Last week, our team joined Macoupin CEO for a session with John Wright, hosted at McKay Auto, who generously opened their training room for the group. John shared his path from a math and science academy as a kid to studying physics, then computer science, at the University of Illinois. After working on operating systems and at a startup, he was recruited to Apple when few people believed the company would survive. He started on Mac OS, then joined a small team prototyping the iPhone, eventually leading the operating system team through the phone, iPad, and watch as it grew from ten people to 400 over his 14 years there.

From there, John talked with our team members about how AI has changed software development and other work. He explained what AI is, how it works, and why learning to use it matters, with a clear reminder that results are only as good as your inputs. He also discussed being first to market versus best to market, and how to balance passion, talent, and market demand when choosing a path.

Thank you to John for taking the time to speak with our team, and to McKay Auto for providing the space.