Nineteen years ago today, I joined Apple as a full-time employee.

I was 20 years old, on the verge of 21. I dropped into a workplace filled with the most ambitious, most laid-back, most serious, most bizarre, most intelligent, least obsessed-with-intelligence people I have ever met. They made up, and were made from the culture that is Apple.

If you had told me 19 years ago that Apple would become the most successful company in the world, I would have believed you. Even at its lowest points, the place seemed to be teeming with latent success. It’s why I wanted to work there so badly, and why I’m so glad that I did.