Oral History of Joanna Hoffman Part 3

Interviewed by Marguerite Gong Hancock on 2019-01-22 in Mountain View, CA X8464.2018
© Computer History Museum

Joanna Hoffman was born in 1955 and lived in Soviet Armenia and Poland until 1968. She was then able to immigrate to the US at the age of 13, after her mother had married an American and moved to Buffalo NY. She ended up working at a number of high-profile tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Xerox PARC, Apple, and General Magic.

In this, the third of three part oral history, Joanne takes a more reflective tone. She describes how her experiences have influenced her life and world view. She also describes what it was like working for Steve Jobs – both positives and negatives. She also touches on her role as a pioneer for women in the tech field. She describes her views on mentoring, failure, the cultural differences between the east and west coast tech communities, and many other dimensions of her experience.

Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - http://www.computerhistory.org/collec...

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Catalog Number: 102781036
Lot Number: X8464.2018