Childhood
Bill Gates, the globally renowned entrepreneur and creator of Microsoft Corporation, is a distinguished professional and business genius of his day. He and his team managed to transform the technology industry and implement those digital developments that have remained relevant to this day. Mr. Gates (full name William H. Gates III) was born on October 28, 1955. His family lived in Seattle, Washington, and his parents had an opportunity to send the boy to a private school where he first showed an interest in computer programming (“Bill Gates,” 2009).
At the age of thirteen, he met like-minded people with whom he later worked on a partnership basis, including Paul Allen, one of the co-founders of Microsoft (“William H. Gates III,” 2021). The boy’s childhood was not poor, and this may have become one of the decisive factors that allowed him to concentrate on studying his favorite industry and become an outstanding specialist in it in adult life.
Higher Education
After finishing school, Bill Gates chose Harvard as one of the leading universities in the country. He passed the SAT test with a score of 1.590, which was almost perfect and allowed him to enter the law department without problems in 1973 (“Bill Gates,” 2009). Bill Gates did not stop his passion for computer programming and devoted all his free time to working in this area. As a result, he came to the conclusion that he was not interested in studying law at the university level, and two years after entering, he left Harvard to devote himself to what he loved (“William H. Gates III,” 2021). At this stage in his life, he began to interact closely with Paul Allen, his high school friend.
In 1975, they moved to Mexico to create custom software, and this was the first step towards founding the world-famous Microsoft Corporation (“William H. Gates III,” 2021). Thus, Bill Gates did not receive a college degree, which, however, did not prevent him from becoming one of the richest people in the world and gaining the status of an outstanding businessman.
Business Achievements
Bill Gates and Paul Allen started their business with software development. They targeted MITS, a small firm based in Mexico, but after it was sold, they decided to return to Washington to promote the business in their homeland (“William H. Gates III,” 2021). This idea came to Gates after he realized that the IBM Corporation, then the leader in the computer industry, needed to update its software base. As one of the main ideas, the owner of Microsoft, at that time a small software company, put forward the thesis about the importance of creating personal computers. Initially, IBM opposed this decision, which was an obstacle, but Microsoft finally succeeded (“William H. Gates III,” 2021).
As a result, ten years after leaving the university, Bill Gates introduced the first floppy disk to the world, a compact digital storage medium that was a breakthrough in the computer industry (“William H. Gates III,” 2021). By this time, he and his team had already gained recognition and became innovators in the production of operating systems.
Despite the fact that the first attempt to create software in Mexico was not crowned with significant success, Bill Gates managed to implement his idea. Today, his net worth is estimated at $129 billion, which makes him one of the richest people in the world (Hoffower & Rogers, 2020). Recently, he has shifted his focus from business to philanthropy and has consistently donated to charities (“William H. Gates III,” 2021). Nevertheless, Microsoft continues to exist and is still one of the leaders in the software market.
References
Bill Gates. (2009). Famous Entrepreneurs. Web.
Hoffower, H., & Rogers, T. N. (2020). Bill Gates has been unseated as the world’s second-richest person. Here’s how he spends his $129 billion fortune, from a luxury-car collection to incredible real estate. Business Insider. Web.
William H. Gates III. (2021). American Academy of Achievement. Web.