Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

JoshuaG13 HN recommenders · 2007–2015
12.4M views · talk · evergreen · Uploaded 2006-03-06

Steve Jobs's 2005 Stanford commencement address, built around three stories: connecting the dots, love and loss including being fired from Apple, and death. It is a 15-minute talk on finding work you love.

HN returns to it for years as an inspirational talk to send to graduates, founders and anyone at a career crossroads.

Watch on YouTube

19 comments from Hacker News

@pashle2007 · in “'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says (text only; video link in comments)”

Jobs' speech is about 1.5 years old. It's probably a classic for this audience, but the few who've slipped through the cracks must not be denied this utterly inspiring speech. We should be so lucky to one day be able to give a speech that chronicles a life of amazing achievements. Don't focus so much on whether what he's saying is true, of if you think he's this or that. All that matters is that if you feel something deep within you move, listen to THAT. Also, here's the YouTube video of the speech - [VIDEO] enjoy!

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@amichail2007 · in “inspirational videos to push you forward when you're down”

Here's a commercial I like: [LINK] And a news story that you might recall: [LINK] A commencement speech: [VIDEO] Which ones are your favorites?

@wave2008 · in “8 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was 22”

I find Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech to be a very good real life advice. If you are graduating this year, please watch it and learn from his experience. [VIDEO]

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@SapphireSun2009 · in “Steve Jobs speaks out about his health”

Jobs gave an address to Stanford university's graduating class in 2005. Here's a link to youtube if you want to watch [VIDEO] was quite interesting and spoke deeply to me.

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@pistoriusp2009 · in “Renowned reverse engineer Fravia says goodbye”

I find it strange how the imminent demise of another makes me reflect upon myself: I found myself wondering what I would write in the same situation, and then realizing that this is a fate that I cannot escape. I like to watch Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech, every now and again, to remind me of that fact: [VIDEO] Transcribed: [LINK]

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@hwijaya2009 · in “'You've got to find what you love'”

This is no doubt one of the best speech i ever heard. It gives me a lot of new perspectives when i heard it for the first time back in 2006. Here's the video: [VIDEO]

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@mrduncan2010 · in “Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal”

That's always been one of my favorite speeches. I highly recommend it to anyone who's never heard (or seen) it. [VIDEO]

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@kadavy2010 · in “Ask HN: Can startup founders afford to spend time on "hobbies"?”

You shouldn't deny your curiosities, because you never know what they'll lead to. Steve Jobs once dropped in on a Calligraphy class, and fell in love with beautiful typography. It had no practical purpose to him at the time, but later in life, when he was building the Mac, he built that beautiful typography into it, changing computers into a design tool.* Taking time to play the piano will help you relax and think more creatively. Additionally, as your mind makes connections between notes and identifies patterns, it will find parallels in the challenges you face in your startup. *Story from Jobs's Stanford Commencement Address: [VIDEO]

@rblion2010 · in “Steve Jobs "never had any designs. He has not designed a single project"”

It's not a myth or legend. I look up to great people that moved our species forward. Here is where I learned some of this 'crap': [VIDEO] And, the rest is from Steve Wozinack's autobiography... Steve is a polarizing figure with a vision that unites spirituality with technology. That's why Apple keeps attracting more and more attention...

@usamaqasem2011 · in “Ask HN: Taking the next 6 months off, advice?”

Cool, I will just simply tell you my opinion, in the end it is you who should make the decision, for me school is for people who don't have imagination and courage to learn by themselves. But in early age and with lack of experience it is easy to get carried away and take the wrong direction. If you already found your passion and you are sure that whatever is it, it is what you want to do for next few years of your life. Take the 6 months off and go explore in that direction and see what you get. Otherwise if you are not sure yet, stay in school and try to find what you like to do, you still have long way and if the next 6 months are not them, be patient sooner or later you will find what you like to do. Then everything is going to be clear. Explore and try to meet people and talk to them whether in school or off school. Check this video: [VIDEO] Good Luck.

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@holdenc2011 · in “51 hours left to live”

For some reason I am reminded for Steve Jobs' Stanford graduation speech when he says "you will die one day." In the video, it seems to roll off the audience as a cliche. But, it seems to have tempered much of his career with fearlessness, and the willingness to take risks. [VIDEO]

@mahrain2011 · in “What should I do with my life?”

By, when you get to the point where you have to choose with either your heart or your head (wallet, benchmarks etc.) picking the former. Oh, and watch Steve Jobs at Stanford on this: [VIDEO]

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@ffffruit2011 · in “Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple CEO (Official Letter)”

A true pioneer of the computing industry - farewell. His Standford graduation talk, always inspiring: [VIDEO]

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@reconor2011 · in “I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.”

Your life is essentially a series of experiences unfolding in ways you are likely to never predict with any reasonable degree of accuracy. Steve Job's graduation commencement speech touches on this idea of being unable to "connect the dots in your life" forward, one can only do it retrospectively. It is a keen observation and is certainly worth listening to: [VIDEO] Try and minimize the amount of time you let your mind spend regretting a decision you made in March and focus more on looking forward and taking the next positive step in your life. You are only 20 and are bound to make many more decisions that you may consider to be a mistake in the short-term, but you have no idea how your life will ultimately unfold. What you once considered to be a mistake could turn out to be a great decision, even if it only serves the purpose of teaching you some lessons to grow yourself further. Kudos on your bravery to take a risk, I'm sorry to hear it isn't working out at the moment but I assure you it is totally within your domain of influence to change things around for yourself and realize new opportunities. Just take it one step at a time and try and frame the experience as simply an opportunity to grow through a challenge. I read edw519's comment and he is certainly right, we do care and things are never as bad as they may seem.

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@seejay2011 · in “I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.”

Please listen to the famous Stanford Commencement Speech by Steve Jobs. It has helped me greatly in situations I feel depressed about life. I still listen to it again and again! worth every second! Here's the youtube link [VIDEO]

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@sushilchoudhari2012 · in “Ask HN: What are the most inspirational blog posts you've ever read?”

How come no one mentioned Steve Jobs and his commencement speech at Stanford? It is absolutely one of my favorites. I watch it everytime i feel that i could use a dose of motivation. [VIDEO]

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@hogeberg2012 · in “Work on unimportant problems”

Is the main point of this article, to work on unimportant problems as you can never know how important they may actually become, essentially the same as that of Steve Jobs in the Stanford commencement speech? E.g. at the time of of taking calligraphy classes, he could not know that this would majorly impact OS font handling? [VIDEO]

@jesseendahl2013 · in “Ask HN: How do I develop fanatical resolve?”

The single best motivator for me is remembering that I'm going to die one day. I think often about the commencement speech Steve Jobs made in 2005. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Here's a link: [VIDEO] I still allow myself time to relax/slack off, but if I had intended to only watch a few episodes before getting down to working on something I'm passionate about, and then have the urge to just do the easy thing and keep watching instead of doing whatever I'd planned to do, I remember that my time is slowly running out and if I don't take steps to achieve my dreams now, then I will likely never achieve them before there's no time left. This applies to everything in life, not just work. Travel, falling in love, learning new things--you name it--everything is affected by how limited your time is. Time and your body (there's a direct relationship between them) are the most limited resources you have, and even if you strike it rich you can never rewind the clock. This is what motivates me more than anything else to get shit done. On a related note, once you realize just how limited your time is, you realize how pointless it is to live your life for other people or be constrained by dogma. Anyway, at this point I'm just rehashing the speech, and Jobs says all this much better than I do. If you haven't seen it yet, go watch it. If you have seen it, go watch it again and listen very carefully to what he says.

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@wsc9812015 · in “Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech”

That's also what Steve Jobs said in his commencement speech. He talked about the DTP industry not existing before the Mac, but by adding greatly designed fonts to the system a whole new market was created. And Steve got the fonts idea back from his college years, when he followed a calligraphy class at Reed college [0]. --- [0]: [VIDEO]