all of these lists sound nice and all, but think back to the people that you really respect that have taught and influenced you to become who you are today. wh

all of these lists sound nice and all, but think back to the people that you really respect that have taught and influenced you to become who you are today. what was the most important part? for me it was the person who was many degrees smarter than the rest of the team and pushed everyone to be their best. In my case he was not the most diplomatic or encouraging, hell he yelled at me a few times (and trust me, i don't appreciate being yelled at even by my parents). but anyone who was interested in software engineering was in awe of his skill. He devoured tech books and prototyped things on the train to work so that he always had good ideas and answers. I was sold right from the interview where I could tell he just knew his stuff inside and out. My point is that having the necessary knowledge to actually teach people is so much more important than all those other things. For most of us that means a lot of hard work in the trenches during free time. New technology? there goes Saturday and Sunday. It's the only way to have all the answers to the ones above you, and the ones you're leading. Additionally try to get your team the best development/infrastructure tools money can buy and the best learning resources (such as pluralsight, egghead.io, all-you-can-read online books subscription)