Meet Chris Espinosa, Apple’s longest-serving employee – from Steve Jobs’ garage at age 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, is the company’s longest-serving employee, according to the Hindustan Times.

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

What he worked on

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

Despite Apple’s ups and downs, leadership changes, and boardroom disputes, Espinosa remained a stalwart at the company. He stayed with Apple when Jobs left to start NeXT in 1985 and was still there when Jobs returned in 1997.

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

About Jobs and Apple

In an interview, Espinosa called Jobs a “mad genius” who “would not tolerate inadequacy or compromise.” “He’s a madman… a mad genius. His job is to mess everything up… He leaves nothing alone. He doesn’t tolerate inadequacy or compromise,” Espinosa said.

Notably, Espinosa, Jobs and Wozniac were all graduates of Homestead High School and met Jobs when the tech wizard installed an Apple I at a local store.

In an interview with the media, Espinosa spoke about Apple’s success and attributed it to “empathy, focus and commitment.”

“There were three words. Empathy: Know your customer, know what they want. Focus: Do fewer things better. And attribution: Always add value in everything you do. Those are things we do today,” he said.

In May of this year, he also attracted attention when he highlighted a fake “old” Apple employee ID card for sale on eBay and identified the flaws.

“This was not taken with a Polaroid with a flash. The laminate measurements are all wrong. This is a computer font, not an IBM Selectric Orator ball. This is not my original sketch, which was on a national design block,” Espinosa stressed.