some of the men and women who pilot the largest companies in the world marketplace started with nothing. “Look at where they are now” has become an inspirational rallying cry for those who want to mimic their successes. 

The biggest American Dream stories today are also paired with some personal technology companies. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple—they are all huge companies with an inherently American rags-to-riches origin story. Their success has transformed the world of personal technology. Not only did broke college kids change their own worlds as they climbed the ladder of personal success, they revolutionized the world. 

By dissecting the components of the quintessential American Dream, it’s easy to see different factors that make up this foundation for success. Hard work, problem-solving, innovation, and ambition are all primary facets of this dream. Each company emphasizes a different part of this puzzle.

The power of hard work is illustrated by Microsoft. Bill Gates admittedly had a boost up the ladder of success. His family was wealthy, and he went to Harvard. Both of those things are something many young people don’t have. But his success in Microsoft wasn’t handed to him. There are many famous anecdotes about his work ethic and commitment to success in the technology world. He was very difficult to work for, because he was so obsessed with success. 

There’s a famous anecdote about his obsession with work and throwing himself into Microsoft’s budding technology. Rather than taking breaks to eat meals—something Gates thought was a waste of time—he invested in a personal stash of Tang. Famous as a sugary drink mix that astronauts took to the moon, it was meant to be mixed in water and drank like Gatorade or orange juice. However, young Gates couldn’t even be bothered to fill a cup with water and mix Tang into a drink. According to the story, he would place Tang on his hand and lick it off. When he retold the story later, the only issue he remembered was getting orange powder on the keyboard keys!

Microsoft is also famous for typifying the story of how young people can take over and revolutionize the industry. Bill Gates and Paul Allen were college kids when they decided to fully commit to the idea of Microsoft. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to focus full-time on Microsoft, since achieving a balance between his insane work ethic and his studies was impossible.

However, there are other important facets of the American Dream. For instance, Google is founded off the potential of problem-solving. The ability to see how things currently are, and the way that they can be made better, is what Google was founded on. Prior to Google’s beginning, there was no way to comprehensively categorize information on the Internet. It was the Wild West, with no way to organize or properly find anything. 

Google was a search engine crafted off an understanding of human thought and logical progressions. Rather than ranking a site by the number of times a keyword appears in it, Google ranks sites by usefulness and relevance. This type of revolutionary categorization method was started in a garage! PhD students at Stanford, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, rented a garage from a friend. They worked day and night to launch Google, a world-famous company that has spawned programs like Gmail and Google Drive. 

Apple’s entire brand is built off innovation, the ability to foresee changes, and adapt to the industry. However, long before they were a household name, they were stuck in a garage owned by Steve Jobs’ parents. Unsure if they would ever be a success, Jobs and friends were at a low point. 

However, they got a small break when they sold the Apple I to a local store for around $500. This small break was the first step on their ladder of success. They mixed problem-solving, their knowledge of the personal technology industry, innovation, hard work, and ambition. As a result, they became an insanely popular brand with the ability to command endless lines of people, just waiting for their latest releases. 

Amazon is the story of ambition and taking chances. Jeff Bezos already had a successful career when he decided to start an online bookstore. As an outlier in a group  of young, hungry college kids, Bezos approached it differently. He chose to take a gamble on a startup that he was fairly certain would not succeed. The statistics then, and now, for startup success are not very promising. Bezos knew this, and so did his parents. However, they funded his venture with the majority of their life savings. This type of investment, along with Bezos’ willingness to take risks and his work ethic, paid off in the explosion of Amazon.

Bezos’ ambition has always been evident. When statistics came in on the rapid growth of the Internet, it was like nothing Bezos had ever seen before. His ambition to turn from selling books to selling almost anything imaginable revolutionized the face of e-commerce. 

The Big Four, as they’re being called in the personal technology industry, are transforming your experience as a consumer. From home assistants such as Alexa, to Windows serving as an operating system on your computer, to the latest Apple model or your favorite show on Amazon Prime, having a holistic personal technology experience revolves around the interplay between these four companies. As they rewrite the personal technology narrative and renovate the consumer experience, they’re changing the world that you will experience. 

Navigating this ever-changing world is difficult. Ambitious innovations are taking over the world, but it’s hard to keep up. At GroovyTek, we know it can be challenging. Each company is putting out so much new technology. Your devices are constantly updating, without providing updated instructions or information. What can you do? Reach out to GroovyTek’s patient, respectful trainers that are prepared to arm you with information and solutions. You can ask questions or schedule an in-home or over-the-phone session at 303-317-2800. 

Sources

Clifford, C. (September, 2019.) Bill Gates on his crazy early days at Microsoft: We ate powdered orange Tang instead of stopping for meals. CNBC. Retrieved October, 2019 from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/20/bill-gates-on-intense-early-days-at-microsoft-netflix-documentary.html

Clifford, C. (October, 2017.) How Amazon founder Jeff Bezos went from the son of a teen mom to the world’s richest person. CNBC. Retrieved October, 2019 from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/27/how-amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-went-from-the-son-of-a-teen-mom-to-the-worlds-richest-person.html

Google. (October, 2019.) From the Garage To the Googleplex. Retrieved October, 2019 from https://about.google/intl/en_us/our-story/

Rawlinson, N. (April, 2017.) History of Apple: The Story of Steve Jobs and the company he founded. Retrieved October, 2019 from https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/history-of-apple-steve-jobs-mac-3606104/

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