Meet Chris Espinosa, Apple’s Longest-Serving Employee – From Steve Jobs’ Garage at 14 to Tim Cook’s Tech Giant

Chris Espinosa, an Apple Inc employee who was hired by founder Steve Jobs himself when the tech giant was still operating out of Jobs’ parents’ garage, has become the company’s longest-serving employee, Hindustan Times reported.

Espinosa joined Apple part-time at the age of 14 while still a student in 1977. And when the company was incorporated that same year, he became one of its first official employees – number 8. Apple was co-founded by Jobs and Steve Wozniac.

What he worked on

When he joined the company in 1977, Espinosa worked on testing the Apple II BASIC operating system (OS) during his Christmas vacation.

Through Apple’s ups and downs, leadership changes and boardroom squabbles, Espinosa has been a constant at the company. He stayed at Apple when Jobs left in 1985 to found NeXT, and was still there when Jobs returned in 1997.

After graduation, he wrote manuals and software codes. Espinosa is Apple’s current and longest-serving employee.

About Jobs and Apple

In an interview, Espinosa called Jobs a “manic genius” who “would now tolerate inadequacy or compromise.” “He’s a maniac… a manic genius. His job is to turn everything upside down… He’s not going to leave anything undone. He’s not going to allow inadequacy or compromise to exist,” Espinosa said.

It is worth noting that Espinosa, Jobs, and Wozniac were all Homestead High School alumni and met Jobs while the tech whiz was installing an Apple I in a local store.

Speaking to the media about Apple’s success, Espinosa attributed it to “empathy, focus and accountability” in an interview.

“There were three words. Empathy: know your customer, know what they want. Focus: do fewer things better. And impute: always bring value to everything you do. These are things we do today,” he said.

He also gained attention in May this year after reporting a fake “vintage” Apple employee badge for sale on eBay by identifying the errors.

“This photo was not taken with a Polaroid and a flash. The dimensions of the laminate are all wrong. This is a computer font, not an IBM Selectric Orator type ball. This is not my original sketch that was on a national engineering platform,” Espinosa pointed out.