The thrilling story of the rise of the world's largest software company owner, Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison narrates his suffering and his exciting and inspiring story of success, saying:
Virtually everyone important in my life - my family, teachers, girlfriend - wanted me to become a doctor. Over time, their dreams became my dreams, and they convinced me that being a doctor was the right path for me. However, as hard as I tried, I could not do it. After a few complicated and unhappy years as a pre-med student, it became painfully clear that I did not enjoy the courses I was taking.
I decided to drop out of college when I was 21 years old. I packed everything I owned - jeans, t-shirts, leather jacket, guitar - into my car and drove from Chicago to Berkeley, California. During my springs and summers in California, I spent most of my days in the high Sierras or Yosemite Valley as a river guide and a rock climbing instructor. I loved those jobs, but unfortunately, they did not pay well, so I also got a job working a couple of days a week as a computer programmer.
Back in Berkeley, I had learned to program in college. I did not love programming, but it was fun, and I was good at it. Computer programming gave me the same satisfaction as solving math problems and playing chess - both things I enjoyed before I became a confused teenager. At this point in my life, I thought I was making real progress on my journey of self-discovery. I had found a cause; I had a couple of jobs that I loved, one that was fun, and I paid the bills. I was happy with my life.
My wife was not happy, however. She saw a college dropout who spent too much time in the mountains doing foolish things. She wanted me to work full-time as a computer programmer or return to college and finish my degree. We compromised. I started taking classes at UC Berkeley. I took several classes but need help remembering a sailing class taught at Berkeley Marina. When my class was over, I wanted to buy a sailboat. My wife said this was the single stupidest idea she had ever heard in her entire life. She accused me of being irresponsible and told me I lacked ambition. She kicked me out, and then she divorced me.
This was a pivotal moment in my life. Once again, I could not live up to the expectations of others, but this time, I was not disappointed in myself for failing to be the person they thought I should be. Their dreams and my dreams were different. I would never confuse the two of them again.
Throughout my 20s, I continued experimenting, trying different things, racing bikes and boats, and constantly changing jobs. It didn't take me long to discover that the most interesting and rewarding programming jobs were found at a cluster of companies located south of Stanford University and north of Silicon Valley, Which was in its infancy.
I was still in my 20s when I went to work for my first Silicon Valley startup. I liked my work most of the time but did not love it. I searched but could not find a software engineering job that I loved as much as I loved sailing. So, I tried to create one. I put together a plan to start my own company so I could completely control my work environment. I would hire the most talented programmers I knew, and we would all work together on the most exciting and challenging software projects. I aimed to create the perfect job for me, a job I truly loved. I expected the company to grow up to 50 people. Today, Oracle employs around 150,000 people, but I intended to build a smaller company when I started.
What happened? We did precisely what we set out to do: hire the most talented software engineers in Silicon Valley. We assembled an all-star team of gifted programmers who were among the best in the world at what they did. That team, plus one crazy idea, gave birth to a giant company.
I call it a crazy idea because, at the time, everyone told me it was a crazy idea. The idea was to build the world's first relational database. Several theoretical papers about relational databases had already been published, and IBM was building a prototype in their research labs. However, back then, the collective wisdom of computer experts was that while relational databases could be built, they would need to be faster to be helpful. All those so-called computer experts were wrong. Moreover, when you tell people that all the experts are wrong, they call you arrogant and then say you are crazy. So remember this, graduates: when people tell you you are crazy, you might be on to the most crucial innovation in your life.