“Was he even an engineer? Wasn’t he just a marketing guy?”
Jobs WAS an engineer, just not a GREAT engineer. Most of his talents lay in other areas. Jobs was undeniably one of the greatest geniuses of his time, but he was also one of the biggest autocratic assholes that ever walked the face of the planet. He was self-aware enough to be aware of all of the above, but not enough to actually change his behavior.
Politically, Jobs was a total contradiction in that he was simultaneously the epitome of free enterprise and capitalism, and the ultimate performance-based boss, to the point of outrageous harshness to all but the top 5% of performers. The other 95% were “bozos” in his book, and he ruthlessly purged the “bozos” from Apple. And yet politically, Jobs was a complete leftist.
It’s possible if Jobs had lived longer, he might have delved into his political contradictions and figured out what was what. But then again, maybe not. No matter how old he lived to be, Jobs would probably have died with his boots on, never looking up from the workbench to examine anything other than the next multi-billion dollar blockbuster product he was designing for Apple.
Exactly the kind of guy who would favor autocratic rule over a democratic republic. Kind of a Henry Ford in that respect.
We need 'em but we should never listen to them (outside their narrow spheres of expertise).